Ice buliding inside Hairer

[SigmaChris]

Hello,

Spent most of last night checking out your FAQ for my foaming problem which I think is because the Hairer Kegaroator isn't getting cold enough due to ice forming on the back wall where the refrigeration / cold air comes from. I poured a glass this morning and the temp came out at 48F which I attribute to the beer in the tower. I poured another beer immediatley and it came out a 41F. I was using a thermator designed to be dropped into a fish aquarium, so I think this would be pretty reliable.

So I have spent the last hour with a hair dryer de-icing the back wall so my new keg of Sam Adams will get colder for tonight's beverages. I usually de-ice the the fridge every second or third keg, but I was wondering if there was any solutions to prevent this icing? I also clean the beer lines after every keg with BLC. Will a box of baking powder in the fridge absorb moisture before it has a chance to freeze or is this a problem that can't be solved?

Thanks in advance,
Chris

[THE ICEMAN]

Originally Posted by SigmaChris

So I have spent the last hour with a hair dryer de-icing the back wall so my new keg of Sam Adams will get colder for tonight's beverages. I usually de-ice the the fridge every second or third keg, but I was wondering if there was any solutions to prevent this icing?
Thanks in advance,
Chris

You can try picking up a timer from Home Depot or similar that you can plug your kegerator into. You would want to set it to shut the unit down for 45 min to an hour in the middle of the night. You might need to experiment with the time or the number of events during the day.

[psychodad]

Some icing is going to be normal. If the kegerator doesn't have a defrost cycle built into the works, you are going to have to do this yourself manually from time to time. Unplug the unit for a half hour or so every week and leave the door open to prevent it from building up to the point that it is now. Resist the urge to chip the ice away with something, there have been a few kegerators killed this way.

If you think that what you have now is above normal as far as frost, make sure the door seals are in good shape. Also frequent opening and closing of the door will contribute to icing.

[SigmaChris]

Thanks for your input guys, I will give those suggestions a try.

[eff20see]

I have had a Haier for several years. I wasted 2 or 3 kegs initially due to various problems. First off, the fittings that came with it were all screwy and I had multiple CO2 leaks, so I went through several 5lb bottles of CO2 before sealing off all the leaks. After liberal use of teflon tape on all of the threaded fittings, I finally got that taken care of.

The next problem I had was regulating the temperature. In the humid summer months, the coils would get so much ice on them it would freeze up and then the internal temp would shoot well over 50F. After a few google searches I saw a suggestion to put a computer chassis fan inside the kegerator. I had a few laying around, so I hooked up a 12V fan and used some stiff wire to hang it from the top of the coil and have it blow air straight down. This was so effective, the internal temps actually shot down to the mid teens overnight, and I froze a keg solid. After goofing around some more I could barely get the thing above freezing, so I tried slowing the fan down by using a 7V power supply, and this not only cut the noise, but suddenly I was easily able to maintain a constant temp in the desired range. This has been running for almost 2 years with no no ice build-up on the coils and mostly perfect pours. I just recently replaced all of the draught technologies fittings with 100% stainless micromatic parts, starting with the keg coupler, all new beer hose, and a new micromatic shank on the tower. Last summer, I replaced the crappy OEM faucet with a stainless perlick. I just connected a keg of Harp's and it tastes exactly how it should, so I'm pretty happy. Now I just gotta figure out how to knock down some of the extra foaming I'm getting compared to the old setup.

[IPA_man]

I have the unit and a thin ice layer is quite normal on the backplate. If the unit is defrosting on its own, this ice will go away with each defrost cycle. Have you applied the thermostat service bulletin? Once I did that my unit will stay anywhere from 32-38 with the stat at slighlty above the "normal" setting. I have pdf's of all the service bulletins for the Haeir, so let me know if you need them.

Cheers

[weave5dog]

i have this same problem with my kenmore, i just dont know where to put a half a beer to keep it cold , while this thing defrosts... but it's like every 2 weeks it has to be done...