True TDD-2 Kegerator remodel/touchup

[JONNYROTTEN]

I have a silver king commercial fridge.After I bought it I called manufacturer and they said it was used in a Wendys,most likely beat on.I was told its TWENTY YEARS OLD!the themostat went and I installed a Ranco controller.Now it gets down to 32 deg in minutes.These commercial fridges are build to last.You should have no worries

 

[shadowpaige64507]

I also have a TDD-2 and love it. I keep three to four corny kegs on the left side and made shelves for the right. I agree it is a little loud but love having a commercial keg fridge in my bar. The oversized compressor works great for cooling down fresh beer from the fermentor!

Only problem I've had in the last year was water build up on the floor. Not sure if I have a clogged drain in the evaporator pan or what the problem. Anyone else had this problem?

 

[kchomebrew]

I also have a TDD-2 and love it. I keep three to four corny kegs on the left side and made shelves for the right. I agree it is a little loud but love having a commercial keg fridge in my bar. The oversized compressor works great for cooling down fresh beer from the fermentor!

Only problem I've had in the last year was water build up on the floor. Not sure if I have a clogged drain in the evaporator pan or what the problem. Anyone else had this problem?

Yeah. I had this same problem. Although it only happens when. It gets really hot in august. Never have issues before august or after august. I just put a beach towel in the back of the fridge and it soaks up the water. I change it out every few weeks. No big deal.



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[brianbrinley]

Well this thread is certainly inspiring. I'm picking one up for $150 that needs some work. Can anyone recommend where I can buy some gaskets? I cant seem to get google search to work for me

 

[Stealthcruiser]

Post a pic of the data plate.

 

[kchomebrew]

Well this thread is certainly inspiring. I'm picking one up for $150 that needs some work. Can anyone recommend where I can buy some gaskets? I cant seem to get google search to work for me

This where I got mine : http://www.diygaskets.com/diygaskets/search.asp?s=True&offset=50


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[brianbrinley]

This where I got mine : http://www.diygaskets.com/diygaskets/search.asp?s=True&offset=50


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awesome thanks! I found ones last night but they were $75 each this is much better!

 

[philipCT]

I also have a TDD-2 and love it. I keep three to four corny kegs on the left side and made shelves for the right. I agree it is a little loud but love having a commercial keg fridge in my bar. The oversized compressor works great for cooling down fresh beer from the fermentor!

Only problem I've had in the last year was water build up on the floor. Not sure if I have a clogged drain in the evaporator pan or what the problem. Anyone else had this problem?

Hey Guys - guess you can include me on team TDD-2 . I got one of these locally. True web site says it was made in 2004. It wasn't particularly beat up on the outside, but the inside was disgusting. No worries, a good cleaning later and I was good to go.

I did swap out the faucets for new Perlicks and replaced all gas and beer lines. Installed an eight-way gas distributor because it will definitely hold at least eight cornies. I plan to make a custom 7 faucet "T" tower from black pipe, so that would be seven working kegs plus one carbing up.

Put a 10lb CO2 tank outside and at 10psi it maintains carb and pushes beer just perfectly. Love the cold-air hoses that go up into the towers. Keeps the beer cold all the way out to the faucet for perfect pours every time - even the first pour of the evening. I am using 10' beer lines to the kegs to balance the system. Seems to be just about right.

Two concerns:

(1) it gets way too cold and the thermostat control doesn't seem to alter anything. I put a separate thermometer inside and the air temp does seem to wander between low 20s up to 40. Not too thrilled about that. Do I need to replace the thermostat?

(2) I have a little ice skating rink on the bottom. Obvious water leakage from the evaporator, freezing on the cornies below the evap and on the floor. I'm just about to pull off the evap cover to see what's up. Anyone have any experience with that?

 

[raouliii]

.....Two concerns:

(1) it gets way too cold and the thermostat control doesn't seem to alter anything. I put a separate thermometer inside and the air temp does seem to wander between low 20s up to 40. Not too thrilled about that. Do I need to replace the thermostat?

(2) I have a little ice skating rink on the bottom. Obvious water leakage from the evaporator, freezing on the cornies below the evap and on the floor. I'm just about to pull off the evap cover to see what's up. Anyone have any experience with that?

Is the beer getting too cold?

The TRUE commercial coolers function on a constant cool/defrost cycle. The compressor cycles on and runs until a thermostat adjustable (cut out) temperature is reached IN the evaporator, somewhere in the high teens to high 20's. When that temperature is reached the compressor cycles off. The temperature of the evaporator slowly rises to a temperature of about 40 (constant cut in) temperature and the compressor cycles back on. This achieves consistent frost free operation and is, btw, dependent on continuous air movement across the evaporator.

