Nostalgia Electrics Kegerator really works

[John12865]

I was given a Nostalgia Electrics kegerator as a gift.
This is a low end kegerator picked up at Walmart for $350.00.
At first I questioned whether this was going to work or not.
I plugged it in and could only get down to 47 degrees. I pulled the t-stat cover and backed the adjustment screw off. I kept backing it off for the next 24 hrs until I hit 36 degrees.
I've been pouring 38 degree beers out of a half barrel for three weeks now with no problems, in fact they draw perfect! The quality of the unit is decent and maintains a steady 36 degrees with a room temperature of 72. The compressor kicks on every 30 minutes and runs for 12 minutes. I haven't had any ice build up problems but I know it will require manual defrosting.
I can't believe it works so well at it's cost. Out of the low end models this one is a winner. Opp's, wrong forum Mod please move.

[unloopme]

Interesting, can anyone confirm if this thing can hold a rubber sided, or bulged Coors 1/2 barrel(I love Blue Moon)???
Can't seem to find any info on this anywhere.

[jplbrew]

I just bought one myself!

I'm getting my keg tomorrow and I can only get my unit down to about 38.8f I tried pulling the thermostat cover off and didn't see what you were talking about, any way you could explain any farther on that screw that you adjusted. Thanks!

[jplbrew]

Oh how did you regulate the co2??

[kenetik]

Oh how did you regulate the co2??

I also need to know how to do this, having a seriously hard time with this!

[John12865]

Interesting, can anyone confirm if this thing can hold a rubber sided, or bulged Coors 1/2 barrel(I love Blue Moon)???
Can't seem to find any info on this anywhere.

Sorry, I don't know.

[John12865]

I'm getting my keg tomorrow and I can only get my unit down to about 38.8f I tried pulling the thermostat cover off and didn't see what you were talking about, any way you could explain any farther on that screw that you adjusted. Thanks!

It's right on the front of the t-stat. You will need a small screw driver to do it.

[John12865]

Oh how did you regulate the co2??

Open the blue knob very slightly. It doesn't take much. You may have to gradually open it more. Very slight adjustments did it for me.

[kenetik]

Open the blue knob very slightly. It doesn't take much. You may have to gradually open it more. Very slight adjustments did it for me.

Okay well maybe I should explain my problem a little bit more in detail. Got the kegerator, filled up the co2 tank at a local car shop, got the keg (coors light bulge) hooked everything up. Apparently when my friend hooked it up he opened the valve on the co2 tank and the blue valve all the way, the gauge never showed more than 45 though. So our beers always FLEW out w/ tons of foam. So we turned it all the way off and had some okay beers but then the flow stopped obviously. So we let all the co2 out of the keg and have been fiddling with it to try and get it to stay on or around 15 with no luck. Every time I open up the valve on the co2 slightly it automatically goes to 45. I'm very new to this and basically need step by step help 'cause I've had no luck so far.

Thanks.

[younghog33]

Okay well maybe I should explain my problem a little bit more in detail. Got the kegerator, filled up the co2 tank at a local car shop, got the keg (coors light bulge) hooked everything up. Apparently when my friend hooked it up he opened the valve on the co2 tank and the blue valve all the way, the gauge never showed more than 45 though. So our beers always FLEW out w/ tons of foam. So we turned it all the way off and had some okay beers but then the flow stopped obviously. So we let all the co2 out of the keg and have been fiddling with it to try and get it to stay on or around 15 with no luck. Every time I open up the valve on the co2 slightly it automatically goes to 45. I'm very new to this and basically need step by step help 'cause I've had no luck so far.

Thanks.

I am having this exact same problem. Can someone help. The beer comes out all foam and I can not get the psi below 45psi

[iheartjen]

Same here

I am also having a problem with regulating the co2. I find that twisting the blue nob doesn't lower the pressure, only closing the valve on the tank. If anyone figures this out, please let me know.

[sexton311]

Unfortunately the gauge on the Kegerator is for the tank pressure, not line pressure (the numbers on the outside are PSI, inside are kgf/cm²). To set the pressure correctly, you can start it very low, and then keep increasing it until you are satisfied with the pour results, but you can't use the gauge to help you out at all. Even if you could somehow hook up this gauge to read line pressure, it would do no good since you would be trying to read between 5 to 15 psi on a gauge that reads 3500psi. That's like trying to measure a grain of sand with a yardstick.

You can either:
1 - live with it
2 - order a new regulator that has two gauges (about $30-$50)
or
3 - go to your local hardware store and get a pressure gauge and some fittings and add it to the line coming out of the regulator. (about $15-$20)

[Scheff]

I bought this kegerator and its been having a lot of problems. First of all I had to replace the regulator and the new one is working fine(pumping out at a constant 12 psi). The beer is still flowing extremely foamy, about 80% foam for each pour. My best guess is that the temperature must be off, I don't have a thermometer, but I can tell that the beer is definitely not 38 degrees.

I was wondering if someone could elaborate on how to adjust the thermostat. I took the cover off and I believe I found the right screw to back off (the small screw right above the knob?) I was wondering how far I would need to back it off, or if its just a guess and test kind of deal? Any ideas would be great, I'm getting thirsty for some good beer.

I was also looking at temperature controllers on this website and I was wondering if that would be another option for fixing this problem? I'm not exactly sure how they work or if they would only work for a freezer to stop the temperature from getting too low?

[edramshaw]

First I would get a thermometer. It is a small investment that will make your life easy while trying to do this. A small dial type from Target will be fine. To answer your other question, yes it is just trial and error. Back it off (the scre), let it settle overnight, keep a cup of water in the fridge so you can get the actual liquid temp and in the morning use your thermometer to get a reading from the cup. Adjust accordingly.

[Scheff]

I went out and got a thermometer and the temperature of the kegerator was around 50 degrees. I backed off the screw a little bit and the temperature began to drop. Currently I have it down to about 45 degrees. I have turned the screw a ton and I was wondering if anyone had a ballpark idea of how far I would need to unscrew it. I have given it a good 6 to 8 turns and I'm not sure if I'm even making any progress. I'm going to keep backing it off until the screw falls out or the temperature drops, just wondering if anyone had an idea of how far it needs to be backed off.

I was also wondering about the length of the beer line effecting the foam of the beer. The kegerator came with about 2 feet of line and I have been reading that it should be more like 5 feet. Anyone know if this would make a difference in the foam content of the beer?

I also bought a new regulator from micromatic and it is working great, keeping the pressure at a constant 12 psi. My only concern is that in order to hook up the new regulator I had to connect two different size hoses to each other. The regulator uses a 5/16 hose and the original coupler uses a smaller hose, so I bought 2 new barbs, one with a male end and one with a female, to bridge the two hoses together. I'm not sure if this could be a problem or not.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.