The Grand Deluxe is coming

[tavas]

So after many emails and delays, Keg King came good and sent me a Grand Deluxe keg fridge. Fridge looks awesome, fits up to 8 cornys and 3 tap font. Its noisy though but to be expected as its supposed to be an outside fridge.

Anyway, I'm moving house so in the process of moving the fridge I notice that the compressor is branded Secop and made in Slovakia. "That's funny" I think, its supposed to be Embraco made in Italy.

A quick Google tells me Secop is the old Danfoss brand.

So 2 questions emerge from this: are Danfoss/Secop compressors any good? Actually for that matter, are Embraco compressors any good?
And, since its plastered on the Keg King website as "Italian Made Embraco" is that false advertising (or does that not matter?)

On the actual manufacturers website (New Dynamic Limited) they advertise as Embraco or Secop: http://www.kegexpert.com/productshow.asp?ArticleID=279

Otherwise, fridge seems to work well. And more importantly the wife is happy with it. My only problem is the kegs seem to empty a lot faster than 30 bottles.

 

[elcarter]

I know Italy makes a huge amount of stainless appliances eg ovens ect.

I wonder if the "Italian made" is just the body and the compressor is imported and fitted.

 

[tavas]

Would be good if any fridgies could chip in on the reliability of the said brands. Google hasn't thrown much from a 5 minute search.

 

[Dips Me Lid]

Hey Tavas, I maintain a lot of air con units that have Danfoss comp's and from my experience they're a reliable brand, I can't speak for their cool room style or refrigerator comp's but I assume they'd be of a similar quality.

 

[tavas]

Thanks DML. That's good to know.

 

[Dips Me Lid]

What's the price tag on these Grand Deluxe units?

 

[tavas]

Yeah not cheap. $1500 plus delivery. The 3 door is $2000. http://www.kegking.com.au/Downloads/Catalogue%20-%20Retail%20Price%20List.pdf

or if you're feeling really generous you can buy the same fridge from Beverage HQ for $5000 http://www.beveragehq.net/Commercial_Kegerators-Kegstar_Commercial_Kegerator_ND_72_3_x_50_litre.html

We will be using ours as an alfesco fridge as well so hoping it will do the role of two fridges in one.

 

[Dips Me Lid]

It seems like a reasonable price for a quality commercial fridge that's purpose built for beer, I might have to start saving my pennies, I was just reading the specs and said it can hold 12 corny kegs, that's pretty good.

 

[tavas]

Because mine took so long to come I started looking at alternatives. The wife flat out refused a keezer arrangement, so it had to be commercially available. I couldn't find anything cheaper, and all the under bench fridges I found were all too small in height for kegs. Price wise it stacked up against similar sized fridges. I'm happy with the quality so far.

 

[mikk]

How's the fridge going? Keen to get a 3 door model, but unable to view one in Sydney prior to making the big decision, it seems.

Any thoughts on the fridges quality would be appreciated by Grand Deluxe owners, and any ownership quibbles (ie, noisy, poor design features, size, effectiveness of font fans, etc) would be great to know about. Also, what does the rear of the fridge look like- same as the sides? The rear of mine would be on display for all to see...

Keg King denied my request to have an extended warranty available, so a little wary about spending so much on something with the KK brand.

Thanks,
Mikk

 

[HBHB]

How's the fridge going? Keen to get a 3 door model, but unable to view one in Sydney prior to making the big decision, it seems.

Any thoughts on the fridges quality would be appreciated by Grand Deluxe owners, and any ownership quibbles (ie, noisy, poor design features, size, effectiveness of font fans, etc) would be great to know about. Also, what does the rear of the fridge look like- same as the sides? The rear of mine would be on display for all to see...

Keg King denied my request to have an extended warranty available, so a little wary about spending so much on something with the KK brand.

Thanks,
Mikk

Will have a 3 door running at home with 8 taps on it from Thursday. When it's had a workout, I'll post. Until then...it sure does look pretty with all the bling on it.

 

[mikk]

That would be great, thanks. With 8 taps, can I assume you're using' proper' beer fonts and not keg king air-cooled ones?

 

[tavas]

I have had my GD 125 for about 6 months now and must say it been very good. The unit uses about $10-12/month in power (I was measuring it but then switched the power meter over to my urn so never finished the full month). Keeps everything cold, though I am yet to measure the internal temp to see how accurate it is.

