Rusty water in freezer keezer

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Carlscan26

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I have one of those dehumidifier things in the freezer which helped with the amount of moisture on the sides but today when I opened it up there was a puddle of brown water in the front corner by the drain.

At first I thought it was beer leaking from my keg but after tasting it (ewwww) it's not.

I'm about to put a collar on this freezer. Is there something wrong with it? Or should I just caulk all of the interior joints?
 
I never had a puddle but my new chest freezer started rusting very soon after I got it and converted it to a keezer. I ended up putting naval jelly on all of the seems and priming it with rust blocker and then painting the entire inside with rustoleum. It's held up pretty well so far. I was bummed I had to do it but it turned out nicely.
 
Is this common in keezer builds? I'm curious as I'm looking to build one soon and want to plan for this.
 
Thanks twogunz!

Hijacked - moisture is a common problem but I haven't heard of pooling water like I'm having or it being rusty... It's been unseasonable humid here I'm SD recently so I'm not surprised I have moisture in my keezer but this seems excessive...
 
It's common. I've opened up my keezer to 3 inches of water before. I'm guessing yours is in a garage or basement. Mine is in my garage. I only get water in the summer.

It means there is an air leak somewhere. I 've caulked every seam in my keezer, sealed the collar, added dehumidifier, added a fan, and added additional weather stripping, but I still get a little water. It's a lot better than it used to be though.

One of the biggest culprits is opening and closing the freezer top. If you do this a lot, you'll never get rid of the condensation issues.
 
Yep it's in my garage. It's possible the thermo probe is leaving a gap in the gasket as I don't have a collar on yet. It doesn't seem to correlate to when I open it but who knows. This is starting to make sense.

I caulked all the interior joints today with DAP 3.0 sealant - its rated for outdoors, ridiculous temp range, and water exposure. Ready in 3 hours fully cured in 24.

I also started working on my collar today and finished my fermentation fridge!
 
It doesn't take much of a gap. You won't see instant water when you open it, but it does allow water into the unit, which will condense when the new air cools.

I only have problems during June-Aug. Unfortunately you're in CA, so you probably won't get the Winter reprieve like I do.

I've got mine sealed pretty well now, so there is hardly any water anymore. My biggest problem was between the collar and the freezer. I used 2 tubes of silicon there and it fixed most of the problems. I still air it out every few months to get rid of any water.
 
thoughts about throwing a towel down on the bottom and putting kegs on that? Or build a small spacer for kegs to sit on and then put a towel underneath that?
 
The towel just freezes to the bottom of the keezer. I think the spacer is a good idea. I put down a piece of plywood, but it just got soaked. Anything that promotes airflow under the kegs will probably help.
 
I put a cup of damp rid in my keezer and dump or replace it periodically. I think it helps.
 
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