Running Temp Probe Into Chest Freezer Fermentation Chamber

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I bought a 5cf Holiday chest freezer w/ the intent of turning it into a fermentation chamber since it's about to be hot in Texas. I was planning on running my temp probe in through the drain hole and then sealing it up w/ silicone. I just got the Ranco in the mail though and discovered the temp probe can't easily be disconnected to fish through the drain (soldered direct to the board). Do I:

1. Run it through the lid and attempt to get something to seal up the small air gap created by the lid seal not sitting flush (like some weather stripping or something).

2. Attempt to drill a hole through the compressor hump where there appears to be no cooling lines (I think) and then seal up w/ silicone.

Thoughts?

Mitch
 
Why not cut the probe line near the controller, fish the wire through the drain hole and then re-solder the wires and use some heat shrink tubing or electrical tape to insulate the splice. Much less chance of screwing something up that way than by soldering on the PC board. I'd also suggest using hot glue instead of silicone for sealing - I don't know about Ranco, but IIRC, Johnson says not to use silicone (I think because it dissolves the jacket or wire insulation). I've used hot glue and it works fine - also easy to remove when you need to.
 
I would leave the drain intact and either run the probe through the lid or through the compressor hump. You never know when you'll get a mess from a fermenter airlock or blow off tube falling out or getting clogged. A drain would contain the mess.

Just my opinion though, I guess I am a bit paranoid after a stout eruption left the walls of my closet a speckled brown. :ban:
 
mhibbs said:
I bought a 5cf Holiday chest freezer w/ the intent of turning it into a fermentation chamber since it's about to be hot in Texas. I was planning on running my temp probe in through the drain hole and then sealing it up w/ silicone. I just got the Ranco in the mail though and discovered the temp probe can't easily be disconnected to fish through the drain (soldered direct to the board). Do I:

1. Run it through the lid and attempt to get something to seal up the small air gap created by the lid seal not sitting flush (like some weather stripping or something).

2. Attempt to drill a hole through the compressor hump where there appears to be no cooling lines (I think) and then seal up w/ silicone.

Thoughts?

Mitch
Click to expand...

I've seen (and used) a couple of temp controllers that just run the wire between the door and the fridge/freezer chasis. It works pretty well...in fact AHS runs their probe this way for their yeast and hops fridges. If you go and ask them about it, they will be more than hoppy (hehehe) to show you.:mug:
 
Yup, this works very well with the right temp probe. One of my probes is for the Johnson A419 and it's too thick to do this, but, another temp probe uses 22 gauge wire and I just duct taped it to the door facing and the door seal covers it without issue (no drilling).

The_Dog_42 said:
I've seen (and used) a couple of temp controllers that just run the wire between the door and the fridge/freezer chasis. It works pretty well...in fact AHS runs their probe this way for their yeast and hops fridges. If you go and ask them about it, they will be more than hoppy (hehehe) to show you.:mug:
Click to expand...
 
The Ranco is definitely not 22 gauge, I'd say more like 10-12. I may just try running it through the lid and see if condensation is a major issue and then go from there. That's a great point about maybe needing the drain. I can't imagine there are cooling lines in the hump so I may end up doing that. I have a heater I need to get in there at some point as well.
 
I just ran mine through the hump of my Harier Chest freezer with no problems. I used a long phillips screwdriver to poke through the 3-4inches of insulation, "center punched" against the inner wall of the freezer using the screwdriver and a friend to support the wall from the inside a bit, and drilled from the inside out. I used aluminum ducting tape to keep the wire in place inside the freezer and seal the hole. No problems so far and I definitely like not having a probe wire hanging outside the freezer.
 

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