Side mounted Fermentation Chamber - Fridge

We've beaten this one to death. If you'd like to read about it, go ahead. Eventually, I got a good schooling in how my fridge works, and why my idea won't. I'm ok with that, that's why I brought it up.
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Help me here with my idea.

I want to make a chamber out of blueboard insulation and somehow monkey it to the side of my fridge. I think, with the cooling lines in the side, that there will be enough cold given off to keep the chamber cool. I don't plan on drilling the fridge and putting a fan in there...yet.

My current thoughts are a floor, top, and three sides. Then weather stripping of some sort so it's "airtight" against the fridge.

Has anyone done this? Feel free to toss over suggestions.

Since no one's biting, I'll just have to do it and post the results.

But, if someone has one of those infrared thermometers that shoots the laser, do me a favor. Please shoot the side of your standard fridge side vs some other room temp item, and let me know if there is a difference. I am aware that this temp could vary depending on the cooling cycle being on or off. If a get a few of you to do it, it'll help.

Thanks.

Unless you're hacking a hole through the fridge and mounting some form of air circulation, you aren't accomplishing any cooling by attaching a ferm chamber to the side panel of a fridge.

The fridge is designed to keep cold in; not to share it with the world.

Think about it. If what your proposing, the area around your fridge would be the coldest in the house...by a huge margin.

Sorry, but your basic premise is flawed.

Thanks for the support guys.

If my fridge was 100% efficient at maintaining temps, the condenser would kick on one time to get the temp down, and then only when you opened the door. That is not the case, so 2 things could be happening, warm is getting in, or cold is getting out.

My ambient room temp in the summer is only 70*, but if I can create an area in the 60's (lower the better), I'd be happier.
I have the materials at my disposal, so the cost for me is only time.

Since this idea isn't getting support, or random temperature readings from the crowd, I'll just do it, and post the results.

This forum used to have constructive brainstorms, now it only wants proof first.

Put your hand on the side of the fridge. How cold is it?

I am pretty sure the exothermic reaction you get from fermentation would override any cooling loss you have through the side of the fridge. When I touch the side of the fridge it feels no colder than the side of my cabinets. You could cut a 3 inch hole at top and bottom for cold air supply and return, just beware of refrigerant lines running in the sides. Use a computer fan to circulate air through your chamber pulling it from the fridge with a fan. But beware, your chamber will have mire loss than the fridge, the compressor is going to cycle more often, shortening its life.

I think a better option would be to purchase a 'garage' fridge and ferment in it. Use an STC-1000 temp controller from eBay to manage temps.

Ignorance of physics does not mean that the laws of physics do not exist.

If your idea had any chance of working, there wouldn't be many threads here about modifying fridges for fermentation chambers. We'd all just build styrofoam boxes in the sides of our fridges.

Man, with the size of the fridge we just bought, I could stack two on each side! Lagers on the left; akes on he right...

Save some money. Get a cheap remote infrared temperature unit at Harbir Freight. Measure the temp on the side of your fridge, the kitchen wall, tha kitchen cabinets, etc. You'll quickly see the reality of the situation.

Remember also that when your fridge cycles on it's removing heat from the inside of the fridge and transferring it to the outside. Where is that transfer occurring? On the sides of the fridge, maybe 80% of the heat is sent to the side coils of the fridge and it'll heat up when the fridge is cooling.

The fridge side is going to be possibly the most UNstable temperature you could possibly get. With massive loads of heat being dumped frequently.

edit: just re-read your post, you mention "cooling lines on the side" being beneficial but those are the HOT side lines, as I mentioned. Unfortunately your premise is flawed, this won't offer you what you're looking for and you'll be far better off building a self contained unit and throwing a jug of ice in there instead.

Just remember, nobody is flaming you, just trying to help save you time and money.

Thought this was intriguing at first then remembered how my chest keezer works. Cooling lines run against the skin of the inner cabinet, then there's an inch or two of foam insulation, them heat dump lines run against the outer skin. The outer skin is in fact a heat exchanger and is hotter than ambient. I've seen designs where the heat exchange is on the rear of the fridge but even that would be detrimental to your cooling scheme.

Kudos to you thought for literally thinking outside the box.

The posts have come off a little harsh guys. He may not get our sense of humor. They mean no harm FullDraw, just think of it more along the lines of a loving big brother thumping you for not being the older brother. That said though FullDraw they are all correct, this simply will not work. I wish it would, hell I promise WE ALL do! If it did work every one of use would have a very insulated room with one fridge in it and BAMO happy days. If you insist on doing it a different way, I applaud you, but try this instead. Something I'm going to do is build a heat exchanger system with a deep freeze, a large vessel of glycol in it for a cooling mass, then a set of lines running from the freezer into the ferm chamber where I have a simple coil. Behind the coil is a fan that always runs. There will be a pump and temp controller. When the temp drops to it's setpoint the controller will kick the pump on and pull cold glycol out of the freezer and cool the chamber. Is this the best way to do this? No, is it fun as hell? You bet your A$$! If you want to get off the beaten trail I'm all for it. But you have to still follow the rules of physics. Have Fun!

Just a thought. I understand that the outside wall of the fridge would not work to reduce the temp. inside of the chamber but what about an attempt to expand the capacity of the fridge. I've seen in the DIY section where a door is removed from a small fridge and a cabinet built to accommodate multiple primary's. Would it work to carefully cut 2 openings (1 high and 1 low), install a fan connected to a thermostat in one to circulate chilled air and then mount the chamber on the side? It may not be the best looking Frankenstein project but would it work?

