New To Me Bev Air BM23

[PointPleasantNJBeerguy]

Icing would be in the evaporator coils inside the unit.Would have to hold a flash light up to fan shroud to see in there.

[Noodle]

No ice on the condenser coil. Fans all run. I have my Maverick 733 probe inside the water so I don't have to open the door anymore when using my thermapen.

Everything looks pretty clean in back.

2014-12-089517.49.08.jpg

[PointPleasantNJBeerguy]

Sorry to bring up an old thread but it seemed the most appropriate.

I recently picked up a BM23 for $60 from a local surplus, bought a new Perlick faucet, D coupler, regulator, and air & be line.

The part i'm missing is the condensation tray that goes under the unit. Does anyone know the part number or something that would work there. It seems to be about 8" wide and minimum 8" deep would also be at most 3-3.5" deep.

Also when looking at the unit the upper left corner of the door has a pinhole /toothpick spot where the door let's light tgrough because the bottom hinge is very slightly bent.

Can't seem to bend it back and can't figure out how to replace that part of the hinge.

Last but not least it sat for a while and could use a little cleaning inside and smells a little musty. What would be the best way to clean it?

Thanks all.

Condensate drip pan is expensive...
Part # is
08B30S042C
BEVERAGE AIR COND PAN ASSY BM23 - 08B30S042C

Bevair used to just use a walmart quality bake pan with the wicking material in it.Better quality now...

[PointPleasantNJBeerguy]

That door is cocked by nature so it swings closed when open if thats part of your concern. If the piece at bottom is bent more then it should be then take screws out of hinge on door at top of door then door will lift off. You can then put a pair of vise grips on that bottom bracket and gently bend. If you breakoff that piece that goes into wall of unit, you are screwed and will have to adapt an exterior hinge.if gasket is just missing unit wall by a only a little amount try a hair dryer to soften up gasket to reseat it to the face of the unit.If you think tstat is bad you can jump out the thermostat to make it run 24/7. Do you see evaporator coil freezing up at all when running? best test is just a 5 gal bucket of water.If you can't cool mass amount of water then your not gonna cool a keg of beer.
Post some pics might help a little more answer your concerns with the door.

[KillianBoy]

Noodle,
Yup, what cubby_swans says, before you start blaming thermostat, you got refrigerant (too low), blower fan (worn out), door seal (also worn out). If you are saying as small as you say, MAYBE, not the problem, in an old unit you got a multitude of problems that will effect cooling.
Honestly on 6 at 24 may not be enough to get a correct reading, a warm unit MAY not cool as fast, BE PATIENT, try for 48 hours and see.
If the hole is between the gasket and unit, try and put a piece of tape and see if it doesn't show any light.
KB

[Noodle]

the container won't affect the temperature a cup of water would reach after a day. You'll really want to figure out a way to seal up the door. You can really see how much your seal is off by sticking a flashlight in the unit, closing the door, and shut off all the lights in the room. Any where light is escaping, cold air is also escaping.

I did actually put a flashlight in the unit and lights off. The only spot where any light is coming through is where I mentioned. The top left corner there is a pinpoint / diameter of a toothpick where I can see light. Extremely tiny but that is the only spot.

The bottom hing is slightly bent but not the piece that screws into the door but the part attached to the body. Can that part be replaced?
Could the thermostat be bad?

[cubby_swans]

the container won't affect the temperature a cup of water would reach after a day. You'll really want to figure out a way to seal up the door. You can really see how much your seal is off by sticking a flashlight in the unit, closing the door, and shut off all the lights in the room. Any where light is escaping, cold air is also escaping.

[Noodle]

So I just checked after 24hrs on setting 6 and it's only hitting 46 degrees in the cup of water placed inside with an instant read thermometer.

Actually think I'm going to switch out the water and test again tomorrow. I have it in a plastic cup now but am going to put my stainless steel nalgeen water bottle in there. I would think that's closer to a keg per say

[Noodle]

Sorry to bring up an old thread but it seemed the most appropriate.

I recently picked up a BM23 for $60 from a local surplus, bought a new Perlick faucet, D coupler, regulator, and air & be line.

The part i'm missing is the condensation tray that goes under the unit. Does anyone know the part number or something that would work there. It seems to be about 8" wide and minimum 8" deep would also be at most 3-3.5" deep.

Also when looking at the unit the upper left corner of the door has a pinhole /toothpick spot where the door let's light tgrough because the bottom hinge is very slightly bent.

Can't seem to bend it back and can't figure out how to replace that part of the hinge.

Last but not least it sat for a while and could use a little cleaning inside and smells a little musty. What would be the best way to clean it?

Thanks all.

