Hibernating and Awakening Your Draft System
Turning Your Draft System On and Off
Whether you’re looking to hibernate your draft system or you want to bring it back to life, no worries, we’ve got you covered! Below you will find a step-by-step guide on how to hibernate your draft system as well as a checklist to bring your draft system back to life.
Hibernating Your Draft System
If things have been slowing down due to shutdowns and you can no longer fully utilize your draft system for a few weeks, we suggest taking these important steps. These steps will ensure that your draft system stays healthy and will be ready to use once you are up and running as normal. Whether you have a self-pour beverage wall or a traditional bar setup, if you hibernate your draft system, your establishment will avoid any unforeseen repairs once your doors open and you’ll be ready to start pouring again. Below we breakdown each step:
1. Call your draft cleaning company to schedule your regular cleaning before shutting down.
In case your cleaning provider is unavailable in the coming days, your draft system can go two weeks between cleanings. While waiting for your cleaning provider, you can leave your system as is. Once the cleaning company arrives, ask that they do not leave any fluid or cleaner in the system.
This is a safety precaution in case there is an undetected gas leak.
If there is any water left in the lines, the glycol power pack temperature should be increased to 40°F. If the lines are empty and cleaned out, the whole system can be turned off.
And, make sure to clean the floors, wall and kegs to prevent any future growth of mold.
Each of the steps listed above should be repeated every 4 weeks during the shutdown of your draft system.
Our systems are designed to be used regularly, and we can expect many flowmeter failures if we do not work together now to prevent mold, dry sticky buildup, calcification, and bacteria from damaging the most sensitive part of the self-serve system. With that being said, a rash of flowmeter failures at your location in the future may not be covered under warranty.
Awakening Your Draft System
If you were forced to temporarily hibernate your draft system and now you’re getting ready to reopen, we created a simple-to-follow checklist when bringing your draft system back to life.
Download our easy-to-follow checklist here!
What will you get in our checklist?
This checklist will have your draft system back in action and serving guests in no time! It will tell you what you need to take care of and how:
- What to do with gas
- Temperature in your cooler
- What to do if your system includes a glycol power pack
- And other tips!
We suggest that you print out our checklist and grab a pen. Start checking off each step as it is completed. If you are also looking for help developing your COVID-19 strategy, check out our list of 54 Tips when Reopening in the Pandemic World.
Soon, your draft system will be up and running and you’ll be serving customers again. Cheers to that!
