Kegerator running for hours off for 20-30 minutes

First off I realize I about doubled the size of the kegerator but I've read lots of others doing the same and it seems their cycles are not on 3x off 1x. I double wall insulated the inside with cabinet with 3/4 foil faced foam board from lowes, taped and caulked all joints. I added a fan at the far left pointing towards the cooling plate and it seemed to make the problem worse. I also added a 1/6 keg and a case of beer to help fill the space.


I'm using a STC-1000 set at 4.5C and kicks back on at 5.C. I tried having the probe in a 16oz water bottle and the air temp swings were huge. Tried having the probe just hanging but it still runs 3x off 1x. Is this just the way it is going to be? Will I burn out the compressor?


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I have a similar setup. Used 1" foam, original door, enough for 6 kegs. I set mine to 6.5 C. Otherwise it ran a ton. Now it runs twice an hour for 10 minutes a time or so. I'm not so sure how long the compressor will last this way,but I have the bar complete. If I put a keezer in, I would need to redo the whole damn thing. Some folks use mini freezers instead of fridge. I am going to try to line mine with galvanized sheet metal too. Pretty cheap at the HD.

How much does the temp vary? So it cools to 6.5 then kicks back on at what temp?

Try insulating/taping the probe to a larger thermal mass object. Try filling a keg full of water, and strap the probe to it as a test and see how it goes. Should balance it out and slow cycling after the initial cooling. The more you have in the kegerator the less it will cycle as temps will change far slower. If it is going to be mostly empty for a while adding other objects to spread out swings can help too. Bricks, metal, brew buckets of water, anything dense that conducts temperature will work.

cbehr said:

How much does the temp vary? So it cools to 6.5 then kicks back on at what temp?

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I have the differential (F2) set at .75 degrees so on at 7.25 and off at 6.5 but sometimes will go down a little more to 6.2 or so. My temp probe is in white labs vial filled with sand and centered both up and across inside.

I have 1 " foam, but two of the three walls also have r-19 since its framed that way. Moisture barrier in between. Its defiantly a work out for these fridges i think, but for now it cost me $17 to go a little bigger. (without taps and what-not). Perhaps that window is letting some cold out?

a fridge needs to expel heat from the sides, it likely can't do that since you insulated some of the sides, thus is runs a ton trying to cool since it's doing it really inefficiently now. Sorry but i would change your design or your fridge will not live too long.

HausBrauerei_Harvey said:

a fridge needs to expel heat from the sides, it likely can't do that since you insulated some of the sides, thus is runs a ton trying to cool since it's doing it really inefficiently now. Sorry but i would change your design or your fridge will not live too long.

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cold box is insulated, not the fridge. Fridge is wide open on sides and back. not sure about OP's setup, but looks open as well.

Did you look at the back to see the specifications? I think it should have a recommendation on run-time expressed as a percentage.

MrFoodScientist said:

Did you look at the back to see the specifications? I think it should have a recommendation on run-time expressed as a percentage.

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I didn't realize this was on there...difficult to see now due to how it's build in the bar but I'll see if I can reach my phone in and snap a pic!