The short answer
On a Kegco draught cabinet, warm beer and a warm cabinet are two different faults. Beer warm at the tap with the box cold is a tower problem, not a refrigeration problem, and it is the commonest version of this complaint by a distance. The first check below separates the two in a minute. Because these hold their contents for weeks rather than days, a small error shows up as a slow drift rather than an obvious fault.
What you observe
- The compressor runs constantly and never satisfies — Points at heat rejection or a door that is not sealing.
- The first pour is warm and foaming, later ones are colder — Beer standing in a warm tower, not a cabinet that stopped cooling.
- NEAR MISS — nothing runs and nothing is cold — A supply or control fault; read the page for a cabinet that will not start.
Causes, most likely first on a Kegco refrigerator
- Warm tower and lines, not a warm cabinet — Id: keglines — The beer path and the cold box are separate systems. Beer standing in a warm tower between pours is a beer-path problem, and no amount of refrigeration work will change it. Establish this first: it is the commonest version of the complaint and not a refrigeration fault at all. Pour a glass, discard it, pour again.
- Ambient heat and load beyond its capacity — Id: ambient — Second: room heat and a load put in warm are not a fault, they are a limit: the unit can only move so much heat, and a hot corner or a full shelf of warm bottles uses all of it.
- Door not sealing, or not quite closing — Id: doorseal — Third: a seal that no longer grips, a door propped by a shelf or a bottle, or a cabinet leaning back a degree too far all leave a gap you cannot see, and warm damp air walks through it all day. It moves up a place here because long storage hides a slow drift: nothing looks wrong until the contents say otherwise.
- Sealed system or compressor fault — Id: sealed — Last, and the reason the order matters: when the refrigerant circuit leaks or the compressor stops pumping, everything looks normal and nothing gets cold. It is rare, it is the one fault an owner cannot touch, and it is why the cheap checks come first.
Check in this order, and why
- Pour a glass, discard it, pour a second — A cold second pour after a warm first settles the question. First because it is the top-ranked cause above and costs nothing.
- Look at the room, the sun and what went in warm — Placement and load show up here before anything internal does. Second because its cause ranks second above.
- Close the door on a strip of paper and pull — It should drag everywhere, corners included. Third because its cause ranks third above.
What an owner can safely check
- Pour one glass and discard it, then pour a second — It separates a warm tower from a warm cabinet in under a minute.
About 5 min
- Log the reading morning and evening for two days — A drift is only visible against its own history, never in one glance.
Tools: thermometerAbout 20 min
- Read the box with a thermometer in a glass of water inside — Air temperature swings at every opening; water reads what the beer sees.
Tools: thermometerAbout 15 min
- STOP HERE if the next step needs a meter on live terminals or the sealed system — That is where owner checks end and a service call begins.
Before you open anything
Safety
Unplug the cabinet before removing any panel; a capacitor can hold a charge after the power is off. The gas bottle is the other hazard: a carbon dioxide cylinder is a pressure vessel, it must stand secured, and a leaking bottle in a closed room is a suffocation risk. Attempt nothing on the sealed system.
When to call a technician
Call once the seals, the coil, the clearance and the setting are proven good and it still will not hold temperature — that points inside, where owner checks end. Call immediately for oil at the compressor or tubing, or a smell of burning: oil outside the pipework means the system is open. Draught parts are widely stocked and standard; the cabinet's refrigeration parts are ordered against the model on the rating plate.
Nearest pages of this class
What this page does not cover
This page covers Kegco refrigerators as a class, not one family or model line. Where a family- or model-specific page exists for your unit, that page is the more specific answer. Not here: wiring colours, board part numbers and charge figures. It is kegerators and draught cabinets: a cooled box with a tower or a tap through the door, and a gas bottle inside.
Lead Appliance Repair Technician · 12 years experience
Experienced technician with 12 years specializing in washing machine and dryer repairs across all major brands.
