Ceramic Tower Cooling

kenche · 11-28-2007, 10:35 PM

I am in the process of putting together my kegerator. I bought a used Danby kegerator and am converting it for use with cornies.

I have bought a ceramic tower to replace the single faucet tower that the unit came with. The kegerator has a nicely finished hole for feeding the beer lines through already, but is only 1.5" ID.

I am concerned that the tower will not be cooled at all from the fridge, but have not come up with an easy solution. I have considered purchasing a blower and running the beer line in flexible hose attached to the blower, but I am restricted by the small diameter in the existing hole. The smalles blower I could find takes a 2" flexible hose.

I have also considered an aquarium pump, but I have some doubts that this will be effective.

Whichever way I go, I will insulate the beer lines and try to envelope them in some kind of tubing to reduce the impact of the large cavern of the ceramic tower.

Any suggestions?

blefferd · 11-28-2007, 11:22 PM

got a pic of your set up? just want to check it out!

*edit how many lines are running up to the tower? you could just use 2" tubing run it up to the hole that goes to the tower mount it some how to the top of the fridge then cut a couple holes in it to run your beer line through. does that make any sense?

kenche · 11-28-2007, 11:39 PM

http://www.flickr.com/photos/58315461@N00/2072678866/

Rhoobarb · 11-28-2007, 11:57 PM

Just a thought - try running the tubing through something that will conduct cold air - maybe some flexible copper tubing (?). Can you open that 1.5" dia. hole any?

kenche · 11-29-2007, 12:02 AM

There is a smaller plastic piece that is cemented to an inner plastic piece. If I can seperate them I would have a 2" opening. My first attemp was unsuccessful, but admittedly I didn't try too hard.

I have heard mixed reviews about the copper pipe technique...

**Yuri_Rage** · 11-29-2007, 12:05 AM

kenche · 11-29-2007, 12:11 AM

Ok, after a closer look ( I don't know how I missed it the first time ) I have removed both the inner outer plastic pieces and have a nice clean hole just like Yuri's picture above.

Yuri, it seems that you are running your beer lines outside of the blower hose. I have heard reccomendations to put the beer lines inside the blower hose. What are your thoughts on that?

There is a large void inside of the ceramic tower and I worry about cooling the interior interior space of the tower. I would prefer to focus the cold air on just the beer lines and shanks.

**Yuri_Rage** · 11-29-2007, 12:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kenche

Yuri, it seems that you are running your beer lines outside of the blower hose. I have heard reccomendations to put the beer lines inside the blower hose. What are your thoughts on that?

Just run some cold air up into the tower, the rest will take care of itself. There is no need to complicate things by running the lines inside the blower hose - they'll stay cool as long as there is cool air circulating around them. I find that cooling the whole tower is a pretty nice solution to the "foamy first pour" dilemma. My fan setup is overkill; it takes a very small amount of airflow to keep things nice and chilled. I've seen similar setups on commercial kegerators - they barely move any air up into the tower, and the lines are not inside the blower hose.

With the setup above, the taps get nice and cold to the touch, and I get a nice pour every time.

kenche · 11-29-2007, 12:32 AM

Yuri,

Do you have your blower set to run continuosly, or is it wired to the condenser?

**Yuri_Rage** · 11-29-2007, 12:33 AM

Mine's wired to the Ranco temp controller that I use as a thermostat (it comes on with the compressor).