Nasty rabbit, exactly what I had in mind, but I still think a $50 Craigslist fridge would be cheaper and not possibly ruin a good fridge, swmbo would not like that at all

I probably would not attempt it at all as that I have other means to maintain primary temps. Just a possible solution to the OP. I am not sure what would put my wife more over the edge, Telling her that I wanted to cut holes in the kitchen fridge or that I wanted to mount a 3 foot pink cube to the side of it. My guess is that either one would do the trick.

Now, don't you feel better for exercising those ideas? Hell yeah.

I'm just looking to steal a few cheap degrees off the side of my extra fridge, in my brewroom, in the basement. My wife could care less if I make a box with polka dots and attach it to the front of the fridge.

I had an idea. You have crystal clearly explained (more than once) how it would not work. I'm sure your physics professor would applaud you.

I'm still going to make a chamber, I'm just going to alter my cooling source. No, I'm not buying another fridge. That $50 can make me a couple batches of brew. I'm thinking more along the lines of a geothermal source. I don't even want to get into that discussion. I'll just let you know how it turned out.

Just to wrap it up, in the end, I've spent nothing, cut nothing, ruined nothing, but have a better idea what direction to go.

That, was the point.

Dude, you asked for the help, wth

Fulldraw,
The fridge is not I repeat NOT going to coool the inside of your blue board box. A fridge is designed to remove heat from the interior of the unit, not to cool the exterior. If it cooled the exterior it would run all the time because the ambient temp on the outside is as you say on the 70 degree range. Now if you made a blue board box and attatched it so that the cooled air from insidee the unit was circulated into the blueboard box, then you could expect cooling to take place. Unfortunately your original proposal is a "fools errand" and will not work. However you could try and locate a used fridge and either use it as is for a brew cooler or remove the refigeration unit and build it into a plywood box lined wirth blue hoard or insulation. The couls in most late model fridges are located jear the top of the cabinet and a fan circulates the chilled air from the top down. The first rule of thermal dynamics is heat always moves from higher to lower temp. Cold does not displace heat, The second rule of thermo dynamics says that refrigerant removes excess heat from inside the unit via the evaporator and when the gas is compressed the heat is concentrated and taken to the condensor to allow the heat to move away to the cooler surrounding ari. Refigerator insulation is designed to be as leakproof as possible and a unit that gets cold on the outside is defective or damaged. Not trying to discourage you in any way, just putting the immutable facts out there for you to see. And yes I am a qualified heat and AC mechanic so I know what I am telling you is indeed a fact and not something I heard from a freind of a freinds Uncle cousin Brother inlaw. If you need help with the desigh PM me and I will be glad to explain exactly what you need to be successfull and what the minimum requirements will be. Hope this helps a bit.

Bob

FullDraw said:

Thanks for the support guys.

If my fridge was 100% efficient at maintaining temps, the condenser would kick on one time to get the temp down, and then only when you opened the door. That is not the case, so 2 things could be happening, warm is getting in, or cold is getting out.

My ambient room temp in the summer is only 70*, but if I can create an area in the 60's (lower the better), I'd be happier.
I have the materials at my disposal, so the cost for me is only time.

Since this idea isn't getting support, or random temperature readings from the crowd, I'll just do it, and post the results.

This forum used to have constructive brainstorms, now it only wants proof first.

Click to expand...

nasty_rabbit said:

Just a thought. I understand that the outside wall of the fridge would not work to reduce the temp. inside of the chamber but what about an attempt to expand the capacity of the fridge. I've seen in the DIY section where a door is removed from a small fridge and a cabinet built to accommodate multiple primary's. Would it work to carefully cut 2 openings (1 high and 1 low), install a fan connected to a thermostat in one to circulate chilled air and then mount the chamber on the side? It may not be the best looking Frankenstein project but would it work?

Click to expand...

That's what I did. Took a dorm fridge and extended it to fit 3 carboys.



It controls temps rather well. Until 35 degrees. After that it runs nearly all the time.

Ki-ri-n said:

That's what I did. Took a dorm fridge and extended it to fit 3 carboys.

It controls temps rather well. Until 35 degrees. After that it runs nearly all the time.

Click to expand...

This is awesome and finally a general idea of what I need to start trying to put together. Now to convince SWMBO it's a good use of $50-100

Dear OP,

You're not getting "support" because your idea is ridiculous. I mean... awful. There is 100% probability that it will not work. So people don't go around proposing options because there are no possible options to a 100% fail idea.

Also, no possible wise ass comment about applauding physics professors is going to turn this into a good idea nor will it result in respect from people you are seeking help from.

Oh and just so you know. Cold can't get out, because cold doesn't exist.

Check out my build in my signature. Even with actually drawing the cool air from my keezer into my ferm chamber, I'm unable to maintain good ferm temps. I need to supplement with ice bottles.

Fellas, the point has been made, more than once.

I completely understand why my idea is doomed for failure based on the education handed out. If I were to complete this, without drilling, I'd probably have a warmer area than my room temp, vs the cold I'm after. (that idea may actually be beneficial to someone looking for a slightly warmer winter location)

Some of the responses here aren't necessary, or constructive, others opened my eyes a little.

Just to repeat so we don't get another reason why this idea sucks.... I ain't doin it.

Chris,

I cannot send pm's right now... Shoot me your email to my last name period first name at gmail dot com.

-Kevin