My "Bling" Keezer

Here is my Craig List buy. Not the prettiest thing.



I am going to build a bar around it like BrewPastors and Jester369 have done.



This is what counts.



Plenty of room for corny kegs and a my 10# CO2 bottle. Plus more space on the compressor hump.



The compressor is accessed from the left side. It had this cover over it. However I found that side of the chest freezer hot, and the other sides really warm in spots. I had to think there was a more efficient way.



Now some people think that the sides of the chest freezer are designed to be used like a heat-sink. I am not sure I buy into that. It may help in that area, but I personally don’t think that is by design. As much as appliance repair people know-- they are not the engineers designing the freezer. No matter, I have other plans.



So I did a test by removing the cover and placing a small fan on low blowing directly at the compressor. Using my handy laser temperature gun I found that the heat on the compressor itself dropped an amazing 40°. All of the sides of the freezer became cool with only the slightest hint of warm spots. The temp of the freezer also dropped more than 15°.



[CONT...]

So I am building my own replacement panel out of ¼” birch paneling. Those are holes for two 120mm computer fans that will blow directly on the compressor itself. The smaller holes below are for the fan speed controls. I am powering it from a old laptop power-supply I dug up in a box of stuff at work. The fans have such little power needs the power-supply barley gets above ambient room temperature.



Conveniently there is a 4” hole in the back of the freezer where the power cords go to the compress. It now doubles as my “exhaust port.”



Fans temporary installed. Using zip ties. The two holes below I covered with black electrical tape (not shown). I have packing tape holding it to the freezer for now.



Yeah, the blue LED’s are for the bling factor. Actually, they were on sale and I figured this was a budget build, and with nobody being able to see it, so what.



Another shot





Lights out bling shots:




[CONT]

Again, Lights out bling shots:






End result after six hours:



This is temp is monitored at the exhaust port. I would say a 2-3° is difference it is working pretty well. The sides of the freezer are all cool with only the side just above the compressor having any warmth.



Currently the fans are on full blast. It is somewhat loud; I am not sure how loud they will be with the bar around it. I plan on leaving plenty of space so that I can re-use the wood “skin” should this freezer die in the future. I am going to install the fan controls as well as the automagic temperature probe.

BTW, the automagic temperature probe is really just a temperature differential. I attached the probe and it immediately slowed down. I placed a match near it and it immediately sped up. I wonder how slow it can go? I got an ice cube and placed the probe on it…. It sped up. So it really works only if it is outside it’s set range will it speed up, never slow down.

/tg

Did you ever consider putting one fan so it blows air in and the other so it sucks it out?

slimer said:

Did you ever consider putting one fan so it blows air in and the other so it sucks it out?

Click to expand...

that would have been my first instinct. It would be easy to test though, shouldn't take a minute to turn one of the fans around and see what effect it has

slimer said:

Did you ever consider putting one fan so it blows air in and the other so it sucks it out?

Click to expand...

No, for two reasons.

First if you look at the area that the compressor is in I didn't have a lot of room to choose were to put the fans, the center was about the only option. With the two fans so close the air would just whip around for the most part. The way I have the fans mounted each blows directly over and around one side of the compressor.

Secondly I would have to have had a way to seal up the hole at the back of the freezer where the power cords go in. I really need to take a picture of that and post it. Don't know why I did not to a picture to begin with. And while this would not be difficult I still stand by the air just whipping in/out if they were next to each other.

Now the air coming exiting the hole in the back is quite substantial. I would say it is like a hair drier on medium.

My other thought is maybe I should pull air out of the box instead of pushing it in. All that would be needed is flipping the fans around, and the exhaust hole would become a air intake hole.

/tg

One fan down low blowing in with the other up top pulling the heat out vs side by side. Add a sheetmetal wall to divide the hot from cold air getting mixed up then add some insulation board inside the compressor compartment that should help some more. Overall great findings and results. Idle minds produce no bier.
What brand and model is that unit, I didn't recall seeing anything in the photos. Thanks for sharing.

It's a GE. I'd have to get the model number off of it. It was a 14.7 cubic foot.

If you look carefully at this picture you can see that it is pretty tight in there. With the copper tubing and what-not. Building any type of dividers to put in there would be a PITA.



Looking at the picture again, the only way I can see doing this is to have the two fans sucking air out of the space. They would have had to be 80mm to install one above and below each other as two 120mm on top of each other would not fit (I already measured) and directly in front of the compressor. On each side of the compressor a PVC tube leading from the face of the panel to the rear of the compressor. Block the hole in the rear of the freezer.

This would accomplish two things:
1) Draw cool ambient room air from the outside to the rear of the compressor/space and the fans suck the cool air across and around the compressor and back into the room.
2) Add unneeded complexity to this.

The rear exhaust port was just too easy to pass up. Plus having the cool air drawn from a different side of the freezer then the exhaust port is a bonus and will become much more important when the wood "skin" gets built around it. I already thought about getting a PVC elbow to attach it to the exhaust to blow the exhaust air away from the side of the freezer with the panel on it.

/tg

Sorry I opened up a can of worms. I just remember in my dorm in college where I had two 12" box fans and the room got cooler when I had one facing in and one facing out next to each other.

The whole freezer system removes heat from the inside and lets it go outside. It does this by compressing the gas which creates heat, then dissipating that heat (in the skin radiators), then sending it inside where it is allowed to expand, which absorbs heat from the inside. A similar thing happens with your compressor in the background of the pics - ever notice that you get very cold air and sometimes ice when you drain it? On the freezer, you will be cooling the compressor better, but I don't think it will drop the temp of the skin radiators very much. BUT, I'm curious, since you have the way cool thermometer, just how much cooler the sides are with and without the fans, you may prove me full of p00p.

