I am thinking of trying to turn a chest freezer into a keezer, and want to install a temperature controller. Before doing so, I want to make sure I know what to do. I have looked on this site, and many other places on the net and seen demonstrations and videos of how to make a keezer, but have not been able to answer some questions around the temperature controller :
Currently, the freezer has its own thermostat (I have it set to -19C / -2F). The freezer is plugged in to the mains wall socket.
If I buy a controller, I plug the controller into the mains wall socket, I put the probe (attached to the controller) into the freezer and my question is around connecting the controller to the freezer : Do I
1 : Plug the freezer into the controller (ie the plug that used to go into the mains socket now gets plugged into the controller, so the freezer gets on/off power when the controller allows it to, or :
2 : keep the freezer plugged into the mains wall socket as before, but connect the thermostat from the freezer to the controller somehow so that the ffreezer thinks it has a new thermostat (the controller)
In 1 the thermostat is set to -2F which is way colder than I ever need it, so my thinking is that when my temperature gets above my desired temperature (set by controller), the controller allows power to the freezer, and because my desired temperature is higher than the -2F setting on the freezer thermostat, it powers up and tries to cool the freezer down to -2F. When it hits my desired temp (say 45F) the controller cuts the power to the freezer, and this cycles continues.
In 2, there is always power going to the freezer, but the governer is now the freezer thermostat, which is wired into the controller.
Option 2 seems much more complicated to me than option 1, and I am not that experienced with this stuff.
Can someone let me know which way it works (hopefully there are controllers that operate like option 1) and if option 2 is my only bet, does anyone have a good resource or link to explain how to actually do this at home?
Many thanks in advance.
Murray
Currently, the freezer has its own thermostat (I have it set to -19C / -2F). The freezer is plugged in to the mains wall socket.
If I buy a controller, I plug the controller into the mains wall socket, I put the probe (attached to the controller) into the freezer and my question is around connecting the controller to the freezer : Do I
1 : Plug the freezer into the controller (ie the plug that used to go into the mains socket now gets plugged into the controller, so the freezer gets on/off power when the controller allows it to, or :
2 : keep the freezer plugged into the mains wall socket as before, but connect the thermostat from the freezer to the controller somehow so that the ffreezer thinks it has a new thermostat (the controller)
In 1 the thermostat is set to -2F which is way colder than I ever need it, so my thinking is that when my temperature gets above my desired temperature (set by controller), the controller allows power to the freezer, and because my desired temperature is higher than the -2F setting on the freezer thermostat, it powers up and tries to cool the freezer down to -2F. When it hits my desired temp (say 45F) the controller cuts the power to the freezer, and this cycles continues.
In 2, there is always power going to the freezer, but the governer is now the freezer thermostat, which is wired into the controller.
Option 2 seems much more complicated to me than option 1, and I am not that experienced with this stuff.
Can someone let me know which way it works (hopefully there are controllers that operate like option 1) and if option 2 is my only bet, does anyone have a good resource or link to explain how to actually do this at home?
Many thanks in advance.
Murray