Vissani Mod HOWTO (with pics)

[Crucial_25]

I have some brand new items that I removed from my Vissani on ebay

the auction #190333230252

[golfguy1982]

Hey guys,

Thanks to everyone who has made a new Vissani owner more confident. This advice is priceless. I will do my best to help as well with anything I can. With that being said I have a few questions....

Brand new Vissani just unboxed lastnight.......

I did the screw mod. I have frozen two cups of water trying to get the dial in place. With the screw turned a quarter turn.....what do I keep the dial at?? This thing got cold quick...with no problem at all.

How do you hook up the fans......do you use 1 or 2?

[boobsandbrews]

Hey guys,

Thanks to everyone who has made a new Vissani owner more confident. This advice is priceless. I will do my best to help as well with anything I can. With that being said I have a few questions....

Brand new Vissani just unboxed lastnight.......

I did the screw mod. I have frozen two cups of water trying to get the dial in place. With the screw turned a quarter turn.....what do I keep the dial at?? This thing got cold quick...with no problem at all.

How do you hook up the fans......do you use 1 or 2?

Okay. Before you go get your first keg, go ahead and turn the cooler off.
Do the following, and if you like, i can send you some pictures.
1. You need to insulate the tower better and make a tower cooler.
2. I highly recommend adding a 8 ft beerline from MM, and replacing the junk that Vissani provides. trust me, the 8 ft makes pours nice.
3. Test all of your parts prior to buying your keg. And make sure you still have your receipt. I replaced the coupler and regulator through the warranty company because both parts went bad and ruined my first keg.
4.Use a PC fan hung from the ceiling to circulate air.
5. Get a good dig thermometer for measuring liquid temp. $10 target
6. Get a cheap freezer thermometer for internal ambient air cooling temp

Once you have made your mods, and checked that all parts operate correctly, I would set your thermo on 1 or between 1 and off. This is currently where mine sits with steel 1/4 barrel and the ambient temp is 30 degrees with a liquid beer temp of 38 on the ***! Your PSi will be determined by beer type and altitude above sea level. I would also recommend that once you get your keg, tap the coupler, turn up to the required psi, and let it sit about 24 hours before pouring and checking for temp. YOu can change your psi based on the temp of the beer at that point. I used 14 psi, on Miller Lite, at 1000 ft above sea level, and never touched the psi since. It pours perfectly with the 8 ft line. Perfect pours with the tower cooler.

[cford88]

I just picked up one of these last night and searched the Instruction Manual and it makes no mention of the Coors Keg not fitting. It says that all 1/2 will fit with no restrictions. I am going to assemble this weekend and see what happens. Thanks for all the good info.

[dh4645]

can you wire the pc fan into the kegerator somewhere directly?

i do not have an extra outlet. the other one is being used by our food freezer

[torr58]

Coors kegs do fit fellas... just got to use a little muscle and a few inches of height under the keg to clear the bulge of the rear step. i have a half barrell of killians right now, just got done with the screw mod and using a old computers processor fan but havnt installed yet. awaiting delivery on new tower and faucet as i never trusted or liked the vissani original as it felt and looked too cheap.

[gregariousness]

there are quite a few new vissani posts saying that you got it from home depot recently... its not listed online, is this a in some stores only kind of thing?

[Crucial_25]

there are quite a few new vissani posts saying that you got it from home depot recently... its not listed online, is this a in some stores only kind of thing?

I was able to use the sku # to find which stores have them (also if it shows they have 1 in stock call the store and have them verify BEFORE you drive there) I found that several stores shown 1 in stock but must have had a demo without a box and they sent it out the door without removing it from stock

if you can.... go to your local home depot and have them do a search

(I picked up two tonight) they had them listed at $299 but at the register they popped up $247

Yeee HA!!!

