Putting in some taps this weekend

I've got three perlick taps that I am putting in the door of an upright refrigerator. I'm starting with three. I'm asking for advice, and tips before I start. I'll try to summarize what I know so far from reading various things.

-Use a 1 inch hole saw.
-Drill a narrow hole first using that as a guide for the hole saw.
-I'm planning on using the narrower, long drill bit all the way through the door first, going out to in, going slow once I get to the insulation.
-I'm giving myself 4.25 inches between center for each tap to give myself plenty of room for odd handles.
-The shanks are plenty big at 4 inches, so that shouldn't be a problem.
-I'm hoping that I can just drill a small and neat enough hole on the inside of the door, that I don't need any wood panel, so I can just adjust the shank against the outer plastic lining of the door.

Please chime in with tips or "don't do that" kind of advise. I'll post pics when I'm done.

Thanks,

sounds like you're off to a good start. The only advice i will pass along is to drill the hole low enough on the door that the tap handle doesn't interfere with the freezer door opening (if you have a top freezer).

Jota21 said:

sounds like you're off to a good start. The only advice i will pass along is to drill the hole low enough on the door that the tap handle doesn't interfere with the freezer door opening (if you have a top freezer).

Click to expand...

I do have a top freezer, Thanks for the advice.

Make sure you leave room for a fourth tap, that will be evenly spaced if you ever plan on adding it. In other words, DO NOT center a tap then build out. Either start from the left or the right.

Double and triple check the spacing with kegs in the fridge to make sure a shank doesn't interfere with the placement of the kegs. I would also advise removing the shelves and such on the inside of the fridge and replacing with a sheet of wood or something similar to give more internal space.

I have had great results with adding wooden dowel rods (cut to length of the hole) into the hole then pressing them into the installation. This gave me the sturdiness I needed to tighten up the shank so it does not rotate after installation. Good luck..

Thanks for the advice guys. I will double check the shank length, but I think it will be fine, since it will not go beyond the door storage.

Another question, for the Co2 distributor, where do you guys put it? Are you mounting in inside? I've been afraid to screw anything into the side of the refrigerator, even though I've looked up the schematics online and don't think there is anything that could be hurt by drilling into the side.

I mounted my distributor inside, and oddly enough there were already two plastic rivet type things in the fridge the same distance apart as the holes pre-drilled in my manifold. It worked out perfectly, though I'm not sure if the holes drilled in the manifold were there because most fridges have those plastic rivets.

Also, maybe its just because we bought an old fridge but, we had to use a board inside the fridge because the plastic shell/shelves are very brittle and we couldn't tighten the nuts on the shanks enough to keep them sturdy. Having a board inside kept things square and allowed us to tighten the shank nuts sufficiently.

I used schedule 80 PVC to reinforce the door for the shanks. And as for the CO2, here's how I did mine.

Whutever said:

I used schedule 80 PVC to reinforce the door for the shanks. And as for the CO2, here's how I did mine.

Click to expand...

Nice. What, did you have extra shanks laying around??

yellowthere said:

Nice. What, did you have extra shanks laying around??

Click to expand...

They're ice box shanks and inside looks the same as the outside. I moved the tank outside so I'd have room for one more corney and I wanted something nicer other than just drilling through the side and then sealing. I have each line split in to two so I can serve two while force carbing two.

I put my taps on the side of fridge, that way in won't interfere with the
door opening. Just a thought!!! Cheers!!!

Another thought: I drilled 7/8" holes for my shanks, and they fit nice and snugly - though I've heard of plenty of other folks going with 1" holes successfully as well.

+1 to using 7/8" hole saw. That's what I used on my, fits great. I used 7/8" because I already had it from drilling my brew kettle and HLT for valves.