Extended monitoring of the temperature of a large container of liquid is really the only accurate way to determine if the thermostat is functioning. Another more indirect way is to monitor the output air as close to the evaporator as possible and see if a difference in cut out temperature can be detected as the thermostat is adjusted in increments.

The evaporator condensate pan drain hose should be inspected to make sure it is clear. The pan may be overflowing or the hose is leaking. My TRUE GDM units have a secondary pan underneath near the compressor that collects the water from the drain hose.

 

[bondra76]

I have a Continental BBC59, which is basically the same as TDD-2 but different manufacturer.

A couple of things I have learned in my 6 months with it:

1) It is AWESOME. I lager in there, store Thanksgiving turkeys in there, keep wine in there with my beer, have 4 - 5gal kegs on tap all the time. Right now I have 6 bottles of wine, 4 kegs, 2 18 lb turkeys, and a 5 gallon carboy of Scottish Ale. And I think some 12 packs of random IPA. The space in these things is AWESOME.

2) Gaskets - Manufacturer gaskets are the best. 3rd party gaskets work but are a downgrade. If you can afford it, go manufacturer. More efficient energy-wise. What you save in a few bucks for 3rd party you'll lose in energy costs. When replacing your gasket, put it in a bath tub full of hot water for 20 minutes. I had a professional guy come out to install my gasket and service the unit. That was his trick to get the gasket to take shape well.

3) Be prepared to get one of these to assist with your tower shanks. They're kinda expensive but they make it easy - http://rapidswholesale.com/american...ia1Ner5gmSMX8hcCTHsNkArdaOQxE9ISHbhoCNXLw_wcB

4) The only thing I don't like is that my drip tray seems to not be alinged with my 4 taps. I may change out my drip tray but that's a long long way off.

 

[philipCT]

Is the beer getting too cold?

The TRUE commercial coolers function on a constant cool/defrost cycle. The compressor cycles on and runs until a thermostat adjustable (cut out) temperature is reached IN the evaporator,...

raouliii:

Thanks so much for this post. It seems after reading this that the thing may be doing exactly what It's supposed to be doing. I'll monitor some liquid temps and see where I am, but the beer is a bit too cold for my preference. I would like to see it at about 38F, but it's my impression that it's closer to 32F.

As for the evap tray and drain tube, I'm going to be testing that whole area today. I've had the unit turned off for 24 hours so I can really go at it.

Anyway, I'm really relieved after reading this thread because it seems that you guys have all had the same issues and most have resolved them. Once I get these issues handled, I know it's going to be a monster unit.

I planning to build a bar around it, so that it's an under-bar unit. Here's a shot of it in position in the tap room area outside the brew-studio.

 

[kchomebrew]

raouliii:



Thanks so much for this post. It seems after reading this that the thing may be doing exactly what It's supposed to be doing. I'll monitor some liquid temps and see where I am, but the beer is a bit too cold for my preference. I would like to see it at about 38F, but it's my impression that it's closer to 32F.



As for the evap tray and drain tube, I'm going to be testing that whole area today. I've had the unit turned off for 24 hours so I can really go at it.



Anyway, I'm really relieved after reading this thread because it seems that you guys have all had the same issues and most have resolved them. Once I get these issues handled, I know it's going to be a monster unit.



I planning to build a bar around it, so that it's an under-bar unit. Here's a shot of it in position in the tap room area outside the brew-studio.

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[kchomebrew]

raouliii:



Thanks so much for this post. It seems after reading this that the thing may be doing exactly what It's supposed to be doing. I'll monitor some liquid temps and see where I am, but the beer is a bit too cold for my preference. I would like to see it at about 38F, but it's my impression that it's closer to 32F.



As for the evap tray and drain tube, I'm going to be testing that whole area today. I've had the unit turned off for 24 hours so I can really go at it.



Anyway, I'm really relieved after reading this thread because it seems that you guys have all had the same issues and most have resolved them. Once I get these issues handled, I know it's going to be a monster unit.



I planning to build a bar around it, so that it's an under-bar unit. Here's a shot of it in position in the tap room area outside the brew-studio.

Nice bar build and I can also sort of see your brewery build. You have any thread showing off the builds ? Would like to see more of how you have it set up





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[philipCT]

kchomebrew:

I do have pictures but I haven't set up a thread yet. The brew-studio is a classic Kal style electric brewery. I was dealing with a truly tiny amount of space, but I was able to get just about everything I needed into it. The brew studio area is 8'x12' and is constrained on one side by our furnace.

