Most bone-headed thing I've done in a while!!

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janson745

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Metro Detroit - SE Oakland Co.
So this weekend, I decided to make a kegerator. I have had this mini-fridge since college, and really I didn't have any use for it, its just taking up space in my garage...

It is a Magic Chef 4.4 cu ft, so I measured the inside dimentions and it will fit my keg and co2 tank perfectly, with a few minor modifications. Off to work I go!!! :rockin: I had to remove the shelves from the door - done no prob. But my next problem was that there is a freezer at the top, and with it there - the height is about 23", its not enough room to fit the corny keg in there - I need 26" clearance. My bright idea was to remove the freezer shelf. Well, I see this hose looking thing coming from the back of the wall into the freezer, and for some reason I am thinking it is just an electrical cord that prvides coolness to the freezer, so I snip it, with all plans of making it look all pretty... upon snipping it, I hear "Pppffffssssssss". Yep you got it, it was a freon line. :drunk: All the freon escapes and now I got nuthin... my fridge is going to the curb.

I have called a few places to see if it can be repaired. I am thinking that it would just need to be soldered up and then re-charged with freon. But everyone I called said it will be minimum $200 (but most likely closer to $300) to do - I can buy a nice kegerator on Amazon for $169 free shipping.

I cant believe I did this - So now I do not have a kegerator, nor a mini-fridge... boy I'm dumb. :smack:

So, let me know if you can think of anything that can be done with a minifridge that can not lower temperature...
 
If you rip the door off, it makes a pretty good sled. Slippery underneath, and it insulates your arse from the cold. :drunk:

Thanks for sharing, maybe telling about it will stop someone else doing the same.
 
If you do not have a fermentation chamber, then you could use it for one with a temp controller for $25 on Ebay. and a very small heater. The only caveat is that you can only use it effectively in the winter...
 
If it's any consolation, you have time to do something dumber yet to top this. Ask me how I know.............
 
Back in the day my roomates and I built a bar in our apartment. We bought one fridge like that, with a metal freezer compartment that had a freon line running through it, and we very carefully drilled a hole through the freezer metal, avoiding the freon line, and through the top to run the keg hose through. Problem was it acted like a 6-inch wide jockey box and froze the beer line. So we even more carefully bent the freezer piece back flush against the back wall. It worked great until it started to frost up.

One night, during a party one roomate got the bright drunken idea that the frost had to be knocked off, and the way to do that was to start swinging that section of metal up and down, leading to this conversation:

Me and other roommate: "Stop that! You are going to pop the freon line and ruin the fridge!"
Dumb roommate: "Shut up, I know what I'm doi...."
Freon line: (Pop! Psssshhhhh.)

Then he got a replacement fridge, drilled a hole in the top before turning it on, and the first time he turned it on found out it had a bum compressor. No warranty for fridges with holes in the top, though.
 
janson745 said:
So this weekend, I decided to make a kegerator. I have had this mini-fridge since college, and really I didn't have any use for it, its just taking up space in my garage...

It is a Magic Chef 4.4 cu ft, so I measured the inside dimentions and it will fit my keg and co2 tank perfectly, with a few minor modifications. Off to work I go!!! :rockin: I had to remove the shelves from the door - done no prob. But my next problem was that there is a freezer at the top, and with it there - the height is about 23", its not enough room to fit the corny keg in there - I need 26" clearance. My bright idea was to remove the freezer shelf. Well, I see this hose looking thing coming from the back of the wall into the freezer, and for some reason I am thinking it is just an electrical cord that prvides coolness to the freezer, so I snip it, with all plans of making it look all pretty... upon snipping it, I hear "Pppffffssssssss". Yep you got it, it was a freon line. :drunk: All the freon escapes and now I got nuthin... my fridge is going to the curb.

I have called a few places to see if it can be repaired. I am thinking that it would just need to be soldered up and then re-charged with freon. But everyone I called said it will be minimum $200 (but most likely closer to $300) to do - I can buy a nice kegerator on Amazon for $169 free shipping.

I cant believe I did this - So now I do not have a kegerator, nor a mini-fridge... boy I'm dumb. :smack:

So, let me know if you can think of anything that can be done with a minifridge that can not lower temperature...

My biggest question is where on amazon did you find a kegerator for $169????
 
My biggest question is where on amazon did you find a kegerator for $169????

Oh, it is not a kegerator (yet), it is just another minifridge sans freezer, though. I will be the DIYer that will make it my kegerator. Since I already have the stuff I need to make it... Just need to pick up 1 more shank and perlick, since this one will fit 2
 
janson745 said:
Oh, it is not a kegerator (yet), it is just another minifridge sans freezer, though. I will be the DIYer that will make it my kegerator. Since I already have the stuff I need to make it... Just need to pick up 1 more shank and perlick, since this one will fit 2

Haha okay. I got so pumped for a minute. I'm in the process of going all grain right now but I was about to sacrifice part of that spending to buy that thing haha.
 
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