How often should my kegerator cycle?

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Schnitzengiggle

Schnitzengiggle

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I just added a Love temperature controller to my kegerator and installed a fan along with it.

Unfortunately my kegerator is empty right now, but how often should it cycle on and off?

I set my temp to 38°F, and have the hystersis set to 3° so it will chill down to about 36°F, and doesn't rise above 41°F. I have the fan coming on only when the compressor is running (at first I had it wired to run all the time, it just seemed to cycle more than it does now). FWIW, I have my temp probe in a shotglass full of water, I plan on drilling the cap of a White Labs vial and epoxying the probe into it, adding water and using that as my temperature placement.

I really didn't pay attention to how often it cyled before, and now I can hear it come on because of the fan inside. My thought was once there is a keg full of liquid in there to absorb some of the thermal mass it will stay cooler longer, but I don't know.

Any thoughts?
 
Schnitzengiggle said:
I just added a Love temperature controller to my kegerator and installed a fan along with it.

Unfortunately my kegerator is empty right now, but how often should it cycle on and off?

I set my temp to 38°F, and have the hystersis set to 3° so it will chill down to about 36°F, and doesn't rise above 41°F. I have the fan coming on only when the compressor is running (at first I had it wired to run all the time, it just seemed to cycle more than it does now). FWIW, I have my temp probe in a shotglass full of water, I plan on drilling the cap of a White Labs vial and epoxying the probe into it, adding water and using that as my temperature placement.

I really didn't pay attention to how often it cyled before, and now I can hear it come on because of the fan inside. My thought was once there is a keg full of liquid in there to absorb some of the thermal mass it will stay cooler longer, but I don't know.

Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

I have a TS2 on mine, and it runs a lot - It's in the garage, and it's regularly well over 90 degrees in there. I set the TS2 to a max run time of 45 minutes with minimum 15 minutes off, and 40 degrees. It's always between 40 and 44 degrees, but the probe is just floating in there...
 
SweetSounds said:
I have a TS2 on mine, and it runs a lot - It's in the garage, and it's regularly well over 90 degrees in there. I set the TS2 to a max run time of 45 minutes with minimum 15 minutes off, and 40 degrees. It's always between 40 and 44 degrees, but the probe is just floating in there...
Click to expand...

What kind of fridge or freezer are you using? Mine is in our kitchen and our house is kept in the 78F range. The fridge will run for about 15-20 minutes and shut down for baout the same amount of time, maybe longer while the temp creeps back up.
 
Schnitzengiggle said:
What kind of fridge or freezer are you using? Mine is in our kitchen and our house is kept in the 78F range. The fridge will run for about 15-20 minutes and shut down for baout the same amount of time, maybe longer while the temp creeps back up.
Click to expand...

I have a 4.4 ft Haier kegerator. It's 75% duty cycle seems really high to me, but it's really hot out there too...
 
I think when you fill it up, it will cycle much, much less. I store empty cornies in my fermentation chamber, and it helps a bunch.
 
SweetSounds said:
I have a 4.4 ft Haier kegerator. It's 75% duty cycle seems really high to me, but it's really hot out there too...
Click to expand...

Right on, I built mine out of a Frigidaire mini fridge so it isn't really meant to be used as a kegerator. However, that is what it is now!:rockin:

I haven't really timed it, and I haven't set the max run time, and min time off settings, but your 45/15 souns reasonable. I don't think mine runs that long maybe 20 minutes, but like I said I haven't timed it. I just don't want to burn out the compressor with a constant on and off. I would suspect that it is going to definitely reduce the life of the fridge.

Reelale said:
I think when you fill it up, it will cycle much, much less. I store empty cornies in my fermentation chamber, and it helps a bunch.
Click to expand...

That's what I figured, I have a Belgian Dark Strong that is goin in there, but it has about 3 more weeks of room temp aging to go. I guess I could put my two 5 gallon kegs of sanitizer in there until then :)

Thanks for the info!

Cheers!
 
my keezer is an older 14cf whirpool using r-12 refrigerant, set at 38F with a 3F differential. it currently contains a 1/2 barrel of sam adams, 2 cornies of apfelwein, 1 corny of carbonated water and a 20lb c02 tank. my attached garage has been averaging70-75F for several weeks now, the compressor cycles on for 10 minutes every 1-1/2 hour.
 
From what I understand (and I'm no expert in this field), the important thing is the "off-time". So long as it is off at least five or ten minutes, it's not too bad. Short-cycling the compressor is bad because it is much harder for the compressor to start when there is pressure on the 'out' side of it; after a while, the pressure will equalize, at which time starting isn't a big deal.

That said, if the unit short-cycles, it could be low on refrigerant, and there are probably a host of other issues that I'm not qualified to discuss...
 
marzsit said:
my keezer is an older 14cf whirpool using r-12 refrigerant, set at 38F with a 3F differential. it currently contains a 1/2 barrel of sam adams, 2 cornies of apfelwein, 1 corny of carbonated water and a 20lb c02 tank. my attached garage has been averaging70-75F for several weeks now, the compressor cycles on for 10 minutes every 1-1/2 hour.
Click to expand...

