Building a walk in cooler

I am thinking about finishing my basement. Of course, the first concern is where to put the bar.

I've been thinking, though, would it be difficult to build a walk in cooler? I'm thinking about a 6X6 or 8X8 room with taps on the outside.

Has anyone else done this? I found a link at the link below where someone did it, but I am interested to know if anyone here has done one.

http://www.brewrats.org/walkin.cfm

Thanks in advance.

drost said:

http://www.brewrats.org/walkin.cfm

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I haven't made one, but I wouldn't mind doing so. I like the tinkering and brewing aspects of this hobby, as much as the drinking. If not more so.

From your link:

"Well now the damn thing was done. Now how do I chill the thing? I am currently using an 8,000 BTU window AC unit that I adjusted the thermostat on. The Walk in has been holding steady at temps between 38-40f."



He is getting those low temps with a window AC unit? Cool!

I wonder how he adjusted the thermostat? I guess you could always secure the thermocouple to a light bulb to keep it warm... lol

I've seen that link before and have also thought about building a walk in, as a matter of fact, I've been given the green light by my wife. Now I just need to figure out where it will go. The original spot I was thinking of using was a closet that had been plumbed for pool equipment, but now we're talking about getting a pool so we'll probably need that closet. We are redoing our home after hurricane Katrina devestated it, so sky's the limit on improvements. The refrigeration unit has been my stopping point each time I go down this road. I'm worried about expense and electrial requirements.

The guy in the link uses his basement in Chicago that he states stays around 52 degrees year round without cooling. That's why he was able to modify an old window A/C unit to chill the last bit down to what he wanted.

I'd be interested to see if there are any tricks or pitfalls to watch our for.

I had some concern about the A/C unit freezing up in the winter. I would assume you'd have to have it mounted to the outside, wouldn't you?

These may or may not help. Found them while looking to see if anybody else had built their own walk in and posted instructions.

http://www.lsuagcenter.com/NR/rdonl...0DAD898/13502/36012TempWalkInRefrigerator.pdf

From this site:

http://www.lsuagcenter.com/en/our_o...ooler/Two+Temperature+Walkin+Refrigerator.htm

very nice drost. I like the tap set up. How far from the kegs to the taps? And does the beer in the lines get worm between glasses?

Hi Beermaker...it's not my setup, I'm just wanting to do something similar and was wondering if anyone else had actually done it. I couldn't find the author's name on the site, so I can't contact him directly.

edost said:

These may or may not help. Found them while looking to see if anybody else had built their own walk in and posted instructions.

http://www.lsuagcenter.com/NR/rdonl...0DAD898/13502/36012TempWalkInRefrigerator.pdf

From this site:

http://www.lsuagcenter.com/en/our_o...ooler/Two+Temperature+Walkin+Refrigerator.htm

Click to expand...

Thanks for the link...it's pretty detailed!

I didn't bother making one, I bought a house that already had one. Much easier that way

I helped a guy build one a couple years ago for a bar - just framed up a room and insulated the crap out of it. He had an industrial a/c unit mounted on the roof of the building to blow air into the room. I'm sure the same concept with a window a/c unit would work just fine on a smaller scale. How cool would that be to tell your friends to grab a beer out of the "fridge"?

ablrbrau said:

I didn't bother making one, I bought a house that already had one. Much easier that way

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That would be easier! Good for you!

is this really any different than what HVAC guys do at restaurants? They build them to size in your space right - just with a much heavier duty compressor / condensor unit.

here is a link to Jamil Z.'s walk in cooler and brew shed..


http://www.mrmalty.com/brewstuff.php

Wow, that guy's equipment was out of control! Good information on how to insulate the walls as well as what type of cooling unit to use.


Awesome link. That's just what I needed.....now to find a place...

That's some good information...AND an email address to ask questions! Thanks!

Here's another link I just found:

http://franklinbrew.org/members/sj/walkin.html

Another awesome link! By the time I make mine, I'll be able to combine all the ideas into one insane cooler.


Thanks again.

