Kegerator Build Igloo 4.6 FR465, Haier HNSE05, Kenmore 183.94679 and possibly others

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In thinking about buying the igloo fridge from walmart for a conversion. My friend gave me a 5lb co2 tank and a double output regulator which is larger than standard. Will this fit inside the igloo kegerator?

View attachment 213127

I'd think it should. I have a different mini-fridge, but my 5# CO2 tank sits on the hump in the back and the gauge has plenty of room to go off to the side.
 
I have the Igloo and keep a 5 lb tank on the hump with a double TapRite regulator (two separate pressure knobs/gas outputs) and it fits. I can keep that on the hump and two ball locks in the main part and get the door closed. I won't lie though - it's a pretty tight fit and the lack of space can be a little annoying when you're trying to work in there. At the end of the day though, it keeps my beer cold/carbed and works really well. I put my taps through the door and am very happy with that decision. I prefer it much more over a tower. YMMV though.

Cheers and enjoy the brew.
 
I have the Igloo and keep a 5 lb tank on the hump with a double TapRite regulator (two separate pressure knobs/gas outputs) and it fits. I can keep that on the hump and two ball locks in the main part and get the door closed. I won't lie though - it's a pretty tight fit and the lack of space can be a little annoying when you're trying to work in there. At the end of the day though, it keeps my beer cold/carbed and works really well. I put my taps through the door and am very happy with that decision. I prefer it much more over a tower. YMMV though.

Cheers and enjoy the brew.


What taps did you use for the door? Can I see some pictures of the inside and exterior. I might do this too. I didn't want to buy or build a tower.
 
I used Perlick 525SS faucets, which I also recommend. Well I guess those are discontinued now, but I recommend going with whatever model has replaced them. If you go with the cheaper faucets, it's pretty likely you'll upgrade after a while - that's why I recommend going with the Perlicks from the start. Anyway, I forget the shank length I used but I can look it up later, as well as snap a couple photos when I get home.

Cheers.
 
I need to work on mine this weekend. I want to see if I can flatten the plate a bit more and see what needs to be done to fit 2 corny kegs in there. I'll be brewing some fall favorites soon so they'll be ready for the season.


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Question... would I be able to use this fridge without any type of conversion if my plan is 1 pinlock keg and 5 lb co2 tank inside? I was planning to drill the door for the shank as no tower is needed
 
What is the trick to removing the screws inside the freezer part (to take it off the top and let it rest on the hump so I can cram my 2 ball locks in there)?
I can barely get a hand in there, let alone any tools...I thought I would be able to have this up and running by the weekend (old fridge is official toast and of course people are coming over for Labor Day), but it seems not :(

I haven't even turned the unit on yet because I figured that I should move/bend the coolant line running to the freezer plate thing before it got cold to make life easier.


and in regards to the fridge cooling my whole cabinet: no it does not! just an enclosure so it "would look pretty" and be able to live in the back of my family room instead of being relegated to the garage or something.
 
Question... would I be able to use this fridge without any type of conversion if my plan is 1 pinlock keg and 5 lb co2 tank inside? I was planning to drill the door for the shank as no tower is needed

if it is like mine that was just delivered, then no. you (like me!) will need to figure out how to unmount the freezer and move it out of the way to have enough clearance to even get the keg in there. one you do that, there is plenty of room for your setup

at least you won't have to shave a bunch of shelf ridges off the side (mine has a ton vs the old picks that had what, like 3?)

also, to remove the door storage (yes I'm a monster tard. I apologize), do you peel/cut the seal off the door to expose the "easy to remove" screws? then glue it back on to the door frame?
 
also, to remove the door storage (yes I'm a monster tard. I apologize), do you peel/cut the seal off the door to expose the "easy to remove" screws? then glue it back on to the door frame?


You could do that, I just used a utility knife around the edge.


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My fridge did not have screws. I cut all the bits off with a oscillating tool. I did kind of a blog of it all at the beginning of this thread.
 
I just used a box cutter on mine and I trimmed the styrofoam a lot so I could eventually fit 2 kegs


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Thank you. If you are going to do it keep in mind that it's pretty tight in the original thermostat housing and you'll want to use a dremel to make room (the channels for at least 2 of the 3 screws will need to be ground down).



I should mention that for wiring I just used the 3 wires that were there for the original analog thermostat (black, white, ground). Since the digital controller doesn't have a ground I used 2 of the 3 wires for 110 power and the third wire as the switched (cooling) wire and just rewired accordingly at the compressor, I plugged it in and everything worked perfect. Re-wire at your own risk, I make no warranties whatsoever.


I'm looking to install my spare stc-1000 into mine - Did you do any re-wiring in the back of the unit or did you just do what is show in the photo?


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For those of you who have converted the 465 and have taps mounted through the front door, what length shanks did you use?
 
For those of you who have converted the 465 and have taps mounted through the front door, what length shanks did you use?

I'm just about done my kegerator build and I used 4-inch. You should still have clearance above the kegs when the door is closed, but if thats a concern maybe 3-inch would be better. I just went with 4-inch because I found a decent deal on shanks/taps.

I'm just about done my conversion so I'll likely post some picks when I have a chance to take them.
 
