Connecting collars to freezers

I'm about to get my GE 7.2 cu ft freezer and at some point I will probably make a collar for it. I've seen some pictures but one thing I'm not clear on is how do you connect the collar to the freezer? Seems like most people use the hinges to connect the lid to the collar, but I don't see what connects the collar to the fridge. If you don't, I would guess the entire collar would tip over when the lid is opened.

Just use a good quality silicone between the collar and the top part of the freezer. The weight of the collar plus the lid and the adhesive quality of the silicone will keep it real snug. Plus, if you ever want to convert it back to a freezer, no damage done, you just have to remove the silicone.

L brackets

I used rope type weatherstripping caulk like this:

http://www.hardwareandtools.com/M-D-Building-Products-71522-Rope-Caulk-30-Feet-Gray-3439247.html

It's sticky and has the consistency of stiff modeling clay. It's easy to tear into strips of the desired width and cut to the desired length. It will fill minor gaps due to imperfections in the wood collar and it's adhesive properties are sufficient to hold the collar firmly in place. I like that it would be easy to remove if desired. The freezer lids are normally hollow and very light weight. The weight of the collar is usually more than enough to easily counter the weight of the lid and hinge spring tension when opening it. I chose 2 x 6 lumber for the collar partly for the added weight over thinner material. I have nothing else at all but the caulk attaching the collar to the freezer. No brackets, no screws and no glue. No problems either and it's been in use for quite awhile.

I used silicone chaulking and it holds up well and is waterproof to avoid condensation setting in.

I just used silicon caulk and so far, so good. I'm sure the other options would work well too

Not trying to hijack this thread, but now I'm confused

Do you recommend connecting (with silicone or whatever) the collar to the freezer or the collar to the lid?

I've built a collar but not installed it because it looked to me like I would need to connect the collar to the lid, which looks like a lot of work. So, another clarifying question is; is the answer to the previous question determined by the height of the collar?

I've made a short collar using 1x2 because I just want to run CO2 into the keezer. I'm not running faucets through here. The inspection of the hinges leads me to believe that unless I made a 6" or taller collar that I could not move the hinges up high enough to not require drilling into the freezer (all bad) to mount the hinges. Any collar less than the height of the hing body (currently attached to the freezer, not the lid), would necessitate fastening the collar to the lid. Am I over-analyzing this? I just don't want top screw up a brand new freezer.

With that small of a collar you will probably have to drill into the fridge. Most people take off the hinge and use the existing holes in the top and base and drill the new holes in the collar. The only way I see around that is to make a tiered collar with the 1x2 where it is now and like a 1x4 outside of that the would allow the whole collor to fit on the top like a lid that wasnt really attached. you could then drill into the 1x4s with the hinge. you would have to be a little careful to not open the lid too far because the the hole lid would on be attached by silicon or something.

I chose to attach the collar to the freezer body. The hinges attach to the collar, but they are only fastened with the four upper screws as the bottom in or so of the hinge extends past the bottom of the collar. No big deal as the four screws in each hinge is more than secure enough.

Others have attached the collar to the lid which makes it easier to lift kegs etc in and out of the freezer and moves the taps out of the way at the same time. I'm not a fan of that configuration, but apparently it works well for many.

If your only objective is to run a CO2 line into the freezer, I would simply drill a hole through the back edge of the lid. Angle the hole downward so it penetrates the lid liner and you are in. I would use a smaller gas line than normal. The most common gas line is 5/16" ID and something like 7/16" OD. It's way fatter than it needs to be. I would switch it out with something smaller so that you don't have to drill such a large hole. The gas line need not be anything special either. I'd use ordinary 1/4" ID PVC or vinyl tubing from Home Depot or the like. Save yourself some grief and skip the collar until the day you decide to install come taps.

I guess I will know more after my freezer arrives but I would think that caulk wouldn't be enough to hold the collar in place. The collar plus the lid is going to be a good amount of weight and when that lid goes up it seems like it would put a lot of weight on the back and pull the collar up from the front. This would seem to get worse when you have the lid open and are trying to move around kegs and bumping things around. I could try L brackets I guess but that would mark up the freezer if I want to sell it. I wonder if some vertical slats attached to the collar then running down into the freezer a few inches might help avoid a tip over.

pretzelb said:

I guess I will know more after my freezer arrives but I would think that caulk wouldn't be enough to hold the collar in place. The collar plus the lid is going to be a good amount of weight and when that lid goes up it seems like it would put a lot of weight on the back and pull the collar up from the front. This would seem to get worse when you have the lid open and are trying to move around kegs and bumping things around. I could try L brackets I guess but that would mark up the freezer if I want to sell it. I wonder if some vertical slats attached to the collar then running down into the freezer a few inches might help avoid a tip over.

Click to expand...

I'd see what your application will work like...

I have a 2x4 collar on my keezer, and I left the hinges on the lid - Just screwed them to the 2x4 instead of the freezer.
My collar is not attached at all. I installed 1/2" thick foam rubber weather stripping to the bottom (Between the collar and the freezer) and just set it on the freezer.
It will slide off if I try to move the full keezer by the collar, but it stays right where it's supposed to when I open the lid. I'm ok with that because I didn't want to modify the freezer at all, and I can be careful when I go to move it.

