Haier HNSE05 - Kegerator Conversion progress

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timbudtwo

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My beloved gave me her old fridge from her days at college. I took a look at it and within 45 minutes I was able to remove the front plastic and bend the freezer compartment to fit in the back of the fridge :).

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Now I just need to find out where the coolant lines run so I can avoid those when I drill through the roof for the tower.

Should be getting a kit from keg connection in a month or two. Will update with finished project then.
 
Just got a Ranco ETC-111000 off the bay and it was delivered today. Used a cord rated for 15 amps (controller maxes out at 16) and wired it up. Took me a minute to decipher the schematic. Plus working in such a small area with fat fingers helps nothing. Cold garage and being tired makes brain slow.... However, it was nothing a pen and a kerosene heater couldn't fix.

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My brother in-law is going to split cost for the rest of the parts, but in the mean time I am going to use the fridge to make a lager as it is something I haven't made yet, and it will be ready for summer :D
 
I just picked one of these up off craigslist. After removing the front plastic I'm able to fit a 5-gallon better bottle for lagering. I'm looking forward to seeing your kegerator build!
 
I have done moar! Good news, no coolant lines on the top of this bad boy!
Here is what tonight yielded:
I removed the temperature controller from the inside as I will no longer be needing that. Very simple device. Looks to be just a mechanical switch that flips after tension (from the knob) is overcome. Bimetallic strip maybe? Black + white = go.
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If you look to the right, you can see a small square I cut out to make sure there were no coolant lines. I used the saw attachment for my dremel and made very shallow cuts just enough to go through the plastic. I removed it and saw a black line. OMGzors!
Thankfully it was just the power line that they strung willy nilly between the plastic case and the outer metal shell that they fill with insulating foam.
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Next I marked center on the top of the metal shell and drilled just through that. I used a hex key to poke around and make sure there weren't any other lines in the way. Nope! Then I pushed the hex key into the plastic case to fatigue it so I would know where to cut. By fatigue, I mean give the plastic that light colored bruise that plastics get when stretched, or poked with a hex key.
VERY HIGH TECH
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To make the hole on the top I figured I would try using a hole saw. I only have them for wood so I decided to just go at it slow. As long as it didn't heat up too bad I would probably be okay. Well, all it did was scratch off the enamel. A perfectly marked circle! So I switched over to my dremel again, used some red cut off wheels, and overcame the metal shell with gusto. Cleaned it up with a blue grinding wheel until it was dull and called it good for the night.
Outside
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Inside
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If the diameter is 11.5 then the circumference should be a couple inches larger (C= d*pi). However, being a circle its not that big of a deal. The diameter and height is all I need, as long as they are correct.
The interior dimensions of the fridge are 27" high, and front to back (at the base, so the pump hump bump takes away from total length) is 11.5". If your carboy is truly 11.5" it should just barely fit. That is only if you take the plastic off the front of the door. Also, you can take off some of the insulation inside from the front door and you could get another half inch of clearance or so. It would be a tight fit, but I think you could do it.
 
Any special trick to bending the freezer shelf? I have one of these as my ferm chamber. 6G plastic carboy fits perfectly but I had to cut some plastic off the inside of the door.
 
Any special trick to bending the freezer shelf? I have one of these as my ferm chamber. 6G plastic carboy fits perfectly.

The trick I found is to be careful.
First, slide the freezer off its mounting points. Try to bend the main pipe as little as possible. But you will have to bend it some. Coax the freezer down towards the left so it is like a U, with its opening facing towards the left. I used two pieces of wood and some clamps to slowly and evenly bend the freezer flat. Wood on front and back, and then a clamp over that so you don't gouge anything. Think of it like steam bending wood in reverse.

Once you have it mostly flat (uber flat is not critical) make as large of bends in the pipe as you can. Some of the enamel will likely chip or crack, but as long as you don't hear any hissing, you are fine. If you do fracture the pipe, you will know right away.

The place to be careful of is where the pipe meets the freezer shelf. It seems to be soldered / tack welded and appears very fragile. You will need to put a little torque on this are to get it flat, but if you make a large U bend (see the OP) you should be able to distribute it enough to not cause a problem.
 
Thanks. Sounds like something I would mess up, but I'll probably give it a shot anyway.
Would be nice to fit a keg or two in there...
 
Hey, I'm just wondering how it turned out! I have a haier HNSE05SS and this is the only conversion on a haier anywhere. You said there are no coolant lines going through the top at all?
 
Hey, I'm just wondering how it turned out! I have a haier HNSE05SS and this is the only conversion on a haier anywhere. You said there are no coolant lines going through the top at all?

From what I could find there are no coolant lines going through the top. However, there is the power cable going to the temp controller.

The build is put on hold while I am making a lager. Plus, I need to get some funds to buy all the parts. Another trip to the metal recycling shop and I should be almost good.

Just too bad that my 3DS (nintendo system) is coming soon. That will be eating up money T_T.

But it WILL get done! Hopefully I will be purchasing the parts by the end of next month.
 
Zomg its back!

I get my kegerator kit on wednesday, so I decided to start wrapping some things up on this. Wanted to get the front covered in chalboard paint because that is the hbt thing to do amiryte?

