Guide to set internal chest freezer thermostat to >32F; Eliminate external control

So I just bought all the stuff to make 2 two keg keezers from the Beverage Factory.

I was planing on buying the 5 or 7 CU Chest freezers from Home Depot (THEY ARE THE SAME PRICE $178)... I took kegs and a table top that I am going to use as a bar to size them. I purchased two of the non-digital Johnson Controls but If I can get away from using them it will drop my cost...

DPB

Thanks a lot for this thread... I converted an old fridge into a fermentation chamber. Temperature is stable at 18°C. This summer, all my batches ended perfectly, not like last summer were my fermentation temperature was too high and my beers ended tasting banana or Skittles!
Thanks again!

Hey guys, I only had time to read about five pages each way on this amazing thread but was wondering if anyone has had success with this on the lowes holiday 7.0 freezer? I just purchased one and will be here today.
Thanks

Cancel that, just read midway though the thread and apparently it does not work with the holiday freezers.... I guess it's a temp controller for me then

Charlieatthedisco said:

Hey guys, I only had time to read about five pages each way on this amazing thread but was wondering if anyone has had success with this on the lowes holiday 7.0 freezer? I just purchased one and will be here today.
Thanks

Click to expand...

I did it on the 5cft holiday freezer. Don't see why it would be any different for 7cft one.

Another success story. Working like a champ for me. I had turn turn mine clockwise to make the temp go up.

Just started experimenting on my chest freezer, a Frigidaire 7.2 cft from the 90s. I was confused at first where the screw was but found it and luckily had an eyeglass screwdriver that worked. The walls of the freezer are somewhere in the high 20s but the glass of water is cooling down to the high 40s. The freezer is running less often than before so I have some hope. I'm so impatient that I needed to post about it.

EDIT: Success, it's in the mid 40s but I can use the fine adjustment to drop that down.

Hmm.
I have made just adjustement and now I can not get my compressor to fire. I just got hold of a CL 2001 Kenmore 7 footer and tested it with a trial run and charting of 3 days. Empty this old chest freezer held 0 degrees +/- 5degrees. After the trial I shut it down and began planning a keezer build, Fantastic right , so why not try this coasrse screw adjustment, right.

It was was no problem finding the set screw and making the adjustment (five turns clockwise), after the adjustment the compressor hasn't fired. Over the last two days I have eased the set screw back ( 1/2 turn each time) to the original setting with a few to over night hours waits each time that I made an adjustment to see if cooling would catch with each backing off of the screw. No Go.

Any thoughts on why I would have run into to this hick-up? (aside) I am pretty good with appliances and there repair and took care to avoid shorts, mis calculating the number of adjustment turns, and any blending of the thermocouple tube. I didn't want to botch this... So now it is at room temp. and I really wish I had left it alone. Now I am thinking I'll call a repair service.

Ugh no ice in Massachusetts

Cheers,

I have an older sears model chest freezer, it has a thermostat with a dial on it, and it seems to suggest that turning clockwise is colder and counter is warmer. There was a piece sticking out on the dial to prevent you from going above 7 or below 1 for the settings, which I bent up slightly to allow me to freely turn the dial as much as I want. Have most people been turning clockwise to warm there freezers? I took the dial off and there is no screw, but a piece smaller brass piece that may be attached to a screw. Do I even have the right part out? Here's some pics:

After running this method for a month or so I've gone to a stc1000. I was having issues with carb levels and keg temp would swing from -2c to 8c. I wired it as a direct replacement for the old one and is working like a charm. Good luck to all those trying this way. Cheers

To anyone who has done this mod (especially Kenmore 8.8 owners), did you have any problem with excessive compressor cycling due to shortened hysteresis? It sounds like some folks may have this problem, so I'm wondering if I should expect it with my Kenmore.

This thread really needs to be a sticky...

Can anyone take a picture of the yellow/black wires that connect to their temperature controller for a Frigidaire (preferably model LFCH13M2MW)? I took the whole thing out to adjust the screw and forgot to mark which side is yellow and which side is black.

Thanks in advance!
perogi.

Does the fine adjustment knob need to be at a specific location for optimal results?

BassBeer said:

Does the fine adjustment knob need to be at a specific location for optimal results?

Click to expand...

I turned the knob clockwise about 8 full times. Note that I have a Frigidaire [model LFCH13M2MW] and followed someone else's post that specified 9 times and they had to back it up a bit.

This afternoon (about 20 hours after I turned it on) the freezer (and a 5 gallon pail of water) was at 45. I then turned the large temperature knob to "2" - waiting until tomorrow evening to remeasure.

Will post results here.

*UPDATE*
Putting it on 2 dropped the temperature to 37.6* - too cold for my ales. Going to move it to 1.5

perogi said:

I turned the knob clockwise about 8 full times. Note that I have a Frigidaire [model LFCH13M2MW] and followed someone else's post that specified 9 times and they had to back it up a bit.

