Questions to ask on used equipment?

[PhilGood]

When looking to buy used equipment, what are some questions that you should ask the owner of that equipment? What are some of the most important questions to ask?

[burcher]

This is a tough question b/c most questions you ask will, of course, be answered to appease you. In other words, the seller is biased by their desire to sell you the product so they're going to tell you what you want to hear. If you don't know what you're looking at I think you're next-best option is to assess the people that took care of the equipment. For example, if the brewers were slobs, chances are the equipment was not taken care of properly. What was their cleaning regime? Where was the equipment before they got it? When was beer last made on the system? How good were those beers? Just my $0.02.

[South County]

To add to what Burcher said, asking questions will only get you a relative amount of truth. The key is knowing what your looking at and if you don't know take someone that does. You can look at a tank/brewhouse real quick and size up whether its is well made i.e. welds, polish, structural soundness, if it has good hardware, etc. The same goes for pumps and ancillary. If it looks beat it probably is. If people say its refurbished or "just had X done", ask for receipts.

[beertje46]

When looking to buy used equipment, what are some questions that you should ask the owner of that equipment? What are some of the most important questions to ask?

Have you read John Mallet's Using the used on ProBrewer yet? Good stuff.

[PhilGood]

Thanks guys

Thanks for all the advice. It will come in handy.

[burcher]

another thing I thought of having just gone through this process (and still going through it actually) is to find brewers and handypersons near you who can help you 'figure it out'. It's kind of like having a kid - there is no manual. Once you buy it you still have to prep the facility, plumb and electrify it, and then learn to use it. All of this stuff (I'm hoping) will be easier if you have help from someone besides the seller. If you're lucky the seller can offer some help but mostly it's on you.

[OPO Brewer]

Pay attention to water mineral trails on outside of equipment especially those with steam jackets. If you see some, you can be assured that it probably STILL leaks. Fixing them is difficult if not impossible. Pull apart the pump and look at it's condition. It can be one thing that may indicate what kind of maintenance the system got. If you are buying a system that is still in place by all means take it for a test drive before anything is taken apart. Look at refrigeration temperatures too. Get a complete bill of sale with ALL equipment listed so you don't end up paying for something that "isn't a part of the deal" later. I learned a lot of lessons having just purchased my first system. Some I don't want to post but will talk about privately.