Today after work I finished securing the tower to the sink, connected the lines underneath and ran the trunk down to the freezer. What sucked the most about what I did today was working under the sink. Not sure if any of you guys have ever had to for various reasons, but space is hard to come by. But, it needed to be done.
I grabbed a center punch and right angle drill to get into the spot next to the back splash in order to drill the last hole through the sink. Once all 4 holes were drilled for the #8 hardware I picked up it was time to mount the tower. I put a bead of Marine Goop down in between the spacer I made and the sink. This is a adhesive and sealant all in one. It works wonders! Actually getting the tower into the hole was easy, but getting the fender washer, washer, lock washer and nut on the other side of the bolt was challenging to say the least due to the lack of space. I forgot to snag a picture from underneath of the hardware...
Next up it was time to prep the lines. The 4 lines sticking down from the tower need to be wrapped together so that the glycol lines actually cool the beer. Wrap the lines with packing tape as tightly as you can. Once they are wrapped with packing tape, wrap them with a clear tape to create a vapor barrier (not really sure what to call it). Now cut the lines from the trunk line to the right lengths so that they will connect to the tower lines without too much fight. Next put the solid piece of foam up and over the tower lines, so that when you tape it all up there is a solid line of foam insulation. I cut my trunk lines to where I thought they needed to be and still had to fight them. Don't forget to put the hose clamps on each of the lines, then press them onto the corresponding barbs. Once everything is connected it is time to seal it all up. I tried to get a little overlap with the foam insulation, but I don't think it ended up as I wished. Once all the foam insulation is on the lines, tape them up with duct tape. I made sure to go at least 3 inches below the cut I made on the trunk line and about the same above where the tower foam comes down to.
Now it was time to finish routing the trunk line in the basement. I used some wood screws I had laying around and some pipe hanger tape. Every few floor joists I would hang the trunk line with some hanger tape. I routed the trunk line over to where I want my keezer to be. Be aware of all the other lines in the floor joists. There is a cold water line and a drain I come in contact with. As long as you do not apply a lot of pressure to them you should be in the clear. Hot water and gas lines are another story, that I did not have to deal with.
That is the location that I intend to put my keezer at. For some odd reason my basement has a half wall and I intend to put the cooler on that and run the lines across/above where the sump pump is. No my basement does not flood, I have 2 French drains that drain to the sump pump. If the power goes out, the generator picks up. As you can see in the last pic, I have a lot of trunk line left over. Better to have enough than to come up short.
I won't be able to work on the project tomorrow as I have other plans for the evening but I am going to figure out my collar so that I can have that finished this weekend, I hope. After that all that is left is the electrical aspect. I need to run a line over and make a new outlet so that the sump pump is still on its own dedicated circuit and I can have the keezer, chiller nd my water softner/conditioner on another outlet.
Draft Beer Tower at the Kitchen Sink
Linear Mode
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