Danby Troubles

[letoutpuissant]

Hey everyone. First off I want to say thanks for the community, it's pretty cool to have a place to find out info about kegerators.

I came here because last night we had some problems with our Danby DKC645BLS kegerator. It will not cool off below 45 degrees now.

Yesterday I had cleaned out the kegerator and purchased a new keg. I was reconnecting the CO2 tank to the regulator and I heard some CO2 leaking after I turned the tank on. My kegerator is in the corner of a room, so set the tank on top of the Danby, and moved my couch out of the way. In the process of this happening, the CO2 decided to fall off the top of the Danby on the floor.

Immediately I saw and heard a gas shooting out. I thought it was the CO2, and checked the lines and regulator and realized I had the tank turned off, and quickly noticed that the gas was coming out of the kegerator.

Seems to have fallen and broken some sort of steel line.



You can see there, with my terrible temporary tape job, that is where the line broke. Trouble is, I have no idea what is the purpose of that. I can only assume it had the Freon in the tank.

Here's a photo of the setup as a whole, so you can see that this line seems to just end and go nowhere.



I've had this kegerator since the end of 2005 and I'm curious as to how this could be fixed, etc. I'd prefer to keep costs to a minimum and prevent from buying a new kegerator. Thanks in advance!

[psychodad]

As you can see, tape isn't going to fix it. You are right in assuming this is a freon line. This can however be fixed IMHO, but finding an appliance repair operation willing to do so will be hard.

[letoutpuissant]

Hmm that really sucks. Anyone know where I could go about trying to fix this? I called an appliance repair place but they want $100 just to come out and look at it. Not looking good hopefully this doesn't mean the kegerator is garbage.

[psychodad]

You will likely have to call around and see who will let you bring it in. As you see, a service call just to look at it is pricey. You may find it easier to salvage the tower, coupler, lines, regulator and co2 tank and build one from an old minifridge or freezer.

[THE ICEMAN]

I'll tell you exactly what it is & what is involved.

The thing you have taped up is the filter/drier in the refrigeration system. The tube that goes nowhere is simply a process tube. They use it to charge the unit up at the manufacturer & then weld it shut.

Since it is on the high pressure side of the system I would bet all the refrigerant is gone. Do not run the unit any more until it can be repaired.

What the serviceman needs to do is replace the drier, evacuate the system & recharge the unit. He could conceivably just weld up the leak but it is better to replace the drier since the system has been opened to the atmosphere. Any serviceman worth his weight should be able to do this & it would only take about an hour to an hour and a half. And yes, I do this for a living. If my company were to do it, it would come to somewhere around $200/$250 to fix. Shop around & tell them what needs to be done as I described above. Good luck.

[letoutpuissant]

thanks a lot, I really appreciate it. I'm in the process of finding someone right now, I'll update my post to let everyone know how much it ended up costing just to end all curiosity.

[bard]

For reference, I paid a guy $125 to replace my drier and recharge the system on my Bev Air unit a couple of months ago. I took it to his house where he repaired it at his convenience. I then picked it up once he was done.

[THE ICEMAN]

For reference, I paid a guy $125 to replace my drier and recharge the system on my Bev Air unit a couple of months ago. I took it to his house where he repaired it at his convenience. I then picked it up once he was done.

Sounds about right if I were to do it on the side. Maybe even a little less.

[cubby_swans]

Or, you could take the money, buy a used chest freezer off of e-bay, and a temperature controller, and convert a chest freezer using the tower, coupler, and co2 out of the Danby.