I just scored this bitchin' fridge for next to nothing. Do you think it would be possible to compartmentalize it for two temperatures? I was thinking one section at about 50F and the rest at 62F. Any ideas? The chilled air comesin at the top right of the unit.
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"..can the human soul be glimpsed through a microscope? Maybe, but you'd definitely need one of those very good ones with two eyepieces."
What kind of fridge with what layout? Is it an upright side by side? Because I have an extra one of those and have been wondering the same thing. Can you use the two sides for two different temperature zones....
If it is a chest freezer with a cold air in blower, I would think you could divide the cold box and run a fan controlled by a love between the compartments.
If it's a single compressor fridge this may be a moderately technical thing to do. Maybe not. Eiather way, I don;t see it as impossible. If it is a dual compressor unit with a single coord, you'd just need to figure out how to power the compressors individually.
On the coldestr side, a single stage should suffice to hit the coldest setpoint by cycling the comp on and off. On teh warmer, I think it would need a dual stage with the cooling stage controlling a fan to draw the cold air fron the cooler side as needed and the heating stage controlling some kind of heating device (light bulb, terrarium heater, etc..) to maintain the proper balance.
Sorry - Here is a photograph. I guess you can't hot link Picasaweb.
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"..can the human soul be glimpsed through a microscope? Maybe, but you'd definitely need one of those very good ones with two eyepieces."
I would throw in a good amount of insulation... say 4" between the two sections you want to have... Use a temp controller to run the compressor on the right (compressor side) then cut 2 holes in the top of the insulation big enough for some 4" pvc.have a piece of pvc only about 2 ft with a fan on the end bolwing into the ale side. This fan would then be controlled with a second temp controller and will kick in when The ale temp gets tooo high. Run the other PVC pipe from the lager side to the ale side on the top of the insulation with no fan. This will allow you to have 2 individually controlled areas with little to no permanent damage. Since this is a 3 door unit... Just repeat it and make sure you have 2 pipes running into each section running from the compressor side. This will then allow you to have 3 individually controlled areas.
Hard to tell from the pic but, it looks like it might actually already have two compressors. Nice find. Set ya' back much?
Is that a Love "like" controller there in the middle top or just a digital temp display?
Actually, it was basically free. I had to haul it away and one other piece which I am selling or scrapping. The moving was a bit pricey of course. The digital display is just a temperature monitor. The other piece is a really cool wok stove that would make a great rig project if anyone interested. It's really heavy; you can see it in this thread.
I would throw in a good amount of insulation... say 4" between the two sections you want to have... Use a temp controller to run the compressor on the right (compressor side) then cut 2 holes in the top of the insulation big enough for some 4" pvc.have a piece of pvc only about 2 ft with a fan on the end bolwing into the ale side. This fan would then be controlled with a second temp controller and will kick in when The ale temp gets tooo high. Run the other PVC pipe from the lager side to the ale side on the top of the insulation with no fan. This will allow you to have 2 individually controlled areas with little to no permanent damage. Since this is a 3 door unit... Just repeat it and make sure you have 2 pipes running into each section running from the compressor side. This will then allow you to have 3 individually controlled areas.
Thanks for all that information mnadamn. i would love to see some photos of an example if anyone has done this.
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"..can the human soul be glimpsed through a microscope? Maybe, but you'd definitely need one of those very good ones with two eyepieces."
Thanks for all that information mnadamn. i would love to see some photos of an example if anyone has done this.
Actually it is basically the same concept as the son of fermentation chillers, except you would lager in the area the ice is stored... Here is a link to one that has a fermentation chamber on top of a keezer... That is another option you can do.... have one at serving temp with a cppl taps on it, one at lager, and one at ale....
any way, here is the link The-Mother-of-All-Fermentation-Chillers
My only recomendation is to run both the intake and exhaust lines on the top... that way, any air leakage would be warmer air into the coldest chamber. This will allow for more accurate temp control as the cold air in the lager side wouldnt be leaking into the warmer air on the ale side as would happen if you had the tubes on the bottom....
Last edited by mnadamn; 10-13-2008 at 08:15 PM.
Reason: redundant
I should have stated this before... but the lines that run from the lager side to the ale side should be low on the lager side and high on the ale side.... that way, you blow cloder air into the ale side and the fans have to work less....
^^I just about to suggest the very same thing. This is highly do-able KD.
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Shoulder the sky, my lad, and drink your ale. A. E. Housman
Fermentation Fridge dual temperature ?
Linear Mode