Here's a shot I did recently. The space is so small I had to pull out a stand-up freezer fermentation chamber conversion just to take the photo - and I had to use freakin panorama mode to get even that.

 

[philipCT]

Meanwhile, back to the TDD-2 remodel/touch-up thread...

So against my better judgement, I pulled the evaporator drip-pan. I've been taking things apart with mixed success since I was a little kid - sometimes it works out okay and I can put them back together

Anyway, this turned out to be a good idea, because, after cleaning it up, I discovered it had many, many pinholes throughout the pan, usually located along obvious rust lines. No amount of spotty efforts to patch it up would have done any good. I now plan to give it a coat of epoxy paint on the inside and the outside and re-install it.

Now that the pan is out I can also clean everything in that area. There was all manner of balled up unidentifiable black guck (technical term). I have also been able to fill and soak the evap pan drain tube with PBW, and then run some rinse water through it. This gave me assurance that the tube is clear.

I hope at the end of this process, I'll have a drip-free and ice free interior. Stay tuned...

 

[bondra76]

One thing to add from my post last night - I found a site where a guy used 3M scour pads and used a wooden block to run the scour pad across the stainless top. It's EXTREMELY important you move the scour pad length-wise and with the grain (and also do it in one long trips - don't go back and forth. Just sweeps across the entire length of the fridge in single waves). But if you have scratches etc. on your stainless this is the way to get them out. I'll try and find the video it had a lot of other maintenance tips for these types of refridgerators. I rehabbed mine using all his tips.

 

[bondra76]

FOUND IT!

This site is priceless for these models:

http://restaurant-equipment-parts.com/learn/article/removing-scratches-stainless-steel#.VHKN8-fF-eA

 

[philipCT]

FOUND IT!

This site is priceless for these models:

http://restaurant-equipment-parts.com/learn/article/removing-scratches-stainless-steel#.VHKN8-fF-eA

Very cool, bondra76. That will be the finishing touch on my TDD-2. Thanks!

 

[philipCT]

This photo of the evaporator pan shows a rust area right below where the evaporator is (which makes sense because that's what's going to drip).

It's in that area where the galvanized steel is literally perforated with dozens of tiny pin holes. I still think to seal the pinholes I should paint it with epoxy. Because it's galvanized steel, I was planning to clean, paint with an etching primer, and the topcoat it with epoxy paint.

Any thoughts about this? I haven't looked into buying a replacement part but I was kinda thinking because the thing is 10 years old I probably wouldn't be able to get one...

 

[bondra76]

call these people -

http://restaurant-equipment-parts.com/part/true/870920#.VHN_3ovF-1U

They have the parts probably, but man are they expensive. I've figured out that if you're replacing anything other than the motor you're going to pay a lot. These things are like BMWs or Sports Cars - awesome until they break. But they SHOULD have everything for the TDD-2s

I did find some parts for mine on amazon but you had to do a lot of digging with manufacturer part #'s etc.

 

[philipCT]

call these people -

http://restaurant-equipment-parts.com/part/true/870920#.VHN_3ovF-1U

They have the parts probably, but man are they expensive. I've figured out that if you're replacing anything other than the motor you're going to pay a lot. These things are like BMWs or Sports Cars - awesome until they break. But they SHOULD have everything for the TDD-2s

I did find some parts for mine on amazon but you had to do a lot of digging with manufacturer part #'s etc.

Holy crap - that's cool. Thanks for the link. I'll probably do the paint job to try to seal it and see what happens, but these cold air hoses gotta go, so maybe I'll buy replacements for those.

 

[bondra76]

Just advice too - they say to call them with your part number. I'd get them on the phone. I bought two pieces from them and only needed one and most of their stuff is not returnable. So I would make crystal clear what you're ordering. I took a huge loss in ordering unnecessary additional parts.


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[philipCT]

Update to the evaporator drip pan perforation repair....

First of all, for anyone who has water collecting inside your TDD-2, and it's more than 6-8 years old, you almost certainly have a perforated evaporator drip pan. The telltale sign, without disassembling everything, are small dots of rust on the bottom of the pan.

Your evaporator is located along the top of the back wall, and has a galvanized steel drip pan below it, which also houses the evaporator fan. You can see photos of mine, disassembled, earlier in this thread.

After cleaning that thing up, hitting it with some Loctite Rust Neutralizer, and some self etching primer, it became obvious to me that paint was in no way going to seal all those pinholes.