Finally loaded two kegs into my Igloo FR465 and thought I would post a few things about my process.

kegerator1-e1433121246348.jpg


Bending/folding down the freezer is as easy as everyone says it is. Just be careful and do it when the fridge is at room temperature. It bends quite easily.

kegerator3-e1433121282445.jpg


I detached the temp control and moved it to the very back of the fridge ceiling. Its pretty easy to trace the wires backwards and cut them loose with a utility knife. Once you have the temp control in place I just sealed all my cuts with aluminum tape.

kegerator2-e1433121271878.jpg


I cut out all the wall and door moulding and sealed with aluminum tape. Take a little while but not difficult. Every inch of space you can squeeze out is useful. Its a tight fit.

kegerator5-e1433121308160.jpg


In the door I installed two 4-inch shanks. They are a bit big and if they weren't such a good deal I would have gotten smaller ones - again, every inch in this thing matters. But this still works fine.

kegerator4-e1433121296702.jpg


Installed a driptray thats a bit big (it extends a full two inches further than my taps) but it was the only one I could find wide enough to catch both my taps. Something to consider when you are measuring.

kegerator6-e1433121320532.jpg


This fridge stays quite cold so I'll be putting it on a temp controller at some point. Even at the lowest setting I'm dealing with colder temps that I would like.

Final touch for me is a dual-guage regulator that allows me to change the PSI for each keg individually. The splitter I have now is bulky and a pain.
 
How did you get the freezer tray so flat on page 11? I just got this fridge from Walmart and have bent the line so that the freezer tray is facing the back wall, would love to flatten out like on pg. 11.
 
Also, I did a glass of water test and it froze on setting 1. Should I be testing with a larger volume? I have the temp probe right on one of the coils of the freezer tray. Anyone have any suggestions? I have a beer I will keg in a couple of weeks and would like to have it not freeze on me.

Thanks!
 
It seems like no matter where I put the probe, the fridge runs non-stop and gets too cold. Anyone run into this issue?
 
Not sure on that one moment. I figure if the probe is in contact with the freezer and its on the lowest setting and it still freezes then the thermostat is pooched. Your best bet is to get an stc-1000 and use that to control the temp
 
Thanks for the response, I am testing a corny filled with water. As it sat overnight, measuring the temp of the water in the Keg was 58 degrees. I wonder if the glass of water was too small to test.

The compressor still runs non-stop though.
 
beginning to wonder if it was just bad timing. Every time I checked on it, it was running. Today I noticed it was not running for the first time and the liquid in the keg was around 40 degrees on setting 2. I think I am in good shape.
 
I didn't see any screws on the door in my Igloo FR465 so I manhandled the plastic off and sawed off the excess insulation. The only problem I found is I need to re-seal part of the rubber around the door that I almost tore off...

I see a lot of different ways that people have re-covered the insulation on the door (aluminum tape, plexiglass, etc.), is this step necessary or for style/preference? Does it help with insulation?
 
A utility knife will easily take care of the plastic and insulation. It's a good idea to cover the foam to keep moisture from condensing on it. Once foam gets wet it'll never dry.
Thanks for the response, and good point! I saw your post and immediately went and grabbed some 3M cold weather metal tape from Lowe's, here's hoping that it forms a good seal for me.

Thanks to the OP for this thread, super helpful! Working on an Igloo FR465 right now.
 
I am going to start drilling a hole for the tower soon. Who has had success with the Igloo FR465, and where did you drill the hole? Who has run into lines with this model and where were they? Not clear in some of the posts who has what model fridge and where the hole was being drilled.

I'm looking to drill a 2" hole for a dual tap based off of this design: http://because-beer.com/diy-black-iron-pipe-draft-tower-final-build-list/ but, I am going to add a top like snowtires to avoid drilling more holes in the fridge. I see a lot of 3" holes, is 2" too small for two lines?
 
I should post picks of mine, it's been running great. I want to make some tweaks to it, add a perm. temp controller and it'll be finished.
 
Yeah mines still going strong as well. I added temp control and its perfect
 
I added a temp controller to mine. But instead of farting around with the wiring I just cranked up the thermostat and plugged the fridge in to the controller
 
I just may do that. Winter's been boring so I need a project to do while looking forward to spring.
 
Danby Designer DCR044A2BDD
Mini Fridge Keggerator Build

This build is still in progress, but I thought I'd share my process thus far for those looking to modify a similar model mini fridge.

KeggerBuild.jpg
 
2017-04-09-14.44.03.jpg

2017-04-09-14.42.59.jpg

2017-04-09-14.49.46.jpg

2017-03-26-23.10.07.jpg


Just finished my fermentation chamber! Total cost was about $240. I'll be adding an LCD to the Arduino, and when I build the second chamber, I'll add an LCD to the Raspberry Pi, so I don't have to use the monitor with it. I had some spare Cat6 cable that I used for the temperature sensors/circulation fan and some spare 4pin phone cable for the Arduino to 2 Channel Relay. I want to start building the second one now, but I should probably brew first...

Below is the cost breakdown:
IGLOO 4.6 Cu Ft - FR464 : $109.95
Arduino Uno : $12.60
Raspberry Pi : $37.88
120mm Silent Fan : $14.88
Arduino Mount : $5.50
Heat Tape : $19.98
Temperature Sensors : $3.60
Thermowell : 15.85
Outlet & Cover : $4.99
Outlet Box : $8.20
2CH Relay : $3.59
Resistor : $0.10
 
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