Drilling into the side of a refrigerator

I've got an old (It is mustard yellow) refrigerator that I will be storing my kegs in. I want to store the CO2 bottle out side of the fridge to save room. I would like to run the CO2 line out of the side of the fridge. I read somewhere that you have to be careful drilling into the side of a refrigerator because there could be coils running through it.
Is this true. Expert opinions needed!

Some refrigerators and freezers embed the condenser coils in the side walls. If your fridge has a grid of small tubes on the back, then you don't have to worry about that. The only other thing is to stay away from the edges around the doors, as there may be an anti-condensation heating strip under the surface.

This one has a covered back so I'm not sure if it does or not. I hate to drill into it and find a surprize in there that ruins the fridge.

not an expert, but would a stud finder work for finding those possible internal coils?

Not sure either but if there is a .34% chance of my drill hitting a 1/4" coil line somewhere on a 3'x6' square surface area, rest assured I would hit it !

david_42 said:

Some refrigerators and freezers embed the condenser coils in the side walls. If your fridge has a grid of small tubes on the back, then you don't have to worry about that. The only other thing is to stay away from the edges around the doors, as there may be an anti-condensation heating strip under the surface.

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One old fridge I had til 2years ago had the condenser coils underneath it, with a fan even. Probably safe to puch a hole in the side, eh? It was an old fridge, but expensive to run- my bill dropped $20/month when we replaced it with a newer model.

RichBrewer said:

I've got an old (It is mustard yellow) refrigerator that I will be storing my kegs in. I want to store the CO2 bottle out side of the fridge to save room. I would like to run the CO2 line out of the side of the fridge. I read somewhere that you have to be careful drilling into the side of a refrigerator because there could be coils running through it.
Is this true. Expert opinions needed!

Click to expand...

I'm not a pro, but here's my opinion.

If you are able to, unplug the fridge let it sit overnight.

Plug it back in the next day and feel around the side you want to drill into. You should feel it getting hot if there are lines on the side.

On my Sanyo 4912 both sides get pretty warm, so I know there are lines on the sides and its been discussed pretty frequently.

I run my CO2 in the fridge and use cobra taps for now. I'm scared still to even drill through the top even with all the documentation on it.