This afternoon (about 20 hours after I turned it on) the freezer (and a 5 gallon pail of water) was at 45. I then turned the large temperature knob to "2" - waiting until tomorrow evening to remeasure.

Will post results here.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the input. I turned the coarse adjustment screw about 8 revolutions as well, but was actually referring to the knob (fine adjustment) position. Right now mine's just past the halfway point. Should I turn the screw more and back off on the knob, or is it fine where it is? A large cup of water is reading ~38 (after 2 days), and 2 corny kegs of water are reading ~50. The kegs have only been in for about 5 hours so I assume they'll need more time to stabilize. Any input appreciated!

*UPDATE*

2 kegs filled with water have been in the freezer for about 24 hours and are chillin at 41 F. Seems like this method is a winner with my 7 cu. ft. GE!

Thank's again for the tip!

NEBrewer said:

Hmm.
I have made just adjustement and now I can not get my compressor to fire. I just got hold of a CL 2001 Kenmore 7 footer and tested it with a trial run and charting of 3 days. Empty this old chest freezer held 0 degrees +/- 5degrees. After the trial I shut it down and began planning a keezer build, Fantastic right , so why not try this coasrse screw adjustment, right.

It was was no problem finding the set screw and making the adjustment (five turns clockwise), after the adjustment the compressor hasn't fired. Over the last two days I have eased the set screw back ( 1/2 turn each time) to the original setting with a few to over night hours waits each time that I made an adjustment to see if cooling would catch with each backing off of the screw. No Go.

Any thoughts on why I would have run into to this hick-up?

Click to expand...

It does seem that some have had good luck with this operation. NOT ME! :-(

"Now a few weeks later"


After a few weeks I called a repair service and that did get the freezer running again albiet than around -25f. So this operation with the corse screw adjustment was a total bust for me and cost me a service visit. Not to thrilled with that.

The upside is that the New Johnson Control is now over-riding the run-away (coarse screw adjustment) and the keezer is in play and holding at the perfect temp for my English Bitter.

This sounded like such a simple, easy operation that had no down side. It wasn't a good idea in my case. I must say that it didn't work in my case. Just the opposite ....it took a big chunk of time and a call to a repair shop and now my keezer can only be controlled from hitting sub-zero temps using the external johnson.

Yeah this sounded sooo easy... but it was anything but that. Be careful my brewing friends. This operation broke my control of my freezer. I wouldn't wish that on you.

Cheers,

I don't yet have it but I'm getting the 5cu Hoiday from Lowe's, where/how do you get to this internal thermostat?

dozens said:

I don't yet have it but I'm getting the 5cu Hoiday from Lowe's, where/how do you get to this internal thermostat?

Click to expand...

I'm wondering about this as well, just got mine. Also, was there ever any for sure knowledge on setting it? Whether to tighten the screw down all the way and back it off to raise the temp or lower the temp?

Further, I just opened up the front little panel by the dial (used a knife and pried the lefthand side out first, then it comes easily out) and got these attached pics with my iPhone.

I took a heatgun to the sticker and took most off easily. THEN I noticed that either that green wire was unhooked when I pulled it out or it had come undone while I was messing with it!!!!! Anyone know if I should hook it back up or not? There are two places to slide it back on and it only fits on one...

@dozens Just checked my holiday freezer. Edited one of your pics and drew a target where the green wire is hooked on mine. Good luck.

Thanks man, that's what I figured! Thank you for eyeballin' it!

So as for how you set your screw, do you recall? I tightened mine all the way in with the dial set to '1' and ended up with an internal freezer temp of 25°. Pulled it out about 5 full turns of the screwdriver and it went to 15°. Pulled it out more and it went -10°! So I cranked it all the way back in.

You think it's just because it's currently empty?

Screw all the way in. Dial at 1 .. now at 3 or 4. Put some buckets filled with water and wait several hours.

So, I'm trying to get the temp right by fiddling with the freezer's thermostat. Right now I can't get it above 25 degrees empty, but figured once I put stuff in there it should be okay?

I just put the CO2 tank and the corny keg full of brew in there and I'm gonna leave the freezer off for now, but what would happen if the beer did freeze? Would the keg explode? Is the CO2 getting too cold any issue?

Depends on expansion room, stainless is strong and will probably expand somewhere, now if there is even head room, the ice will expand and take that space up. I froze a keg a few times(made one hell of a hefe, got you lifted fast) and did not have a problem. I doubt it will freeze solid at 25. The alchol will still be liquid.

I picked up a fridge from an elderly neighbour last week who is moving. Danby was good enough to put the coarse adjustment screw in the open, right under the dial adjustment. 3 days of fiddling around, and it sits at 42F.

