Not bad with some upgrades Avanti BD6000 Stainless Steel Beverage Dispenser
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I paid $399 for my Avanti kegerator on closeout from Best Buy. I read all the reviews online for it, but for $399 I couldn’t pass it up. That’s $200 less than the Danby and $300 less than the Kenmore/Sanyo. (The stainless Kenmore/Sanyo is $400 more!)
Now, I did not expect the thermostat to work, and I was not disappointed. The Avanti thermostat wanders and it’s set either at too warm, or frozen.
So, I bought a Johnson temperature controller for $54 from www.micromatic.com. Then I cranked the Avanti’s thermostat to max cool, slid the probe from the temp controller into the avanti through the hole for the CO2 hose, and plugged it in between the avanti and the wall. It controls my temp now, and it holds a perfect 36 degrees.
The Avanti also has too short of a beer hose - only three feet. The recommended length is 5 feet. The short hose coupled with too high a temperature makes beer foam. While I was at micromatic’s website I also picked up a longer hose ($7) and a hose coupler ($2). I cut the old hose off at the connector, then cut the new hose two 3 feet long, and then just put them together with the coupler and some hose clamps. (I’m running 6 feet of hose and I get perfect pours)
The sankey tap isn’t the highest quality. It works, but it’s made of pot metal and the check ball is plastic. It leaked the first time I connected it to a keg, but I unhooked it and tried again and it sealed that time. I’m going to buy a new stainless body tap ($26) from micromatic before I attach another keg.
Once the thermostat is overridden and longer beer line is attached the kegerator is pretty much perfect, with a new sankey tap it IS perfect.
The CO2 bottle is of very high quality and the regulator is very accurate - I had no trouble dialing in 12psi and it doesn’t wander at all. Apparently some Avantis have a plastic tower, but mine is painted metal. The faucet works well and doesn’t leak.
This seems like a lot of extra work and it is… but for $399 $54 $7 $2 = $462, or $488 with a new $26 sankey tap, I’m still at more than $110 less than the $599 Danby, and I’ve got MUCH better components in my Avanti now.
The Danby also has thermostat problems… but it keeps the beer too warm. The same modifications can’t be made to the Danby because it doesn’t cool enough. The avanti’s problem is over-cooling, and that can be fixed with an external thermostat.
6 months later:
This kegerator is still performing great. I’m still using the Johnson temperature controller, and the original keg tapper. I still get perfect pours, and I have had zero problems with this kegerator since I set it up. The only thing I will note is that you need to take apart the faucet, tap, and lines between every other keg, or if your kegerator sits for any length of time without beer in the lines. Dirty components make the beer foam, and complete disassembly is the only way to clean everything. (takes 15 minutes to do properly).
Overall VERY happy with the Avanti after all this time… my brother liked my setup so much he bought one for himself (with the exact same modifications)
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