A few questions for my upright fridge kegerator build.

I've wanted a kegerator for a long time and the previous owners left me a perfecctly good fridge in the garage, what better time than now.

My plan is to have a 3 tap setup with 2 corny kegs and commercial 1/6th bbl. So far I have acquired the following:

3 Taps
3 Shanks (4 1/4" I believe) I've checked and they are long enough for my door.
Beer lines
CO2 lines
5lb CO2 tank with Primary regulator and two outputs
2 connected secondary regulators
various plastic and worm drive house clamps
ball lock connectors
sanke connector

Things I still need:
Drip tray
Tap handles
Corny Kegs
1/6th barrel of Racer 5.

I've measured everything and decided where I want to drill for my shanks. I am concerned about needing a door spacer that I've read about. Is this necessary on all fridges? My other concern is how/where is a safe place to mount my secondary regulator?

I want to make sure I have everything planned out and ready before I start drilling. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.


Once again, thank you all.

BeastMaster,

Congrats on the fridge. What a perfect excuse to build a kegerator!. .

Not to sure what you mean by "door spacer". Could you explain?

The fridge door has no cooling lines so no worries about hitting cooling lnes. One thing you want to keep in mind when drilling the holes for the shanks is the top freezer door (if it has one) Will you be using standard tap handles or do you want to go large? Just keep in mind. You don't want your freezer door knocking the taps open every time the freezer is opened.

On the inside of the fridge the plastic interior is strong enough to mount CO2 distribution manifolds, I've never tried to mount a secondary regulator. Just drill a tiny hole and use self taping screws. I can see no reason why this wouldn't work for a regulator as well.

Plastic but still fairly tough. This might sound crazy but. You could always mount the regulator to a block of wood and velcro it to the interior of the fridge. Good sized pad of velcro has quite a lot of holding power.

Hope this helps. Please talk about the door spacer a little more.

Dan, thank you for your helpful suggestions.

In regards to the door spacer. I read in a few places that some kits come with a pvc spacer that goes on the outside of your shank. Not sure of the reasoning but it seems to be unused in alot of builds.

You mentioned mounting the secondaries to the inside of the fridge. I had thought about this but decided against it for fear of a screw hitting a cooling line or something. Was I worrying for nothing?

Door spacer, sure now I know what you mean. Yes use them.

They keep the walls of the door from collapsing under the torque of the faucet-shank-tightening nut. If your kegerator kit didn't come with them just by some PVC large enough to go around the shank and fit in the hole. The length should be somewhere close to the thickness of your door.

As far as fear of hitting a cooling line, that's not fear. That is awareness. The last thing you want to do is hit a cooling line of course. A good thing to do is research your fridge. I know on my current kegorator the cooling comes from the freezer compartment. It is vented down into the refrigerator compartment. On my fridge there are no cooling lines in the left or right wall. But there are things in there I don't know about.

I drilled two holes in the sides of the fridge to run CO2 lines. Before I did I drilled a tiny hole just through the outside skin, just enough to pierce it. Then I took the drill bit, think it was a 1/8", maybe smaller, out of the drill and probed around the hole. If I hit something solid it might have been a cooling line and I would have tried a different location. I got lucky. No cooling lines or wiring in the way. Some guys drill holes through the side of the fridge and mount the faucets there.

If you are mounting from the inside. First, remember the plastic is thin and will never be like mounting into wood or steel. But it will work well. Stay away from the front and back six inches of the fridge. Use the pierce the skin and probe method even on the inside. Keep the holes tiny as possible. It's plastic and when you put a self taping screw (I use self taping wood screws) all you need is a tiny hole to get them started.

Wow, long reply. Wish I could just show you. Due diligence trying to understand your fridge. If you can't find anything about it. Just remember. Pierce the skin whether it be from the outside or inside. Probe, stay away from the corners six inches.

Best of luck and

Beastmaster,
You might want to look into either hanging the secondary from a shelf rack with a coat hanger or maybe even using some self adhesive velcro pads. If your regulator has enough space to ensure a good hold on the backing of the strips. I dont know how that would hold up in a fridge but there shouldn't be an issue.

honreth said:

Beastmaster,
You might want to look into either hanging the secondary from a shelf rack with a coat hanger or maybe even using some self adhesive velcro pads. If your regulator has enough space to ensure a good hold on the backing of the strips. I dont know how that would hold up in a fridge but there shouldn't be an issue.

Click to expand...

I think I'm going to hang it from the top rack.