Coffin Keezer Question - Worry about heat build-up with this style of freezer?

Hey all,

Quick question on heat build up. I bought the Sunbeam 7.2 freezer specifically because it has a giant array of coils on the back to deal with heat. I ran the thing for 3 days on the medium setting, and the walls were still cool to the touch.

Would this mean that I don't need to worry about heat build-up due to building a 3-side coffin surround?

It's the same freezer Lilrascal used:

*Photo credit Lilrascal

I never understood the concern with allowing air space around the front/sides of a chest freezer. To clarify, a coffin is what you would build on the lid of the keezer to mount your taps to. What i believe you're referring to is basically just building a cabinet around the freezer to make it look a little nicer, right? In that case, No - you dont need to worry about heat build up.

Some people add vents to their panels just incase, but in my eyes, it's over kill. If you want to avoid vents, just build your panels so that the keezer slides in and out of it from the back, and leave yourself an inch or two on either side to play it safe.

I agree ... that style should be fine with a skin on the front and sides.

Your model freezer will be fine with any cabinetry you want to put on the front 3 sides. However, make sure you have the required air space behind and above the freezer. As for all those that have the type of freezer where the condenser coils are in the freezer walls (dead giveaway is if you run it for a little while and the front and sides get warm), the freezer is designed to operate in an ambient room condition somewhere between 50*F and 100*F. By adding panneling to the outside, you effectivly increase the ambient temperature of the condenser coils which in theory and practice will hasten the breakdown of mechanical components in the refrigeration circuit. However, by adding a temp controller and setting your operating temp above 32*F, you are also reducing the operational load on the compressor and might be completly offsetting the insulation factor you have added. You are certainly voiding your warranty though.

Jota21 said:

To clarify, a coffin is what you would build on the lid of the keezer to mount your taps to.

Click to expand...

actually I think you are talking about a 'collar', to add height between the freezer bottom and the lid, which allows faucets to be easily installed through the wood collar, in addition to adding height which means another keg might fit on the compressor hump.

I think he just wants to build a ...sleeve? to hide the front and sides.

we're in agreement, we just might be confusing each other. To clarify...
Collar:


Coffin: (Just the box mounted on top of the lid - this particular one has a cabinet/sleeve built around it as well)


Disclaimer: These are google images, buti assume they belong to someone here

Thanks for the responses all. Whatever it's called, I'm doing one of each. I will be building a surround to cover the sides, a collar to raise the height 8 inches, a fancy top, and a box on the top to hold faucets. I called the whole thing a "coffin" because I'm basically building a wood box to stick my freezer inside of. I've actually been calling the faucet box on top a "tower". It's not a pre-fab metal column tower, but it's still a thing to raise the faucets up.

Either way.. Thanks for the responses. I'm off to pretend to be a carpenter.