[gregariousness]

I was able to use the sku # to find which stores have them (also if it shows they have 1 in stock call the store and have them verify BEFORE you drive there) I found that several stores shown 1 in stock but must have had a demo without a box and they sent it out the door without removing it from stock

if you can.... go to your local home depot and have them do a search

(I picked up two tonight) they had them listed at $299 but at the register they popped up $247

Yeee HA!!!

...what was the sku that you used?

[dh4645]

can you wire the pc fan into the kegerator somewhere directly?

i do not have an extra outlet. the other one is being used by our food freezer

anyone? anyone?

[Scott_Deeter]

can you wire the pc fan into the kegerator somewhere directly?

i do not have an extra outlet. the other one is being used by our food freezer

anyone? anyone?

I would think you can cut the power plug off the adapter and hard wire it in with the main AC on the kegerator. Or, just get an AC fan and wire it in direct. This is what I'm leaning to doing on with my kegerator, no need for the adaptor then.

Links to AC fans:
Fans: AC 110-120V

Orion Fans: Orion Fans AC and DC fans for all your Cooling needs.

[Scott_Deeter]

I would think you can cut the power plug off the adapter and hard wire it in with the main AC on the kegerator. Or, just get an AC fan and wire it in direct. This is what I'm leaning to doing on with my kegerator, no need for the adaptor then.

Links to AC fans:
Fans: AC 110-120V

Orion Fans: Orion Fans AC and DC fans for all your Cooling needs.

Sorry, after reading my reply again I noticed the Adapter in this post shows the use of the "Wall Wart" type adapter. In regards to my reply above, the use of an adapter with cutting the plug off the AC line, you would need one like in the pic I've attached.

[Crucial_25]

...what was the sku that you used?

sku # 362-868 is the golden number

good luck

[mikefl2]

sku # 362-868 is the golden number

good luck

they are now selling for 224.00 since thursday.

[mattmc1973]

they are now selling for 224.00 since thursday.

Did they get more in, or are there just some places still have them? When I bought mine, it was pretty much the last one in metro-Detroit.

[scalerious]

I needed to write. this forum was invaluable when I first bought my Vissani Kegerator.

To make a long story short, I could never get the temp just right. Then I did the mod and it never stayed at temp. I would have to redo the mod everytime I switched the keg out.

then I bought a 1/2 barrel of berr. That was the beginning of the end. I needed to drill a hole in the side since the co2 no longer fit inside the kegerator. in the process I punctured a freon tube. turns out it was the best thing I could have done.

I got the tube sealed from a friend of mine and re injected the freon and now, on the lowest temperature it hits 5 degrees!

The bottom line is you don't have to find out the hard way, I was tlaking with some people who say if you charge the freon or zap it or overclock it (they had a name for it which I can't remember) but it just needed more freon.

Anyways it's back up and running and everything is fine again.

PS I even tried to buy a new one from home depot but couldn't find one ANYWHERE. you guys are luck to have found them again, I was about to purchase one for $550.

[dh4645]

I needed to write. this forum was invaluable when I first bought my Vissani Kegerator.

To make a long story short, I could never get the temp just right. Then I did the mod and it never stayed at temp. I would have to redo the mod everytime I switched the keg out.

then I bought a 1/2 barrel of berr. That was the beginning of the end. I needed to drill a hole in the side since the co2 no longer fit inside the kegerator. in the process I punctured a freon tube. turns out it was the best thing I could have done.

I got the tube sealed from a friend of mine and re injected the freon and now, on the lowest temperature it hits 5 degrees!

The bottom line is you don't have to find out the hard way, I was tlaking with some people who say if you charge the freon or zap it or overclock it (they had a name for it which I can't remember) but it just needed more freon.

Anyways it's back up and running and everything is fine again.

PS I even tried to buy a new one from home depot but couldn't find one ANYWHERE. you guys are luck to have found them again, I was about to purchase one for $550.

oh wow, thanks

on another note, my co2 has always been on the outside in the little plastic holder on the back and the hole in the back from the manufacturer works just fine for the red co2 line....

[scalerious]

yes, I said it was a long story.

