Inaccurate kegerator temperature

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A few months ago I bought a used Mangrove Jack's kegerator. Had been meaning to check the internal temperature against what the external reading is giving, to make sure it was accurate. I always had a suspicion it was actually higher than the setting and display were giving. So eventually I got around to testing it last week.

I put a digital thermometer and a remote thermometer in the kegerator and left for a few hours. One is high at the back and the other low at the front. They gave consistent readings about 0.5° difference from each other. But a whopping 6° degrees higher than the temp display was giving. Kegerator was set to 2°, but was closer to 8° inside.

I started lowering the temperature in the kegerator 1° at a time. After a couple of days, I had it set to -3° with the internal temp at around 3°. So the discrepancy has been fixed at 6° over that range.

I then started searching around for other reports of this discrepancy and found lots. Some referred to a bulletin from a kegerator manufacturer which I eventually unearthed. I'm attaching it here. It gives full instructions on how to rectify this issue.

What it says it that you can have the external reading (and setting) more accurately reflect the internal temperature by soldering a resistor in parallel with the probe. The resistor used can be either a 100k ohm (for a 3° differential) or a 33k ohm for a 6° differential.

I'm posting this here because I've found no reference to it anywhere here and as these kegerators are sold under a myriad of brand names, this may apply to any number out there. You may be aware that there is a temp differential on your kegerator or maybe not. But worth checking and making the modification if needed.
 

Attachments

  • 80401-Series-3-Temp-Modification.pdf
    540.3 KB
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