Blower Fan for Kegerator Tower

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lightkeeper

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Commercial kegerators use a blower to move cold air into a flex tube stuck up the tower to keep the beer lines in the tower cool. Has anyone come up with a good solution for the tower on a Sanyo 4912M conversion?

Looks like some have tried pc fans, but without a way to force air into a tube and up to the top of the tower it dosen't seem like that would be very effective. Anyone had a success to share?
 
I think that it would be easier to suck air instead, thats what I'm planing to do by separating the inside of the tower in two with a plastic sheet. Then, I will attach a computer fan to the rear part of the tower and seal it. The fan will be placed in the way to suck air from the channel created in the tower, and the other potion will hold the beer lines.
 
Love the Idea bradsul! I am going to steal that one when I add a tower to my Keezer! a blower sounds great in theory, but you gotta wire the danmed thing, and everything else.
 
I have the Sanyo 4912 model and I built a fan box like the one in the link on the 2nd post. You just turn the fan around so it sucks the cold air into the box and it goes up into the tube and in the tower. It works great and it was easy to build.
 
Arkador said:
Love the Idea bradsul! I am going to steal that one when I add a tower to my Keezer! a blower sounds great in theory, but you gotta wire the danmed thing, and everything else.
Click to expand...

I did the copper tubing thing and it works really well. I also mounted a computer fan on the bottom shelf and have it blowing up. That moves that cold air off the bottom and up to the copper tubes at the top of the fridge. It really works well.

As for wiring the fan, it's a piece of cake - really. Just take a 12v cell phone charger, clip the wires and hook the fan to it. Plug it into the wall and you're all set.

Best,
Brad (the other Brad)
 
Bradneal~ As soon as I saw the post of cooper tubes I thought the SAME thing as you! One thing I am going to change is the large hole for 2 holes that will fit the cooper tubes snug and another hole large enough for a tube that is hooked up to the computer fan... Note to those doing the computer fan idea... don't get excited and wire it BEFORE running the power lines into the fridge (I'm doing mine throught the drain hole in the back).
 
I used two fans on mine. One to blow air across the cold plate, and one fan in a project box pumping air into the tower like the link above has. It cost a total of $25. I use to have to run my kegorator on 2 of 10 (second lowest setting) to achieve 35 degrees F, now I run it on 6 of 10. It cycles less now, and the faucet develops frost when I pour even just half a pint. I was having such an issue with temp control and foaming, that even with a cup of water in the kegorator reading 35 degrees, my beer after the second pint was reading 48 degrees. I insulating the tower and tried using the copper pipe, but that only helped out by a degree or two. I do live in Phoenix and I got it in August, though, when it was 110 outside and 85+ inside during the day. It might work ok without that stuff in the winter here, but the summer was killer for my unit.
 
Any thoughts on wiring fan to interior light? I'd even be up for losing interior light. In an ideal world I would really like it hooked into thermostat, when compressor kicks in so does fan!

I'm no electrician, but can do some basics. rather not have an additional power plug. coming out of fridge

Also considering copper tubing option. don't have fridge yet but plan on having everything by end of the year.
 
starrfish said:
Any thoughts on wiring fan to interior light? I'd even be up for losing interior light. In an ideal world I would really like it hooked into thermostat, when compressor kicks in so does fan!

I like the idea but really it is simple to wire it to an AC plug. I ran my wires through the hole already in the fridge that supplies the cooling tubes.

the idea of wiring it to the light doesn't sound like it would work for the simple fact that the light may take more/less power than the fan needs and you would have done all that just to disable your interior light.

Just a thought.
Click to expand...
 
Couple questions. Does the fan have 3 wires? I saw some fans that might work here. I was also thinking about plugging the fan into the light. Couldnt you just use one of these?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
MattCA said:
Couple questions. Does the fan have 3 wires? I saw some fans that might work here. I was also thinking about plugging the fan into the light. Couldnt you just use one of these?
Click to expand...

I'm not at all an authority on this, but I'm pretty sure you will need a 12v power converter of some sorts to make those fans work. At least my fans needed a converter.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I've pretty much decided to go with a 1/2" copper tube for each beer line and run it as low as possible into fridge. I plan on buffing off any sharp edgs top and bottom the keep damage to line. tap from vendor is insulated, may strip and use thicker insulation if needed.
 
Has anyone here directly compared these 3 methods in terms of effectiveness? I might assume using a sealed copper and fan method might work the best, but how much better and is it worth the time and effort?

Cheers!
 
You should keep it on at all times. if you don't CO2 will break out of the beer when it's off & not cooling and it won't go back into solution when the fan is back on.
 
Jammed a computer fan into a yogurt container. The hose goes into a copper pipe for the section of the tower.
See pics
Cheers

IMG_3397.jpg


IMG_3396.jpg
 
This is a very old post that you've replied to, but I have a question: Where does your yogurt cup fan draw air from?
 

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