So I mixed up some five minute JB Weld and applied it. It sets pretty fast, which is good, because it took a number of passes to actually hit all the holes (they're hard to see without a light source behind them).

I sanded, and hit it with one more light coat of primer, and now I will topcoat with white epoxy paint. At this point, the thing is sealed, I'm just coating with epoxy just to insure longevity of the repair.

All the above sounds like a lot of work, but it only took sporadic effort over a weekend in between drying and cleaning out the evaporator - that's a story for another post...

 

[t_d_harvey]

I had this happen as well. I re-routed the drain tube to where it flows into an existing sink line next to the kegetator. This happened once and I have wood floors. So I needed to make sure it never happened again.

 

[philipCT]

Some updates on my TDD-2 refurb. kc - don't mean to hijack your thread - just though it made sense to post here since it's the same tlpic.

I took some time off to get a whole lotta brewing done. I did that and have been using a converted freezer to keep the kegs and serving using picnic taps. Now I'm running out of room in there so I am forging ahead with this refurb and tower makeover.

Here are some shots of the evaporator pan patched and painted. I also replaced door gaskets (manufacturer made - expensive but I didn't want to screw around with almost-fit) and cooling air hoses (the old ones were skank).

There are also some inside shots of the gas manifolds and gas hose hangers I made, along with some parts shots for the hose-hangers.

I completed the 7-faucet tap tower and will install that shortly. I'll update with more pictures then.

 

[bondra76]

Nice. I've got a 5 tap setup in mine. I've got my regulator on the opposite side.

Noticed my fridge runs constantly but doesn't seem to suck a lot of power which in nice.

I like your hose setup. One thing I've noticed is that hose control is paramount with the number of kegs you can fit in these things.

 

[philipCT]

Thanks.

I'll have to watch it to see how it runs. It is a little noisy - and I have a TV and audio setup in that area, so not great as far as that goes.

While I was figuring out the hose runs, I mapped out room for nine cornies. So that's seven on tap and two conditioning or carbonating. I put in the second double outlet gas manifold specifically so I could burst carb new kegs. I'm happy to have all those hose runs off the deck.

BTW - leveled and loaded it up tonight with the six kegs I have ready to go. I've got three of those on picnic taps for now. The primary gas manifold seems to be working just fine.

Next week I'll figure out how to mount the tap tower and finish this puppy off.

 

[bondra76]

I put a new set of wheels on mine that are locking - found some cheap ones off amazon but you have to be careful and make sure they can handle the weight.

Does your TDD2 already have holes feeding the top? I actually bought an underbar fridge and drilled holes into the top myself. I found a cheap underwear fridge at an auction site but I noticed it's EXACTLY the same setup and everything as a TDD4.

 

[philipCT]

I put a new set of wheels on mine that are locking - found some cheap ones off amazon but you have to be careful and make sure they can handle the weight.

Does your TDD2 already have holes feeding the top? I actually bought an underbar fridge and drilled holes into the top myself. I found a cheap underwear fridge at an auction site but I noticed it's EXACTLY the same setup and everything as a TDD4.

I just positioned mine and leveled it. I didn't want it on wheels because I'm going to be building a bar around it.

Yes, mine came with two towers and three faucets, so it had two thru holes in it for the towers. At first, I cleaned up the towers, changed out the tower insulation, upgraded the faucets to Perlick 630SS and put in new bev lines. It was pretty cool and worked like a dream.

But I wanted more faucets, so I made a 3" black pipe 7 faucet T tower. The existing holes line up with the inside of the holes. I'll have photos of the new tower installation shortly but here's what the top looked like before and after I removed the old towers (before I cleaned it up!).

 

[t_d_harvey]

I just positioned mine and leveled it. I didn't want it on wheels because I'm going to be building a bar around it.

Yes, mine came with two towers and three faucets, so it had two thru holes in it for the towers. At first, I cleaned up the towers, changed out the tower insulation, upgraded the faucets to Perlick 630SS and put in new bev lines. It was pretty cool and worked like a dream.

But I wanted more faucets, so I made a 3" black pipe 7 faucet T tower. The existing holes line up with the inside of the holes. I'll have photos of the new tower installation shortly but here's what the top looked like before and after I removed the old towers (before I cleaned it up!).

I noticed that you said you were going to build a bar around it. I had the same thing done and I kepy having freeze up problems inside, so I had to adjust the cut-out and (knock on wood) gent had any problems since. Just a bit of advice in case u run into a similar problem after u build the bar around it.