[whiplash willy]

This old BM23 has a 2.5" tower, and i want to be able to use the new Stainless Shank I picked up from micromatic. The problem is the new shank has a larger diameter then the hole in the 2.5" tower. I guess the 3" tower's shank holes are larger. I could try drilling out the hole in the 2.5" tower, but I rather just put a 3" tower on my BM23. Is there some kind of adapter that you can screw into the mounting holes for the 2.5" tower, that also has studs for a 3" tower? Any better way to retrofit a 3" tower then having to drill new mounting holes, which I really rather not do?

[THE ICEMAN]

As long as the compressor cycles on & off at 7 or 8 you shouldn't have a problem. The temp control, over time, may have come out of adjustment internally. The only danger is if the compressor runs continuously causing the evaporator coils to freeze over. The only way those units defrost themselves is when the compressor cycles off & the evaporator fan blows air through the coil to melt any frost that might have built up.

EDIT: Looks like Sketch beat me to it.



THE ICEMAN

[Sketch]

If it were me I would put the setting at 6 for 37.5 degree beer - my personal dispense temperature is 38.

If you want colder beer, you should be fine moving the dial to 7 or 8 as long as the compressor cycles - if it runs constantly without ever turning off, that is where I think an issue could arise.

Also - the door seal. When you replace that, assuming it's as old as everything else, your unit will run much more effeciently.

Tower Mounting Gasket

[whiplash willy]

Iceman, thanks for checking the date for me! It is cool knowing the manufacture date. I still have the original tower cooler tubing, but you can tell it is 25+ old. It is yellow and moldy. I am going to remove the brackets, and find something I can replace it with, I rather not pay $25 for micromatic's replacement.

So far it seems it will cool kegs to the temp I want, but as it is, I may have to set the thermostat too high. Running it at 7 or 8 would cause issues right? I think I will have to set it to 7 or 8 to get the temps I would wont in it's current state. I still have more things I can do like cleaning the evaporator, changing the door seal, and possibly a new thermostat, but we will see how it goes.

Here are the temperatures I have achieved so far in my 5 gallon water bucket, after letting it sit 24 hours for each setting:

5 -- 40*F
6 -- 37.5*F
7 -- 36*F
8 -- 34.5*F

My next step will be cleaning. I want to remove the tower to clean it, but I am worried I may ruin the seal/gasket between the tower and the top. Do you guys think that will happen, or know where I can get a new gasket?

[THE ICEMAN]

That would be awesome if you could look up the date for me off the compressor. I am interested in knowing its age!

Here is a close up picture of the serial off the compressor:



I also typed it out since it is kind of hard to read:

AE 160 AS 719 (A6)
T F2287 E 0 3 4 9 5 2 AE 3417 "A"
115Hz 60 LRA-22

Over the weekend I filled up a 5 gallon bucket and set the thermostat to 5. After 24 hrs it the water temp got down to about 40*F. I then set the thermostat to 6, and tested it 12 hours later, and then again this morning at it was at 37.5*F. This morning before I left for work I set it to 7, and will check it again.

I feel that it could probley cool better, but it is probley cooling well enough for use. What do you guys think? I still need to check the door seal. I also need to check/clean the evaporator coils.

The Compressor Coils are free of dust now, but do have a little surface rust, as you can see in the pic. Do you think the rust will have a negative effect on cooling?



Also, my last kegerator was a converted Sanyo Mini Fridge. I had it plugged into a Johnson's control box, so the temp was very consistent. How is the consistency of the BM-23's thermostat? Also, as you get to the last 1/4th of the Keg, do you have to mess with the thermostat, or can you set it and forget it?

It looks like your compressor has not been changed over the years. I have highlighted the serial numbers & model number I was looking for above. The 'F**87' tells me that the compressor was manufactured in June of 1987. The 'AE3417A' was the model number of the compressor. If for some reason you had to replace the compressor down the road the new model number would be 'AEA3417AXA'. So basically you have a senior citizen as far as beer boxes go - about 25 years old.

As I mentioned before, everything looks to be original on the unit meaning it has not had need to be serviced as far as the freon goes. That is a good sign. Check on the door seals & take your time checking the temps - adjust it a little at a time & let it run.

The condenser coils don't look bad, I wouldn't worry about them. Just make sure they stay clean.


EDIT: If you will go back to your first pic of the evaporator housing, you will see a hole in the cover in the upper left corner by the temp control. That hole originally had a tube running up to the top of the tower providing cold air to keep beer lines in the tower cooled. You may wish to get some tubing to replace the one that is missing or else you will have foaming problems.




THE ICEMAN

[KillianBoy]

whiplash willy,
If you don't have the air hose for the tower cooler, you are going to find one once the water gets to temperature, I think it goes into the hole between dial and fan, other end hooks at shank.
KB