I mounted my tap on the counter above the kegerator. I had the option of either running the beer through it's original hole at the top and figuring a way to block the rest of the opening OR sending the beer out the back and drilling into the side for the CO2 hose.

Since my countertop is very close to the top of the kegerator, I chose the latter. What a dummy, but like I said, in the long run, it worked out.

I'm now running a cool 27 degrees and the beer comes out great.

PS I have Killians Red on tap now

[dh4645]

yes, I said it was a long story.

I mounted my tap on the counter above the kegerator. I had the option of either running the beer through it's original hole at the top and figuring a way to block the rest of the opening OR sending the beer out the back and drilling into the side for the CO2 hose.

Since my countertop is very close to the top of the kegerator, I chose the latter. What a dummy, but like I said, in the long run, it worked out.

I'm now running a cool 27 degrees and the beer comes out great.

PS I have Killians Red on tap now

hah, cool
i havent had killians in a while. i'll have to ask how much it is next time i need a keg.

i have a 1/2 of yuengling lager now. so yummy...especially after i cleaned the beer line and faucet. (i forgot to do that after my previous keg)

[ionizer]

wanted to post this last saturday, but only got activated on the forums recently:

FYI: I just picked up, on Saturday, a Vissani Kegerator from Home Depot, which is now clearanced at $224.

I thought it would be worth mentioning, that although I had read about the need to lower the temperature via removal of the box/screws, I put the temperature on 6 and let it initially cool. By 24 hours it was down between 32-36 degrees. I had water in there at the bottom in a cup and the very top of it had formed a thin ice layer. I took the temp of the water and it seems to be about 34 degrees.

this is all without needing to do any mods.

Also, my box came with the "Service manual" some people have talked about.

I do plan on contacting Magic Chef to get a replacement spout that fits normal handles. I will simply tell them mine is leaking i guess, as that seems to be a somewhat common issue.

I am hopefully going to pick up some CO2 tomorrow if the snow doesn't come too soon and then try a 1/6 keg to start with. Never done anything with CO2 and never even opened a keg in college (I always let others do it) so this is new to me and don't want to risk ruining a 1/2 keg.

[dh4645]

wanted to post this last saturday, but only got activated on the forums recently:

FYI: I just picked up, on Saturday, a Vissani Kegerator from Home Depot, which is now clearanced at $224.

I thought it would be worth mentioning, that although I had read about the need to lower the temperature via removal of the box/screws, I put the temperature on 6 and let it initially cool. By 24 hours it was down between 32-36 degrees. I had water in there at the bottom in a cup and the very top of it had formed a thin ice layer. I took the temp of the water and it seems to be about 34 degrees.

this is all without needing to do any mods.

Also, my box came with the "Service manual" some people have talked about.

I do plan on contacting Magic Chef to get a replacement spout that fits normal handles. I will simply tell them mine is leaking i guess, as that seems to be a somewhat common issue.

I am hopefully going to pick up some CO2 tomorrow if the snow doesn't come too soon and then try a 1/6 keg to start with. Never done anything with CO2 and never even opened a keg in college (I always let others do it) so this is new to me and don't want to risk ruining a 1/2 keg.

welcome

yes, just tell them it is leaking...mine actually was so they sent me a replacement that fit normal handles.

you won't ruin a keg...i had never tapped one before i got mine either and it was simple. just follow the directions.

i had to do the thermo mod...during the summer it needed to be colder since i have it in my garage and not inside my house.

now with the temp below freezing outside most of the time it stays in the low 30's.

yuengling lager is yummy.

[ionizer]

welcome

yes, just tell them it is leaking...mine actually was so they sent me a replacement that fit normal handles.

you won't ruin a keg...i had never tapped one before i got mine either and it was simple. just follow the directions.

i had to do the thermo mod...during the summer it needed to be colder since i have it in my garage and not inside my house.

now with the temp below freezing outside most of the time it stays in the low 30's.

yuengling lager is yummy.

hahaha you underestimated me!