Thanks for this thread!

I tried this method on a used Whirlpool EHL151FXRQ00 LO.

It went clockwise first and it seemed to just get colder. It went well below 0 F. So, I went counterclockwise a little at a time, waiting about an hour between a few rotations. I ended up loosening the spring.

It was a major pain to get it attached again. I essential had to dismantle the whole mechanism and put it back together. After fighting with it for a couple of hours I finally got it back together.

Literally the moment I got the final piece back in place, a wire/tube broke. I don't know what it is. Can anyone tell what this is?






It seems to be some kind of tube since its hollow. I'm afraid it's a pretty bad situation.

Any help?

It's the silver wire in the center

carlisle_bob said:

Hi

That's the magic screw. Grab a cheap thermometer and toss it in there. It will help a lot in figuring out what's going on.

If you have one of the thermostat's that don't make it, a STC-1000 off of eBay is only about $17 delivered. It's pretty easy to wire one in right there in the chamber where the existing thermostat is located.

Bob

Click to expand...

Is there any pictures of a STC -1000 wired in the chamber as stated???

aggieactuary said:

I tried this method on a used Whirlpool EHL151FXRQ00 LO.

It went clockwise first and it seemed to just get colder. It went well below 0 F. So, I went counterclockwise a little at a time, waiting about an hour between a few rotations. I ended up loosening the spring.

It was a major pain to get it attached again. I essential had to dismantle the whole mechanism and put it back together. After fighting with it for a couple of hours I finally got it back together.

Literally the moment I got the final piece back in place, a wire/tube broke. I don't know what it is. Can anyone tell what this is?

It seems to be some kind of tube since its hollow. I'm afraid it's a pretty bad situation.

Any help?

Click to expand...

I figured it out, I think. It's the tube that holds the gas. I'm guessing that means it can't be repaired, right?

Will my freezer run with the hollow gas tube broken?

I haven't plugged it back in since I broke it, because I'm afraid something will blow.

That tube is the capillary tube that is filled with refrigerant. The purpose for this is that it measures temperature on the inside of the refrigerator by expanding or contracting in that tube. In turn, puts pressure on the disc looking thing which is a diaphragm that regulates the temp inside the space. Unfortunately you will need to replace the entire freezestat/thermostat if that tube becomes broken or kinked. This is not to difficult, just be careful when you insert the temp bulb into the evaporator. Good luck.

I don't think I'd be able to replace the thermostat without step by step instructions.

I don't have the foggiest idea how to go about it, where to buy parts, what I'd need, etc.

I got the freezer cheap on Craigslist. I may just chalk this up to hands on education.

Before you chalk it up to a bad learning experience, try a few things first.
Different refrigerators use different temp control, to find out which one you have, follow that capillary tube to see where it goes. Some of the tubes on the new refrigerators are located at a place inside the cooled space and are very easy to replace. The other and older models the capillary tone actually monitors the evaporator temp and are a little more difficult to replace.
Parts are very easy to come by on the internet and that should be under $30.00 all you need is the make and model which can be found usually on the inside of the refrigerator door jam or somewhere at the top on the inside.
A good place to find part's on the net is searspartsdirect.com or a host of other places, just Google refrigerator replacement parts.
Don't give up man, you can do it.

Alright, your encouragement worked.

I actually checked last night and found the temperature control thermostat replacement part. The lowest I found is $50. Sears Parts Direct has it for $70.

I have a Whirlpool freezer built in 2006; the model is EHL151FXRQ00. Here is the part (# 4-35940-001): http://www.repairclinic.com/PartDet...at/435940001/1938882?modelNumber=EHL151FXRQ00



Can you tell from that if it's the easy replacement or not?

I'll check tonight if I can tell where the capillary tube goes.

It just occurred to me. I have an STC-1000 that I ordered recently (in case the manual adjustment didn't work).

Can I just bypass the freezer thermostat and use the digital thermostat?

If so, do I just connect the two wires connected to the thermostat?

There are also two green wires connected to the same plug (different from the two black wires above) on the thermostat. I'm guessing those are grounds, right?

aggieactuary said:

It just occurred to me. I have an STC-1000 that I ordered recently (in case the manual adjustment didn't work).

Can I just bypass the freezer thermostat and use the digital thermostat?

If so, do I just connect the two wires connected to the thermostat?

There are also two green wires connected to the same plug (different from the two black wires above) on the thermostat. I'm guessing those are grounds, right?

Click to expand...

That's what I did works a treat!!

spannaflicka said:

That's what I did works a treat!!

Click to expand...

Is that yes to all three questions?

It should work, I would look at the wiring diagram before making any assumptions about the green wires being grounds cause typically thermostats/freezestats do not need grounding. I think that thermostat is just a normally open set of contacts and close on a call for cooling. You should be able to find the print on line where you found the part.