dbarrm

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Has anyone done this. I want the line to come out the back or bottom. A friend of mine did his out the side but I dont like the look of it. I dont want to just start drilling holes and mess it up so Im hoping someone has already done this.

I took a few pics to help show what I'm talking about. In the first pic you can see a hole on the back of the fridge. It had a around sticker covering it the same color as the sides. Behind the outer wall and visible in the hole is what looks to be an inner aluminum wall. This is the area where I would like to drill the hole for the CO2 Line.



Now looking inside the fridge the placement of the hole in the back is just below the cold plate. This unit has coils in the sides, you can feel them get warm/hot when the unit is running.



I am hoping that behind the aluminum plate is the inner plastic wall of the fridge but am still worried about drilling into something that will ruin the fridge.

With these pics can anyone tell me if its safe to drill here or not??

Dan

timbudtwo

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You could take a dremel and very carefully take off the surface sheet metal to expose whatever may be underneath. Other than that, without knowing exactly where everything goes it's hard to know for sure. I am in the process of making my kegerator and I chose a rather innocuous spot to put my spout on. There weren't any coils there but the power cable that ran to the temp controller just happened to be embedded in the insulation right where I wanted to cut. Luckily I used a dremel first and not a hole saw.

dbarrm

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Bump...

Dan

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Fermenting: Nothing at the moment.

stonebrewer

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Yes, this can be done. First thing I did was decide where I wanted to do my penetration test. Looking at the design and wiring, I came to the conclusion that this kegerator does not have refrigeration lines throughout the shell like a refrigerator does. I may be WAY wrong on that, but following the lines from the compressor into the shell, they all seem to lead to and from the black refrigeration panel in the back of the unit. So based on that, I decided to boldly go where no man has gone before or some such nonesense.

First, I carefully drilled a pilot hole from the inside:



Closeup view is next. I actually drilled just enough to make it throught the plastic and probed around with a piece of wire. Not hitting anything but foam on either side, up, down or forward, I drilled until I hit the back wall. The lower hole on the left is the drain that doesn't work worth a crap, reason being is it is not flush with the lowest point on that little shelf so the water pools and freezes instead of draining...



From the back it looked like this:



Using my drill with a 1/2 inch bit, I forged ahead and completed my preliminary hole:



I used a dremel tool and an old chain saw sharpening bit to slowly open the hole up on both sides until the hose JUST fit through. I used keg lube on the hose to help get it through. Here is a picture of the bit and the hose installed:



Here is what it looked like on the inside once I finished. Note that I removed the black screw on the top holding the refrigeration panel in place and used a longer screw with a few washers to ensure the same depth to hold up my (oversized for this kegerator) CO2 manifold.



And from the outside, once I put everything back together:



Total time to mod the kegerator was about 10 minutes, going slow as to not break the darn thing. I may be wrong about the refrigeration lines but I think this cheap Chinese kegerator actually may be as simple as I described above.

I would like to do 2 more modifications to this unit. First, I am going to remove the tower and replace it with a two or three faucet tower. Second, I am thinking about removing and replacing the internal plastic walls. If I can get about 1/2" more space, I believe I can fit 3 5 gallon Cornies versus the current two in this kegerator. I have no time in the next month or two to take on these projects, but when I do I will be sure to post on here for anyone else with this unit.

Stonebrewer

stonebrewer

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Oh, there was a third thing. I removed the temperature controller tonight and adjusted the screw to get it colder. There is a great thread on HBT that talks about how this is done. I turned it several turns in a counterclockwise direction and it appears that it is keeping my beer colder than the 40-42F degrees it was. We will see over time if it is where I want it to be (around 36-38F).

jeremybrown9

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What are the advantages or disadvantages to having the CO2 bottle inside the fridge or outside the fridge?

__________________
Always do sober what you said you would do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut. - Ernest Hemingway

scubasteve03

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More beer on the inside!

stonebrewer

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With this kegerator, I believe I will be able to squeeze 3 Cornies in, but the only way that will ever be possible is to get the CO2 tank out first. Other reasons I have are:

* I use a 5 lb tank now. They vary in height and some will not fit standing up in the kegerator with the regulator in a convenient position. If my supplier only has the tall ones, it becomes a pain to get things to fit.

* I want to use a 20 lb tank in the future which definitely will not work inside the kegerator.

* Outside, the tank is not behind 2 or more kegs. So it is easier to get at the controls without moving kegs around. This has the added benefit of not having the door open and saves energy and $$$.

* Gets cold inside, so changing it out means working with cold metal. Not a major reason, but not having that cold, wet cylinder to deal with is a small plus.

* With the tank on the outside it is easier to control since I don't have to move things. So, if I want, after I charge up my Cornies I can turn off the CO2 until pressure drops, then recharge. I have experienced leaks before that I have not been able to track down. This will help me eliminate this, I hope.

* I can put the tank on a scale and monitor how much CO2 is left.

Those are my main reasons for putting it on the outside.

jeremybrown9

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I mean in relation to the CO2 itself. Does it CO2 act differently when in a refridgerated environment?

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Always do sober what you said you would do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut. - Ernest Hemingway

stonebrewer

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http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/refrigerated-co2-16513/

See above for discussion of that. I think what I take out of the posts is that there is little real affect other than pressure increases in the bottle and perhaps the high pressure gauge may give you more notice that you are running out of CO2? Read and see what you get out of it.