I actually broke the keg tap attempting to tap the keg. I think I lightly pushed down before pulling and the METAL SNAPPED!! (Swear, I didn't even do it hard). I still managed to jerry rig it in w/o the handle portion, but it was a PITA.

So now I got two things to call for. I noticed (perhaps b/c i had the fridge open for a while and because the keg maybe didnt have time to cool a lot) that the beer wasn't as cold as I had hoped for.

but im going to let it sit for at least 24 hours and see how the temperature is of the beer before I try to 'mod' the thermostat.

One thing the instruction manual FAILS TO TELL YOU: You need to turn the secondary safety valve on the CO2 regulator back to the on position. I thought maybe I was retarded or something b/c I knew it was off but i was like "maybe its supposed to be or something" and so of course the beer stopped flowing after the first 1.5 pours. Then I turned it on and re-adjusted the pressure. I seriously re-read the manual 2x to check to see if it said anything about putting it back to the on position, and it doesn't, so i finally said 'well this makes no sense."

anyway, gonna call monday and get these replacement pieces.

BTW: I got 1/2 Keg of BUD LIGHT for $51.99 + $30 deposit for the keg. I am pretty sure that is the lowest price anyone has gotten it for. It was $59.99 but I was also buying some port for holiday gift for my boss and asked them if I could get any further discount for buying a bunch of stuff and he simply marked it at $51.99. Then as I was getting the keg in the car he said "you told me 1/4 keg (which i didn't) and i was like "no i said 1/2 keg, you even told me it was 59.99 (1/4 keg was 45.99)" and then he was like "oh right, ok"

so not sure if he intended to reduce the 59.99 price even further or what, but even 59.99 seems to be cheaper than most people can find it.

[ionizer]

i think i spoke to soon with the temperature
once i got the keg and put it in there i noticed my air temperature was about 42-46 degrees. I did temp of 2nd beer cup too and it wasn't much better.

so ive done the thermo-mod, but it doesn't seem like the thermostat is going on to cool the unit down further. I'll give it overnight and check where it is tomorrow.


Where exactly is the "sensor" for the thermometer? I want to see if that specific area is measuring differently than the top of the keg where i have the thermometer.

[verge32]

I bought one of these kegerators and the regulator was always drifting, I called the support line and they are sending another regulator that is on backorder.

[ionizer]

haha i just realized when i was turning "counter clockwise" on the thermostat that i was actually turning "clockwise" b/c i was holding it the opposite way that the manual shows. kinda silly for them to show it the other way since that's not how it comes out of the housing.

that would also explain why when i turned it not even 3/4 of a way (what i thought was counter clockwise) it kinda hit a stopping point.

what's weird is that even though i had turned it the "wrong" way, when i checked my beer temp on second pour, it was at 40 degrees, which was less than the 42-46 i was getting before.

hopefully i have turned it the right way now. Will check back on it in the morning. its a good thing i got this bud light so cheap, b/c i've now wasted about 10 solo cups worth (why? b/c the thermometer i bought is some POS from home depot and who knows what contaminates it has, so i dont want to drink it after having the thermometer sitting in the cup)

Question for everyone: Does the inside red tube (co2 line) come with one of those metal rings to tighten it? I have one for the outside line connecting to the regulator, but in the service manual pictures, it shows one on the inside, but mine did not come with a second one. I suppose I could just buy one, but just wondering if its necessary or not. I don't hear any leaking of air or anything...yet.

[verge32]

Question for everyone: Does the inside red tube (co2 line) come with one of those metal rings to tighten it? I have one for the outside line connecting to the regulator, but in the service manual pictures, it shows one on the inside, but mine did not come with a second one. I suppose I could just buy one, but just wondering if its necessary or not. I don't hear any leaking of air or anything...yet.

On the inside my co2 line attaches to the fitting, there is no clamp. The only clamp used on my co2 line was by the tank. Make sure you have the washers in there or it may leak.