Also, if the fans are noisy, run them in series and they'll spin at half speed. Do the same temp test to see if half speed is cooling as well as full (it may be because of the exit impedance of the 4" hole).

slimer, No worms... it's all good. Other thoughts / ideas is why I posted this.

KiltLifter said:

The whole freezer system removes heat from the inside and lets it go outside. It does this by compressing the gas which creates heat, then dissipating that heat (in the skin radiators), then sending it inside where it is allowed to expand, which absorbs heat from the inside. A similar thing happens with your compressor in the background of the pics - ever notice that you get very cold air and sometimes ice when you drain it? On the freezer, you will be cooling the compressor better, but I don't think it will drop the temp of the skin radiators very much. BUT, I'm curious, since you have the way cool thermometer, just how much cooler the sides are with and without the fans, you may prove me full of p00p.

Click to expand...

With all the pics you probably miss it, but I did state this above, now made bold to answer your thoughts/questions:

The compressor is accessed from the left side. It had this cover over it. However I found that side of the chest freezer hot, and the other sides really warm in spots. I had to think there was a more efficient way.

Now some people think that the sides of the chest freezer are designed to be used like a heat-sink. I am not sure I buy into that. It may help in that area, but I personally don’t think that is by design. As much as appliance repair people know-- they are not the engineers designing the freezer. No matter, I have other plans.

So I did a test by removing the cover and placing a small fan on low blowing directly at the compressor. Using my handy laser temperature gun I found that the heat on the compressor itself dropped an amazing 40°. All of the sides of the freezer became cool with only the slightest hint of warm spots. The temp of the freezer also dropped more than 15°.

This is temp is monitored at the exhaust port. I would say a 2-3° is difference it is working pretty well. The sides of the freezer are all cool with only the side just above the compressor having any warmth.

Click to expand...

I did check the sides with the laser, and the sides now only run about 5°-8° warmer and only in a few spots. Prior they were as 15°-25° and the area above the compressor around 35°-50° warmer.

Also, if the fans are noisy, run them in series and they'll spin at half speed. Do the same temp test to see if half speed is cooling as well as full (it may be because of the exit impedance of the 4" hole).

Click to expand...

These fans came with a rheostat, and is what I have the small holes under the fans for. Didn't you read my explanation

/tg

Ah, so you and your fancy techno lazermometer have proved me full of poop, even before I opened my mouth!

I am amazed by the difference. It just sounded like you didn't believe the skin radiator design was the design intention. You would think that a fan or two (with or without the bling lights!) would be cheaper than more coils in the walls.

I'll be curious how the "skins" work out, a friend wants to upholster the sides of his but backed off because of the possibility of blocking the heat transfer. Keep us posted on the build!

KiltLifter said:

Ah, so you and your fancy techno lazermometer have proved me full of poop, even before I opened my mouth!

I am amazed by the difference. It just sounded like you didn't believe the skin radiator design was the design intention. You would think that a fan or two (with or without the bling lights!) would be cheaper than more coils in the walls.

I'll be curious how the "skins" work out, a friend wants to upholster the sides of his but backed off because of the possibility of blocking the heat transfer. Keep us posted on the build!

Click to expand...

Very late in the day here, had to read that last line 3 times to figure out why your friend would want to "upholster the sides of his butt" and what the heck this has to do with a freezer.

+1 I bought into the notion that the sides act as a heat exchanger (shrugs) based solely on the fact that my freezers don;t have an external coil like my uprights.

Here is the "exhaust" hole. It's about 3.5". The garage is a bit warmer today, but the inside of the compressor box is still only about 3-4° warmer than the ambient air of the garage. The sides are still just a bit warmer than the ambient air.

Here is the exhaust port.




Well "skin" isn't the right word really. Other than the top I am not going to be mounting anything directly to the freezer.I am going to build it so that it is collapsible, that is-- the ability to dismantlement it for moving, The two sides, front, top and bottom will all be able to easily separated. There is a good probability that this is going into my bonus room upstairs (that will be built into a "bar". It would be a lot nicer to move the "skins" separately from the freezer.

Additionally, if the freezer needs to be replaced only the bar-top will have to be re-mounted to freezer top. Part of the way I plan on doing this is having a skirt around the top that is a bit taller than the others we have seen, maybe 6-8". This will allow for any difference in size if I buy a new freezer. Same with width and height, I will be adding some wiggle-room to those.

/tg

TimGrz said:

Here is the "exhaust" hole. It's about 3.5". The garage is a bit warmer today, but the inside of the compressor box is still only about 3-4° warmer than the ambient air of the garage. The sides are still just a bit warmer than the ambient air.

Here is the exhaust port.

Well "skin" isn't the right word really. Other than the top I am not going to be mounting anything directly to the freezer.I am going to build it so that it is collapsible, that is-- the ability to dismantlement it for moving, The two sides, front, top and bottom will all be able to easily separated. There is a good probability that this is going into my bonus room upstairs (that will be built into a "bar". It would be a lot nicer to move the "skins" separately from the freezer.

Additionally, if the freezer needs to be replaced only the bar-top will have to be re-mounted to freezer top. Part of the way I plan on doing this is having a skirt around the top that is a bit taller than the others we have seen, maybe 6-8". This will allow for any difference in size if I buy a new freezer. Same with width and height, I will be adding some wiggle-room to those.

/tg

Click to expand...

I know this thread is quite old, but I'm wondering - how did work out in the end? (...or for anyone else doing similar fan builds?). Have your chest freezers been doing OK with this setup and a cabinet surrounding the unit?

Have you tried to turn both fans around and have them be the exhaust? Like you would with a PC, the lower port in the back would bring in cooler air that would be pulled across your compressor and then exhausted out from a higher position. Air likes to rise as it heats up so the thermal dynamics would assist in the cooling.