Added bonus: the wire for the light in the lid had enough slack that I didn't have to disconnect it. It still has just enough when mounted 3 1/2" higher than it's supposed to be


You can see the weather stripping below the 2x4 in the second pic...

pretzelb said:

I guess I will know more after my freezer arrives but I would think that caulk wouldn't be enough to hold the collar in place. The collar plus the lid is going to be a good amount of weight and when that lid goes up it seems like it would put a lot of weight on the back and pull the collar up from the front. This would seem to get worse when you have the lid open and are trying to move around kegs and bumping things around. I could try L brackets I guess but that would mark up the freezer if I want to sell it. I wonder if some vertical slats attached to the collar then running down into the freezer a few inches might help avoid a tip over.

Click to expand...

The rope caulk has plenty of adhesive power. It's been holding my collar on securely for more than three years. It has not budged even a fraction of an inch and I don't go out of my way to be particularly gentle with it. Think of it this way. If you try it and it doesn't work well for you, you are out a total of $3 plus change and it would require very little effort to remove the caulk to boot.

Thanks for the pic SweetSounds, very helpful! I just picked up a 9cf frigidare and gonna build a collar soon. Btw, what's the pvc pipe for installed in your collar for?

I did what sweetsounds did. Put some weather stripping on the freezer, only difference is , my 2x4 collar is trimmed out with 1x6 Poplar on the front and sides, so the top really can't move at all. It's a nice tight fit and the weight seems to keep it down.

My collar (1x4 oak) is attached to the lid of my 15 cubic foot with Grab Glue. It works great and the glue is more than strong enough to hold it together.

Don't forget to insulate your collar.

my collar (1x6 poplar, stained) is attached to the lid with 2 small L-brackets on the underside in the front where the keylock used to be and with some metal plates on the back, going into the original hinge holes in the lid and also into the collar. this is just reinforcement, the entire collar is also adhered with construction adhesive to the top of the collar, the inside joints where wood meets plastic is silicone caulked. rigid insulation lines the inside of collar as well.

its nice being able to open the lid and have the collar go up with it. taps and shanks and tube moving up out of the way.

rawlus said:

my collar (1x6 poplar, stained) is attached to the lid with 2 small L-brackets on the underside in the front where the keylock used to be and with some metal plates on the back, going into the original hinge holes in the lid and also into the collar. this is just reinforcement, the entire collar is also adhered with construction adhesive to the top of the collar, the inside joints where wood meets plastic is silicone caulked. rigid insulation lines the inside of collar as well.

its nice being able to open the lid and have the collar go up with it. taps and shanks and tube moving up out of the way.

Click to expand...

Any chance you have photos of your setup? This sounds like what I wanted to do.

BrewMoreBeers said:

My collar (1x4 oak) is attached to the lid of my 15 cubic foot with Grab Glue. It works great and the glue is more than strong enough to hold it together.

Don't forget to insulate your collar.

Click to expand...

In the pictures I see I almost never see insulation which has been confusing me. Are most people just assuming that wood is a pretty decent insulator?

I put some insulation board in mine but really I would think wood is a decent insulator for what is needed.

Wood is a relatively poor insulation material. The R value for soft wood is only about 1.4 where as rigid foam insulation R values go from about 5 to 8 and above depending on which type it is. Hardwood is even worse with an R value only about half that of soft wood. My collar is made of 2 X material with no additional insulation. I noticed condensation forming on the collar on very hot and humid days this past summer. Insulating the collar with some foam is now on my to do list.

I double-hinged my collar. It's 3/4 inch 1x6 red oak, stained and varnished (an oil-based polyurethane Spar varnish). I bought a replacement gasket for my freezer and screwed it to the bottom of my collar, then I set it on the freezer and attached the hinges to it. I used door hinges to attach the lid with original gasket intact to the top of the collar. I can open just the lid or I can raise the entire collar and lid.

TheYoshi said:

In the pictures I see I almost never see insulation which has been confusing me. Are most people just assuming that wood is a pretty decent insulator?

Click to expand...

I insulated mine because the condenser was cycling to often. When I added the foam I went from cycling every 15 minutes to about every 45 minutes.

BrewMoreBeers said:

I insulated mine because the condenser was cycling to often. When I added the foam I went from cycling every 15 minutes to about every 45 minutes.

Click to expand...

Do you happen to know about how often it cycled before you added the collar?

I was thinking something along the lines of this stuff for the collar I'll be building

Insulation

TheYoshi said:

Do you happen to know about how often it cycled before you added the collar?

I was thinking something along the lines of this stuff for the collar I'll be building

Insulation

Click to expand...

The cycling intervals are highly dependent on ambient temperature. My freezer w/2 X soft wood uninsulated collar cycled OFF for 38 minutes and ON for 22 minutes with room temp at about 72 degrees. This equates to ON about 37% of the time and OFF 63%. This was with the controller set point at 40 F and the differential at 5 degrees. Obviously, varying the set point and differential will yield different results. I also have a muffin fan installed to circulate the freezer air continuously and while this helps to keep everything at a more uniform temperature, including the beer lines and taps, it is at the expense of the compressor cycling more often. I'll run another test after I insulate the collar. I plan to use some type of rigid foam insulation maybe the 1" thick stuff. I ran the above test with three kegs in the freezer and all were uniformly cooled prior to the test. I suspect that a full freezer will cycle less frequently than an empty or nearly empty one.