[ionizer]

On the inside my co2 line attaches to the fitting, there is no clamp. The only clamp used on my co2 line was by the tank. Make sure you have the washers in there or it may leak.

washers on the outside? the only washers my vissani came with, if i recall, was the two to go over the wheels on the part that is not hitting the metal

anyway, enjoyed some nice crisp cold beer the other day, temperature is great, probably just above 32 im guessing b/c its friggin cold, but not frozen

im getting "a little more" foam than desired, but nothing bad enough to make me want to do anything hardcore at this point. My psi is about 11

should i lower or raise it to see about reducing the foam JUST A BIT?

this is BUD LIGHT 1/2 keg, i am just about sea level. temperature inside is measuring about 29-30 degrees. beer 2nd pour temperature is just about 32-33 degrees.

[ionizer]

well, looks like i spoke too soon again

so i went downstairs to check on the kegerator, make sure the temp was stable and nothing was freezing

i go to try to pour and nothing, so im thinking "crap i made it too cold, its freezing?"

i go to look at the gauge on the CO2 and its down to 0!

so im like "huh? i just filled this 5 lb tank brand new a week ago"

so i open up the kegerator and what do i see? apparently the RED TUBE which i was just mentioning above, had COME OFF from the tap and was just lying there inside the fridge.

does that mean I lost all my CO2 and im going to need a refill? I'm so confused b/c this seems not only somewhat dangerous, but silly that the CO2 inside is not fastened on in anyway and that somehow it came off even though it was untouched. shouldn't there be some kind of safety valve to ensure that all the co2 doesn't just empty out like that? how do i know if it is empty (aside from what i've experienced already)? Is it dangerous that all that CO2 was in the fridge and/or escaping into my basement? should i be worried about 5 lbs of CO2 in an enclosed room? What about in my house as a whole?

[mattnad]

well, looks like i spoke too soon again

so i went downstairs to check on the kegerator, make sure the temp was stable and nothing was freezing

i go to try to pour and nothing, so im thinking "crap i made it too cold, its freezing?"

i go to look at the gauge on the CO2 and its down to 0!

so im like "huh? i just filled this 5 lb tank brand new a week ago"

so i open up the kegerator and what do i see? apparently the RED TUBE which i was just mentioning above, had COME OFF from the tap and was just lying there inside the fridge.

does that mean I lost all my CO2 and im going to need a refill? I'm so confused b/c this seems not only somewhat dangerous, but silly that the CO2 inside is not fastened on in anyway and that somehow it came off even though it was untouched. shouldn't there be some kind of safety valve to ensure that all the co2 doesn't just empty out like that? how do i know if it is empty (aside from what i've experienced already)? Is it dangerous that all that CO2 was in the fridge and/or escaping into my basement? should i be worried about 5 lbs of CO2 in an enclosed room? What about in my house as a whole?

Yes, you're going to need a refill. But before you do that, make sure the problem doesn't repeat itself. I'm not familiar with the Vissani kegerator, but usually there's a plastic or metal clamp that ensures the tubing stays on (especially under pressure).

I wouldn't worry at this point about any risks from C02 exposure. If you haven't had any bad effects yet, you're fine. C02 is toxic only in pretty high concentrations and it should have dissipated by now - but since C02 is denser than most gasses in air, you may want to make sure your basement, if small, is ventilated.

As for safety devices to prevent run-off in the event of a leak (which is what you had in a big way), not aware of anything. The safety devices are to prevent over-pressure explosions.

[DCullender]

Doctor Bob

Recommend you swap out the brass shut off for either a plastic or stainless steel shut off. Both available on the Micromatic website or at your local CO2 supply shop.

The Draft Doctor
Richmond, VA

[verge32]

anybody have any luck cooling the tower on the vissani by either a tower cooler or putting tubbing?

[ionizer]

fyi, i put a regular clamp on the gas tube inside the kegerator, seems to be holding fine now