kegerator/co2 question

I am getting ready to do a kegerator sometime soon hopefully. I have seen people put the CO2 in the kegerator, and others put it outside. Does it matter ? is there advantages either way?

Thanks

I had my tank inside, until I got around to moving it outside my kegerator.

If it's outside, you have more room in the kegerator. If it's inside, you don't have to run lines through the side/back of the kegerator.

In theory, your high pressure gauge works better on the outside. However, I have found the high pressure gauge pretty much worthless. It never moves until you are almost out of gas, anyway.

i agree, more room inside the fridge for kegs. i recently moved mine to the outside and the serving pressure gauge stays on the same number consistently now. drilling a hole that exactly fits the gas hose wasn't much of a problem, but there is a hole in the side now, but it IS a kegerator...

Personal preference. It also depends a bit on your kegerator. I have the Haier which has a shelf built into it for the co2, so I do not really gain useable space for more beer inside by putting the tank outside.

Some have esthetic concerns with a co2 tank outside the keg if it is in say, an attratively furnished living space. The other downside of external is of course running the hose out, which may or may not require drilling a hole depending on if the kegerator already has a cutout for co2 lines.

As Kirks said, the cooler temperature has a rather dramatic effect on the pressure of the co2 in the bottle, causing the high co2 gage to show a 40% or so drop in the pressure reading. You have no less available co2, it's just
co2 has a rather dramatic expansion coefficeint with temperature.

An advantage to modifying for outside the fridge use is if you ever decide to step up to a larger size co2 bottle that doesn't fit in the fridge you will already have the fridge modified for external co2.

Another advantage I forgot: It is easier to check the gauges and monkey with the regulators if the bottle is outside.

The high pressure gauge is less effective on smaller bottles, like kirk said on 5lbs and less, but if you have a 20lb or bigger tank, the gauge is more useful.

It really doesn't matter. The only consideration is the space. If you have space inside, that's fine. If you don't, then they'll have to be outside. That's ok, unless you'll be putting the kegerator in a nice living space- it's a little bit unsightly. As far as the system works, though, it's no effect either way.

bdavanza said:

The high pressure gauge is less effective on smaller bottles, like kirk said on 5lbs and less, but if you have a 20lb or bigger tank, the gauge is more useful.

Click to expand...

I think so too.

Weighing the cylinder really gives you an idea of how much CO2 is left.

I have a grill that weighs the propane tank and it's pretty good.

Keep at least 1 CO2 cylinder full. When I started, I bought 3. When the second one was emptied, I immediately went to get number 1 and 2 filled.

No surprises - yet.