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So I used an entire can of the chalkboard paint. Get it from michaels and use the 40% off coupons and it costs basically nothing. Just as I finish the can off and do the final coat a gust of wind throws tons of dust on it. Stellar. You can't see it but I can.

Oh well, once I get chalk on this thing and start giving it a good rub down it should remove most of the loose particles or they will just blend in with the chalkyness.
 
HOLY CRAAAAP ITS ASSEMBLED
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Very excited. I was standing at the front door when fedex delivered it and I put my arms up like a touchdown just occurred and begin shouting (very serious.) :ban:

So, I promptly took everything out of the fatty beat up box it came in because fedex sucks and I found my kegs, tower, co2 and all the business bits that get things moving. Called up the brother in law and we got like butter.

First thing I needed to do was make sure the kegs would even fit inside the fridge. Yes they do! Just barely, and because they are staggered I am able to get co2 cylinder back on the humpity and everything stays inside, except the ranco controller.

Aligned the tower on the top of the kegerator over the hole I cut and marked the holes with a sharpie. Center punched and drilled right through. Used the included hardware plus some washers. Not sure why Keg Cowboy wouldn't include washers. Whatever, just 10 cents of parts on my behalf.

Put the threaded rods up through the fridge:
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I fastened them down real nice over the base of the tower and used some bolt cutters to trim the excess:
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I had one of the kegs sitting out sanitizing with my racking hose in it so I could transfer my lager into the keg. It's been sitting on the yeast for about a week longer than I wanted and it was time to evacuate the bucket!
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Talk about never bottling again! Only thing I could ever see myself doing is using a biermuncher beer gun to cap a 6-12 pack for bringing around. Kegging seriously couldn't be easier. Evacuated the keg of pressure a couple times and then hooked it up to the tower to clear those lines of the sanitizer I ran through them. :D A thing of beauty.

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Now I just need to drill a hole for the temp controller and then dress up the top.
 
Okay so I have the temperature controller going into the side of the fridge instead of through the door and I have it taped to the inside with aluminum tape. Also replaced the crimp terminals I used for the wiring inside with wire nuts.

So now all I need to do is get something done to the top. I was thinking a couple things:
1. Put tile underneath the faucets, attached to the top with liquid nails, and then edge it with wood.
or
2. Just put a bar mat or one of those drain pipe drip trays underneath. I think the bar mat would look better because I didn't raise the tower with a toilet flange.

Any suggestions? The door hinge is on the top, so that needs to be taken into consideration. I guess I could put some hinges on the side but I would prefer not to. Something needs to done, that is for sure.

Edit:
I also am thinking of doing something to keep the tower cool, like this:
http://brother-buford.livejournal.com/18157.html#cutid1
Does it need to be running all the time, or would it be okay if it was running only while the compressor was running? I was thinking of just hooking up a 5v ac-dc converter (iphone charger) to the power already inside the unit and then powering a fan from that. Otherwise I would need to tap the input power from the back of the unit and run some extra power inside.
 
Hey, I'm trying to do the same conversion and just happened to stumble on this post! I was curious as to what you actually did with the wires for the temp controller after you removed it? Did you wire it together as a pass through, or what? Thanks for the help!
 
Wow, so I have finally finished up what I believe this kegerator will be.

I got a cheapo bar mat from ebay for 7 bucks, and I also picked up three 16" stainless drawer pulls from ebay. The same ones you get from Lowes / HD for 20 bucks a pop, for 6 bucks a pop with free shipping. Installing the suckers was a pain in butt though.

If you want to put the rails anywhere that makes sense, and by that I mean anywhere that does not destroy any real-estate you have on top of the fridge, you have to drill into the interior insulation. This wouldn't be a big deal if you drilled through the insulation and then through the shell so you can put a screw and washer through. However, this would make way to much sense.

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What had to be done was drill down into the insulation, use something long and pokey (in my case an allen wrench) to dent the plastic, and then use a dremel with a saw attachment to cut away the plastic. Then you scrape away the insulating foam. 10 points if you breathe it in, 5 points if you get it in your one of your eyes. I got 20 points. Fortunately having the fridge off allowed me to defrost the back cold plate. This made all my foam dust a sticky conglomeration that stuck to everything.

After a couple hours of wet and dirty work I finally got all 6 holes cut and drilled and refilled with foam (a sponge I cut up.)

Worth it? Very yes

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How did you bend the freezer compartment? Is there any risk of kinking the coolant line that runs to the outside compressor? The fridge I am going to modify has the coolant lines that run straight out the back where the "bottom" of the freezer section is. I'm wondering if I can just bend the whole "U" shape straight down (so the bottom of the "U" touches the back wall and faces straight out the front), but I am worried about kinking the coolant lines.

Any suggestions on how NOT to kink the line?
 
I just bent my freezer compartment towards the back, and I plugged it in. It almost sounds like water is falling and then it starts hissing. Am I screwed? :(
 
if it is hissing, then yes. I recently built mine and was very very careful to make the bend. It cracked the paint on it, but didn't break the seal anywhere so I was fortunate. Hissing means that you're not getting compression of the fluid in there. Mine sounds like water also, so I think that sound is ok.
 
Howdy, converting my fridge currently but I notice its not getting below 45 degrees with the freezer compartment frozen. Does that temp control you purchased bring the temp down? And did it freeze the compartment entirely?
 
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