Check out this guy's brewshed.

http://www.jrbrewing.com/brewshed/

:rockin:

Now I know what I will be doing once I have a basement that I can finish

Beermaker said:

very nice drost. I like the tap set up. How far from the kegs to the taps? And does the beer in the lines get worm between glasses?

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If you add the faucets directly to the wall of the cold-room, which is what I would do, then you should not have that problem at all. And yes it would be rather inconvenient for the beer to warm up in the line if you only drink one or two pints a day.

Kai

Building something similar in my basement. Any reason not to use an outside door for the door into it? Maybe add some insulation to the inside for good measure?

Given the small area (5'x3'x8'), was also thinking of re-purposing the guts of the current keg fridge and framing out a section below it on one side to house it. Any thoughts? Better to buy a purpose built compressor unit? Not so sure about the A/C venting into the room...

Have you tried lookin in the project locator of the DIY Section? There's a very large thread on a build of a walkin cooler here.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=11440

To be honest, I don't see a bit of difference between the cooling mechanics of a window A/C and a refridgerator. They use exactly the same principals and parts. Compressor, heat exhange coils, fan. Venting an AC into the larger living area is about the same as using a freezer/fridge. That is, given about equal efficiencies, set temps, and conditioned square footage, neither one puts more heat out than the other. I think a window A/C or split system has the advantage of having a nice powerful fan to keep the air moving well. Hmm, the one difference would be that a window AC collects condensate in the lower pan and tries draining it out the back. You could have freezing in the winter if you didn't insulate this path and divert the water into a collection system inside.

Here are some considerations from my perspective as a part-time Home Inspector:

1. A window unit A/C is very ineffcient when compared to a refridgeration unit.

2. When the temp. at the condenser coils goes below 65*F the pressure on the high side of the compressor gets high enough that it can damage the unit. For this reason I don't test A/C units when the outside air temp drops below 65*F.

3. The best you can reasonably hope for with a window A/C unit is a 20-30*F temp. reduction from the surrounding outside air temp. So 85*F outside air yields an average of 65-55*F cold air output. So in order to do the job properly you'd need a commercial refrideration unit for most installations.

4. With a 7' or 8' ceiling you are most likely cooling a lot of unused area.

Bottom line is a converted refridgerator or freezer will cost a lot less to purchase and operate especially if you buy a used one.

Of course if time, money and wasted space are of little or no concern then a walk-in fridge is high in gee whiz value.

I wonder why it works for some people like Jamil. Maybe their outside temps are more moderate like in the 70's. His site says his original unit crapped out after 6 years. Sounds pretty reasonable to me.

Jamil is LA area.
John Beere is GA.

If I wanted to creat a 3' wide x 6' long x 8' tall walk-in fridge room, and needed to vent it to an inside room (just like a fridge, actually replacing the fridge. Any ideas? Don't think it would take much of a cooling unit. Was actually thinking of just ripping the guts out of the existing fridge and re-using them...

we are currently building a walk in cooler. I have read and some have suggested that we use a AC window unit, however a window unit will freeze if it runs to long, especially when you want temps of 40 or lower. so the solution we may be trying is using a 1.5 ton or 2 ton furnace with an outside AC condensing unit. If you use a unit big enough like this, it will defrost on its own during cooling cycles. All you would need is a freezer thermostat or a thermostat that will go down to 40 F. We do HVAC so we have one laying around so its cheaper for us. If your trying to stay cheap look on ebay or ask neighbors for used and good working units, dont buy a new one unless your going to use it ALOT! If you do decide to go with a window unit you will need to get a different thermostat along with a timing switch. The timing switch will shut of the condensor inside the unit, that way the freon wont be circulating and freezing up the pipes. With the condensor shut down, the fan will defrost the coils until the thermostat calls for cool air again.

One thing to consider to is Craig's list for commercial walkin coolers.

just one example.

Restaurant Walk-in Cooler [best offer or...]

I built a walk in frementation room(12x6x8), and got it up and running last weekend. It works fine for holding 68, and I've got it down to 58 with a 5500 btu window AC, but I don't think holding those low temps would be feasible for long term, but it can hold 68 just fine, and I have two fermentation cabinets to hold lower temps.

