Snacks on Racks Posted February 11, 2020 Share Posted February 11, 2020 (edited) I am exploring the purchase of a used USI Wittern Model 3545. I can't find much on this site on their reputation, and not much online at all. I saw that it is difficult to service the cooling system, but that is it. Does anyone have experience with this older model that they would like to share? Are the cooling systems particularly problematic? Are there any serious flaws in the design or construction? Edited February 11, 2020 by Snacks on Racks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wegroup Posted February 11, 2020 Share Posted February 11, 2020 I'm not a USI/Wittern fan. They service just like an other machine, work about the same as any other machine, however, the supply line for parts is pretty much through their small network, which makes parts hard to get and expensive. Because the bottlers are customers of Dixie Narco, Vendo, and Royal Vendors there are an abundance of parts available for those brands of machines everywhere. I don't own any USI machines, but service an account that owns about 10 USI 3545 machines when they have problems. The majority of problems are the cooling decks. I have a guy that does refrigeration for me, and he has never had any issues that could not be resolved. I'm also not a fan of dropping carbonated drinks from a shelf to the delivery bucket. Really, I think it all comes down to what choice you want to make for your equipment, I tend to purchase the same brand of equipment for uniformity, but I have bought a machine or two that was different from the rest, simply because I couldn't pass on a good deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tblake05 Posted February 11, 2020 Share Posted February 11, 2020 The 3545 I have no experience with. However we own a lot of USI machines and to be honest, hardly ever have issues. So far I had a condenser fan on a couple (which I replaced myself 60.00 for the replacement) and the standard bill validator/coin mech problems. Plus changed out a vend motor here and here. Thermostat on one. Really been pretty decent machines. Parts seem readily available also (at lease the ones I've needed) If the 3545 is a Combo machine though, I donno..... How much is the asking price? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZVendor Posted February 12, 2020 Share Posted February 12, 2020 The refrigeration units in those machines are garbage. Stay away from them. They are glued together so you can't get them apart when you have to work on the evaporator, the fan the compressor or the drainage system. The evap drain hose kinks and floods the machine. This is a poorly sealed machine so it forms excess condensation. The condenser fan is on the back wall of the machine, only accessible from the front. The harness to it is connected to the cooling unit in such a way that you have to crawl into the tiny space behind it to disconnect the fan just so the cooling unit can be pulled out to access the rear fan motor. I have never understood how this design even made it into production, let alone continued in production. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snacks on Racks Posted February 12, 2020 Author Share Posted February 12, 2020 @tblake05 thanks for the info. The asking price is $1800. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snacks on Racks Posted February 12, 2020 Author Share Posted February 12, 2020 @AZVendor thanks for the additional info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tblake05 Posted February 12, 2020 Share Posted February 12, 2020 Yes, like I said, not familiar with the 3545 so better take AZ's info and stay away. 1800 seems sort of steep also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryChris Posted June 7, 2022 Share Posted June 7, 2022 Just had one fail on me. Compressor clicking. I can't wait to see th bill on this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryChris Posted June 9, 2022 Share Posted June 9, 2022 FYI, it took about 5 minutes to get this deck out on my first time on this kind of machine, and I've done several dozen refrigeration deck swaps on other machines. It took over an hour to reinstall because of the tight space and lack of knowledge. The deck has been updated so the plate over the fan had to be removed, and I still didn't get it right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nrgvend Posted April 11 Share Posted April 11 I'm looking into getting a 3565, are they pretty similar? Based on these reviews of the 3545 I'm not sure if I want to get it... I have a couple really old witterns and I'm looking to get some newer machines, preferably all of the same brand for uniformity. Not sure if I want to go wittern or Dixie or vendo... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZVendor Posted April 11 Share Posted April 11 If you're talking about glassfront beverage machines then I would go Dixie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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