It's my understanding that R12 is a more efficient refrigerant, just not as environmentally friendly. My mini fridge/kegerator is empty so I think that is a major contributing factor for how often it is cycling, ontop of that I do not have my temp probe installed the way I want it yet. However, that is really efficient for an old freezer!

jpc said:
From what I understand (and I'm no expert in this field), the important thing is the "off-time". So long as it is off at least five or ten minutes, it's not too bad. Short-cycling the compressor is bad because it is much harder for the compressor to start when there is pressure on the 'out' side of it; after a while, the pressure will equalize, at which time starting isn't a big deal.

That said, if the unit short-cycles, it could be low on refrigerant, and there are probably a host of other issues that I'm not qualified to discuss...
Click to expand...

It's off for around 15 -20 minutes so I should be safe. By the time it starts back up the unit is cool to the touch, obvioulsy when it is running it is prety warm. It's running now, so I'm gonna time its off cycle, and then the on if I don't fall asleep before then.

The unit was brand new, I purchased it to convert it, so I don't think low refrigerant or has any other issues.
 
Alright, so I timed it last night, cycles on for about 15 minnutes, cycles off for about 50 minutes, I think I'm in the green.

I'm certain once I get some beer in there (and finish up my temp probe) it will be even more efficient.
 
Schnitzengiggle said:
Alright, so I timed it last night, cycles on for about 15 minnutes, cycles off for about 50 minutes, I think I'm in the green.

I'm certain once I get some beer in there (and finish up my temp probe) it will be even more efficient.
Click to expand...

Yes... the more thermal mass inside, the better it will keep temperature and the less it will cycle. You could put empty kegs of water inside for ballast it you prefer... might help it cycle less.
 
jpc said:
Yes... the more thermal mass inside, the better it will keep temperature and the less it will cycle. You could put empty kegs of water inside for ballast it you prefer... might help it cycle less.
Click to expand...

Not initially - Thermal mass slows down your cycle time. It still takes the same energy to keep the cooler cold, because the cooler walls will lose just as much heat if the whole thing is a block of ice, as it will if it's empty. But, the more thermal mass the more time it takes for the internal temperature to change.
Think of it this way - If I have a pool, it will take a fixed amount of BTU's to increase the temp a certain number of degrees. This is a standard calculation.
If I have a cup of water, it will take a proportional amount of BTU's to heat it the same amount.
However, it takes far less time for a cup to water to equalize to ambient that it would take a pool, due to the pool's thermal mass. Fundamentally, thermal mass allows you to narrow your hysteresis band - Narrowing the temp swing in your cooler = More consistent temperatures for your beerz :mug:
 
SweetSounds said:
Not initially - Thermal mass slows down your cycle time. It still takes the same energy to keep the cooler cold, because the cooler walls will lose just as much heat if the whole thing is a block of ice, as it will if it's empty. But, the more thermal mass the more time it takes for the internal temperature to change.
Think of it this way - If I have a pool, it will take a fixed amount of BTU's to increase the temp a certain number of degrees. This is a standard calculation.
If I have a cup of water, it will take a proportional amount of BTU's to heat it the same amount.
However, it takes far less time for a cup to water to equalize to ambient that it would take a pool, due to the pool's thermal mass. Fundamentally, thermal mass allows you to narrow your hysteresis band - Narrowing the temp swing in your cooler = More consistent temperatures for your beerz :mug:
Click to expand...

Sweet analogy, bt I am still looking for some reassurance that I'm not gonna kill my mini-fridge by it switching on and off every hour?
 
Sweet analogy, bt I am still looking for some reassurance that I'm not gonna kill my mini-fridge by it switching on and off every hour?
Click to expand...

Okay, you are assured. There is no difference between the fridge being cycled by an external controller and the internal one. In fact, it is probably cycling less than it it would on its own. This is absolutely true for a freezer-based kegger, because the internal temperature is higher.
 
Awesome! Thanks guys!

I'll try to post pics here Friday after I get my wiring cleaned up. I tried to solder them, and put a couple of wire nuts on a few of the wires.

When all is said and done I decided I am going to put male/female connectors on everything to make it simple and neat, as well as easy to disconnect anything if necessary.

Any ideas on a decent way to mount a fan inside, I have the fan installed and running, but I havent been able to come up with an acceptable way to mount it, out of the way.
 
Schnitzengiggle said:
Awesome! Thanks guys!

I'll try to post pics here Friday after I get my wiring cleaned up. I tried to solder them, and put a couple of wire nuts on a few of the wires.

When all is said and done I decided I am going to put male/female connectors on everything to make it simple and neat, as well as easy to disconnect anything if necessary.

Any ideas on a decent way to mount a fan inside, I have the fan installed and running, but I havent been able to come up with an acceptable way to mount it, out of the way.
Click to expand...

I struggled with that too.
In the end, I just have it sitting on the floor, between the kegs :ban:

KISS I guess :drunk:
 
I guess I just got lucky, it fits in the freezer compartment.

184-ferm4.jpg
 

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