Thermostat Bypass

Hi all,
I just took off the thermostat housing inside my Igloo Kegerator to see what I have to work with. I'm attaching pictures as well. I'm running a Johnson temperature controller as well. Does anyone know how to bypass a thermostat like this? My guess is just to short the black and white leads but I'm not sure.

I would just turn the kegerator to the lowest temperature setting and then plug it into the Johnson. Set the Johnson for the temperature that you'd like and viola!. This is how I run my fermentation freezer and aquarium temperature controller. The plus of the aquarium controller is that it has a delay in the programming to prevent short-cycling the refrigerant pump.

I just read a thread here recently about bypassing the factory settings to make the thermostat go lower..or higher. There is an adjustment screw behind that sticker if I remember right. If i find that forum post again I will send you that direction. There are sever versions that are shown how to bypass.

The answer to the question is: yes, exactly.

Cheers!

There is most likely a small spring with a screw in it just screw it all the way in and it should bypass the thermometer (for some fridges)

I didn't see a set screw that was described, as this was what I was initially looking for, but perhaps it is below the sticker as another poster said. Thanks for the input guys! Another question, does the thermostat control how long the compressor cycles on and off or is it just strictly cycled on and off based on the thermostat reading? In other words, do these thermostats that come with refrigerators give the compressor a resting time even though the set temperature isn't reached? Hope I'm clear with this question.

Dan2539 said:

I didn't see a set screw that was described, as this was what I was initially looking for, but perhaps it is below the sticker as another poster said. Thanks for the input guys! Another question, does the thermostat control how long the compressor cycles on and off or is it just strictly cycled on and off based on the thermostat reading? In other words, do these thermostats that come with refrigerators give the compressor a resting time even though the set temperature isn't reached? Hope I'm clear with this question.

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Most thermostats, including the one in your pictures, are simply temperature controlled switches. For a fridge or freezer the switch is closed when the temp is too warm, when the unit cools to the target temp the switch opens and the compressor turns off. There is no 'rest time' other than the time it takes the unit to warm up and close the switch again.

It is worth noting that many newer fridges are computer controlled and use sensors instead of thermostats, the computer controlled models usually do have time delays programmed in to prevent rapid cycling of the compressor. Some of them are using variable speed DC compressors that almost never shut off, they just slow down. If you buy a unit to modify for brewing make sure you get one with a mechanical thermostat, they are the easiest to modify.

What I did is to take the two 'switched' lines (on yours I believe they're the black lines) and those went to the load lines on my controller. They were spade connectors so I just crimped matching connectors on to the line I ran to my controller.

So it looks like you have white/black/green/temp. Green is ground - no big deal. Temp - irrelevant now.

I connected in to the white and black - they're just a switched load - and ran a piece of extension cable from them up to my controller.

Works perfectly.