Need Kegerator advice

They get that way. I usually change them every 8-12 months. It is cheap enough.

 

i think i can speak for many here... we are super happy that your system is in check. and that you stayed with us. well, with Doug anyway. great BA work Doug.

buy yourself a roll of beverage tubing. thick wall, 3/16" by 7/16" and not the 3/16" by 5/16". the extra 2/16 (1/8 I suppose) is a better product.
then, once a year. when you feel like it, change lines. throw out the old and install the new. you'll be golden forever.

beer is food and no matter how hard your try the lines will eventually go off. beer stone is a big headache best solved by replacement in our world of kegerators.
Cheers.

 

Haven't encountered foam upon closing. Are you closing it crisply?

 

Think it's time to cut your losses and get a new unit.

Or just buy 30 packs.

 

Entirely possible that since you weren't opening and closing the door it equalized there. Next time you hear it run turn the temp dial until it stops running and let it settle there for a while. Have you checked the door seals? Flashlight inside and turn off the room lights. A gap in the seal will screw with you too.

 

Sorry man, just having a little fun. You have more patience than I; would have been too frustrated to keep at it. Good luck with your machine.

 

You can't eliminate the sweat because you can't add enough insulation without restricting the return airflow from the tower cooler.

 

You can insulate the tower you just don't want to block air flow doing so. Most towers come with a thin foam cylinder that just sits inside the tower with the beer line running through the middle. I have had to try and insulate towers that weren't insulated at original install and I used some pipe insulation that was about 3" in diameter and simply cut strips out of it till it fit the size of the tower. Just make sure you use nothing thicker than an inch, I would use 1/2" or so.

Also I would say your current issue is you have too much restriction for the psi you have it set to. I wouldn't increase the psi either. Cut your line down to 5'. 10' is way too long. I don't know what elevation you are at but generally 1' of 3/16 beerline is a little more than 2 pounds of restriction. The beer should pour fully out of the faucet, which I highly don't yours is.

 

He has first beer foam now, all he needs is a tower cooler that goes to the shanks. It isn't line length related. Don't go backing up all the progress that was made over the last three pages.

 

Not to step on your toes Doug but he said his tower was sweating and he was talking of extending the blower hose so I assumed he has a tower cooler.

To the OP the blower hose should come all the way behind the shanks in the tower so that all that cold air flows directly over the shanks and back down the whole length of line.

Doug I agree that he should get his temp under control before he trouble shoots anything else but it sounds like you did get it under control and having 22 pounds of restriction with 12 psi on the line will cause the exact problems he is experiencing. The pressure gap from that will cause the beer to off gas to balance out the loss of pressure.

 

Again, based on his last report everything is fine except for the first beer which can be fixed with the tower cooler properly positioned. 10' lines are fine, they are slowing the flow of properly balanced beer. Could they be shorter? Sure, but they aren't causing the first beer foam.