Is there anywhere in this fridge I should (or shouldn't) drill?

To avoid having to read the whole post, I want to know whether I can safely drill through the sides (or back) of the fridge shown below and also would appreciate any comments on my plans.

So onto the details and photos.....

I have a small GE Fridge similar to the one below that I want to store my keg(s) in and convert to a kegerator. It isn't big enough to hold the kegs as is so I plan on doing some modification.





The first job is to deal with the icebox.



I am thinking of removing the screws and putting the metal (with coils?) onto the back of the fridge like in the photo below that I took from another thread (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/advice-small-fridge-deconstruction-123128/)



I'm hoping that the cooling lines(?) in the top right of the second picture are flexible enough to carefully bend. Any comments or suggestions greatly appreciated.

With some cutting of the door shelf I should then be able to get a 5G in the fridge. My next problem will be the CO2. I only have a 20lb tank (and that was hard enough to get but I won't go into why here) so keeping it inside the frisge is not an option so I was thinking about drilling a hole somewhere in the fridge to run the gas line in. The back of the fridge is shown below and I assume that all the working parts are on the putside so as long as I avoid what I can see I can drill anywhere but I am concerned that i might end up hitting something internally and ending up with a very large paperweight. Has anyone with any experience of drilling holes in fridges got any comments or suggestions?



All being well I may then get a 3G to sit on the hump. I'd prefer another 5G in there but suspect I won't be able to make it fit.

Then it's a case of deciding whether to go with taps in the door or a tower!!

Thanks in advance.

Looks like your coolant lines go directly into the freezer compartment, so you'd be pretty safe wherever you drill.
However, it also looks like your coolant line attaches to the top right of your freezer tray, unlike the photo you found. That could make bending it down a challenge.

Thanks. I see some experimentation ahead of me. If I'm careful, if it won't bend down hopefully I can put it back in the initial place and at least have a fridge that works for something.

You could loose the freezer plate and coils, and maybe bend the plate and coils?

Turn it inside out, so to speak. Might rupture the coils, but then you could flatten it against the top and side.

(yes I did mean loose, not lose)

Or you could accordian the sides of the freezer plate, making the freezer smaller....

I think for most "fridges" the coils don't go through the body and the cooling comes down from the freezer.

For freezers this is not the case as I have chest and upright freezer that I can feel the heat from (the defrosters????)

DPB

I had a fridge that had cooling lines in the side, right where I wanted to drill the hole... I would be careful, drill from the inside just through the plastic and then use a small screwdriver to poke around and clear the way to the outside wall. Good luck.

The CO2 tank is pretty easy.
I would drill through that very thin spot above the compressor on the ramp and run the CO2 lines through there.
Drill as far back as you can since you may have to build a shelf over the hump to support your kegs.

Despite the title, moving the icebox seems to be the thrust of this thing.

The "freezer" is actually a chill plate. Kinking or rupturing the line going to it or any of the passages in the chill plate will ruin the unit.

Looking at your pictures the lines to the plate come in at the top right corner so the only way to safely bend that plate is to detach the left side and bend it flat to the right.

There won't be enough slack in those lines to bend it to the back.

As for drilling, make sure there there are no lines that disappear into the cabinet underneath.

It looks like there isn't in your pictures but manufactures do some strange stuff at times.

If it were me I would carefully bend that plate to the right, and baring a line through the cabinet underneath drill through the left.

Then i would look at a tower over faucets in the door.

Just my 2 cents. Hope it works out for you.

That is it static. Flat against the right side.

Thanks all.

I hadn't thought about bending down to the right rather than the back. I will have to have a look at the icebox when I unscrew it and see how flexible the inlet lines are and how easily the left side will bend flat if i put it on the side rather than the back. I've barely worked with metal (more a wood man), has anyone got any suggestions/advice regarding bending the chill plate without rupturing the lines?

Good news about being able to drill most places if I'm careful as it opens up the options.

As for tower versus taps in the door, that partly depends on SWMBO. If it stays in the store room then its probably taps in the door (not enough height). If it goes on the patio then I'd need to make a wooden housing for it (to fit with other furniture) but then it would be a tower. One thing at a time. If I manage to sort out the icebox and gas lines then I'll stick with the cobra taps until stage 2.....

Heat the metal before bending.

Those chill plates are made from aluminum and/or copper so bending shouldn't be that difficult. The lines are pretty thin so i would be more worried about kinking. Just go easy and you'll be fine.