Unit is noisy though when the compressor kicks in, so best not to put in the house (supposed to be an outside unit). Internal circulation fan is also noisy.
Fan assist up the font seems to work pretty well, though will also depend on your font and insulation. I managed to get the hose most of the way up the Cheaky Peak font I have and seems to keep everything cold, but i did damage the insulation in the process (standard CP 3 tap font).

LED inside the fridge is awesome.

Drip tray is OK, mine doesn't quite sit flush and in an ideal world my fridge would be outside and the drip plumbed away from the fridge. So be aware if you have a big spill in the tray it will leak on the floor.

Quality of joins inside the fridge is average, but doesn't seem to affect the operation.

Compressor is a Danfoss (renamed Secop since Danfoss was sold off). I believe these are very good compressors.

All in all very happy (so far) with the product.

 

[tavas]

Manufacturer (from what I can gather) is here http://www.kegexpert.com/productshow.asp?ArticleID=281

The back of the fridge is flat black from memory, but note that the controls for the thermostat are at the back so little fingers may want to press buttons. Venting for compressor is side and back I think.

 

[HBHB]

So...... got the new one delivered yesterday.

Have to say: I like peace and quiet. This unit doesn't offer peace and quiet. Mind you, it should drown out the noise of the occasional commercial jet that happens to fly past 4-5 klm away. (Just kidding)

But if you're planning on having this unit inside the house - you best have a deaf wife or else find somewhere else to put it.

Certainly, it looks pretty good and certainly it dropped the temp down from 29 ambient to 5 deg in a matter of minutes.

Time will tell, but on first impressions, this is a fridge that really needs to be in an outdoor BBQ/Bar/shed with a loud TV. Not sure how long it'll take to get used to it/nor if I ever will. I'm thinking the only way to get used to it is to knock out the current wet bar and extend it to enable this unit to be built in.

Just saying it how it is.

 

[mikk]

Looks nice! What fonts are they, & does the fan manage to keep them cool?

Thanks for the feedback, tavas & HBHB

 

[HBHB]

Looks nice! What fonts are they, & does the fan manage to keep them cool?

Thanks for the feedback, tavas & HBHB

Just a couple of not so cheap SS ones - we brought them up for an initial fit-out, but wouldn't bother to buy them in again. Poorly finished and shit quality end caps. the two aren't even when mounted side by side, slight difference in offsets and heights at each end. Welded by the blind society in China at a guess. Still searching for better stuff.

Should add, I'm not interested in super cold beer. if it's made right it shouldn't need to be served at -2 to make it taste good. Usually pour at between 3 & 5 Deg C for warmer months and drop them back to 5 for winter, which puts in into the glass at about 6 or 7.

 

[HBHB]

OK, we've been running this one for about a month now and I got a solid workout over that time. It's currently running 8 kegs and a couple in reserve.

I must say, while I found the running noise a little excessive in a quiet atmosphere, you don't notice it after a few nights sitting close by. Certainly in an enclosed bar area or in a commercial setting, it'd be fine. The menu for the controller is simple for changing the set point, but as you get into the deeper settings, it'd be easy to get lost in the woods. Mine is set for 4 degrees, figuring beers will warm up a few degrees fast enough after pouring.

The provided font fans do a decent job of cooling the beer to a point where it's still at the nominated temp at the glass.



The light inside is a godsend.
We set up hoses running to an adjacent drain to cater for beer spills and excess condensation, though they tend to need a flush after a big session with inexperienced people pulling taps etc. all good.

The fridge pulls down room temp kegs fairly quickly and cycle times aren't any longer with one or two fresh kegs going in.

The top comes wrapped in a protective plastic coat which is a pain in the arse to remove and clean up afterwards. Be prepared for some hard yakka.

Overall, pretty happy with the unit, but it's probably overkill for the average guy running a few kegs. But for catering functions after a club competition where there's 40+ people pulling beers it's excellent.

Edit note. It might be good but it doesn't come with gravity defying ability....it's an added extra thanks to AHB's arse about photo uploading protocols.

 

[Yob]

Do we have to mount it on the ceiling?

 

[HBHB]

Do we have to mount it on the ceiling?

How else could you get the beer to come out into your mouth?