Ripping the guts out of a mini fridge

I have a Danby Dar482bls, I have ripped out all the shelves, shaved down some of the plastic on the walls, and cut the door crap off to barely squeeze in 2 cornys.

My girlfriend and I would like to have the kegorator in the kitchen, and I've been trying to figure out ways to hide it. (It's pretty dinged up)

I can BARELY squeeze it into one of our larger cabinets, but it's a tough fit, and it got me to thinking, how about ripping out the the guts and just insulating the cabinet itself? It's only about 8" wider, same height, so I imagine it would be similar cubic footage. I've just never seen how these things work, do they have lines running through the walls or the top?

Here's an amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000PUKLI6/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20


Also, since the picture isn't very good of the inside, it's a fridge that has the cooler coils running flat agains the back, and teh compressor underneath in the back.

Any suggestions?

Your initial problem with this is to where to put the compressor, as it will get hot. I have cut apart several mini fridges, and never had any coils in the sides, although I have heard of it. I would trace the cooling coil from the compressor, and if it is pretty obvious that it goes straight to that freezer box cooling element in the back of the fridge, you are good to go at your own risk...

This seems like a fairly expensive fridge, so you may want to conduct a test to see if there are coils in the top or sides. I think it can be done with a vodka and starch test? Get some feedback, and I bet you can do what you are hoping somehow.

I tore apart a little minifridge and definitely had to do massive foam insulation excavating with a steak knife. Those heat exchange coils CAN be bent, but only very slowly. Like benbradford said, my compressor gets pretty hot, and so do the heat exchanger coils, so I wouldn't mount that thing in a solid wooden box like a cabinet without a vent and a fan to help cool it or something.

If you really need your piece to look nice, consider modifying something like this: http://www.potterybarn.com/products/kirkwood-buffet/?catalogId=17&bnrid=3380801&cm_ven=Google%20Base&cm_cat=Shopping&cm_pla=Feed&cm_ite=Google%20Base-1581370

I think I'll be going in that direction with my minifridge guts. I'll get something commercially manufactured for another purpose that's already attractive, then install my cooling coils and completely line the thing with insulation like a fermentation chamber. The piece would need enough surface area on the back to accommodate the heat exchange coils for your fridge, and you'd have to pull it out from the wall some so it could breath.

I tore apart a mini-fridge and installed it in a custom cabinet. I had to work very carefully as the heat disapating tubing was very thin.

Here's a thread with the details
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/mini-fridge-total-dissection-photo-story-87692/

pjj2ba, that is rad.

one question:

why share your precious homebrew with strangers at a party?

ilikethetrees said:

pjj2ba, that is rad.

one question:

why share your precious homebrew with strangers at a party?

Click to expand...

I brew way more then I could ever hope to drink.

I did something similar... there were tons of lines in the outside... and the skin after it is cut/ ripped off is very shart (dont ask me how i know).

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/my-kegerator-build-frankin-mini-fridge-263926/

Hmmm. Thanks for the links. This is looking like more and more of a bad idea, lol.

I have tore apart three mini refrigerators now. One, a Sanyo, had the same sort of lines that you are describing. Not only did the coils run on both sides, but it also ran across the top (obviously, a closed system). These lines are RIDICULOUSLY thing and fragile. If you do not have to take it apart, I would recommend not doing so.

You could always look for a mini on CL with the radiator on the outside, which is much easier to tear apart and MUCH easier to re-install in something else. That is what I did with my Ferm Chamber build.