When I was building it though, I saw quite a few deals on Craig's list for commercial walkin coolers for under 1k.

I'm actually up near Sacramento. It gets as high as 110F in the summer and will dip below freezing a few days in winter.

I had an A/C guy living down the street from me and he told me it wouldn't work. He cited the same thing about high pressure and how it couldn't cool once it dipped below a certain temperature. He said it would be broken within a week. I know these A/C guys certainly know their stuff and have far more experience than me, but my experience tells me that you can get away with it and it will work. I measured air coming out of the unit at -7F. I froze 5%+ alcohol beer solid and this was in the middle of summer, about a 95F day.

I think the main reason the first unit died on me is that it got short cycled way too many times. I switched to a Johnson digital controller with an anti short cycle setting and that seems much gentler on the compressor.

I think if you need LOTS of cold storage it is more cost effective than the same space using refrigerators. Especially if the fridges are older and you insulate your walk-in very well.

I built one...

I've posted about it a couple of different times.

I have 6 foot long, 3 1/2 foot wide, 5 1/2 feet tall walk in. It is chilled with a tiny wall A/C unit that vents into my basement. I then run six beer lines about 35 feet, behind a wall, under my bar and up into a coffin box sitting on my bar.

It was easy.

Sorry... and my AC unit doesn't freeze up. I keep my cooler at about 37-38 degrees.

you need to wrap the ever-lovin' crap out of the thing with a heavy vapor barrier and make sure it is as air tight as possible and then I have the compressor hooked into a temp controller and the fan on the unit runs 24/7. If I ever get any frost on the coils inside the walk-in, as soon as the compressor clicks off, the fan defrosts the coils almost instantly. there are easier ways to fix the problem but that's how I did it.

It's been running for about two years now.

MAN... I should read ALL of the posts before I respond.

Yeah... my cousin has beena commercial AC/HVAC guy for about 20 years and told me there was no way it would work too.

Like I said... mine's been at about 38 degrees for two years now. Every time he comes to my house I ask him if he wants to reconsider his theory.


Terrible pic but here it is....

Mine is in a back storage area so I wasn't concerned with making it pretty...

I know a guy who uses a 20' one of these: Refrigerated Containers – Refrigerated Storage Containers | azteccontainer.com for an embryo transfer lab, and I thought it would be great for a walk in cooler. Apparently it holds temps like a champ even in deep south texas, and he got his pretty cheap since it was used, there was some rust, and the actual refrigeration unit was removed. Instead he used a 8000btu A/C unit which would only run about once a day even in the summer.

holy crap... I didn't realize this was a 2006 thread... how did this get dug up??

i'm not sure how this thread got resurrected but if anyone is interested, there is a product called 'coolbot' that addresses some of the concerns listed previously. i havent used it but the theory seems sound.

I have one that is in progress:
http://www.kenheaps.com/house/fridge.php

I also built one and has been running for over 2 yrs
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/walk-under-stairs-55974/

Hey thehost, thanks for posting... I forgot to update with the finished product on mine. It has been running for about 6 months now... I had a problem that everytime I tried to show it off using photos, people just didn't get it, so here it is: (yes, that is me talking... I am a dork, I know. Also, it is slightly different now as I have more shelving in there to hold the bottles that were in boxes).



-Ken

Wirehead said:

I have one that is in progress:
http://www.kenheaps.com/house/fridge.php

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Very nice. I take it you used a cooler door? What idid you use for your A/C?

thehost said:

Very nice. I take it you used a cooler door? What idid you use for your A/C?

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I used a door that you would find at a local convenience store, for the reach-in soda fridge... so it is a little short for me but it works and looks great. That's why is is clear with the lights on the sides.

For the cooling, I am using an upright freezer. The freezer uses shelf-coil based cooling, so I have a fan that blows across the shelves and transfers that cool air to the fridge. You can see it in the back ground once I step inside. I am using a Johnson Control to regulate the temperature.... it maintains about 47*F.