Side by side refrigerator conversion?

Does anyone know if it is possible to use a side by side refrigerator to ferment ales in one side and the other side as a kegerator? If so how would you go about doing this?

Does anyone know if it is possible to use a side by side refrigerator to ferment ales in one side and use the other side as a kegerator? If so how did you go about doing this?

If I'm remembering correctly, my freezer and fridge have a separate temp. control knob in each compartment. I'd suggest sticking a thermal guessing device (thermometer) in each side, fiddling with the knobs and seeing what happens.

I doubt you'll be able to use stock temp. controls to get temp. in either compartment into the high 60s for ales though.

my side by side fridge has the following ranged (2 temprature controlers)

Fridge 31-42
freezer 22-32

Unless you have a very high end side-by-side, there is only one compressor in that unit. This means that only the freezer has cooling potential and the temperature of the fridge is adjusted by variable vents.

Here is my idea of how to make this concept work:



Basically, you need a dual stage controller like the LOVE TSS2-2100 described in my side-by-side thread in my sig. The 16A relay will control your compressor to maintain your desired serving temp in the freezer, and the second relay will control the fan. The tube connects the fan at the bottom of the freezer to the top of the fridge zone. This way, the cold air from the freezer will not "spill" into the fridge and you should be able to maintain separate temperatures pretty well.

Or you could use two LOVE TS2's and control each space separately. That may be a better option because then you could more easily monitor your temps in each zone.

So with one controller would the fan kick on at the same time as the compressor? Or would I be able to set a temp for the fan as well without a second controller? Also I am a rookie when it comes to electronics how difficult is this going to be? Sorry for so many questions but space in my one car garage is a premium and the fridge was free.

No problem.

The TSS2 (dual stage) can accept two temperature probes and control two relays independently. So yes, you could use one controller to control both the fans and the compressor (separately) to maintain two different temps.

The wiring is not all that difficult and if you can find a wiring diagram for the fridge I can help you out.

Boerderij_Kabouter said:

The wiring is not all that difficult and if you can find a wiring diagram for the fridge I can help you out.

Click to expand...

Both of my refrigerators have wiring diagrams on the back of the unit.

If you do have two actual thermostats you may be able to simply over ride them without any other DIY fan building nonsense. Depends on the fridge. Post up you diagram and we can figure it out.

The fridge is a GE profile Arctica with temp adjustments for both the freezer and the refrigerator. The adjustment range is -6 to +6 for the freezer and 34 to 44 for the refrigerator side. I don't have the wiring diagram with me. I will post it when I get home tonight. Thanks for the help everyone.

(post deleted)

For some reason I thought there were no replies when I posted originally.

Here are the diagrams for the refrigerator. Any help would greatly be appreciated.

I can't read the images. They are too blurry. Sorry.

any update on this thread? just got the exact same fridge fo free.

I've taken a broken side by side completely apart. The way mine worked was the freezer side of the controller is what called on the compressor. The fridge temp control affected a small damper door that was normally closed. When it called for cooling, the flapper door opened to let freezer air in. There was a circulation fan in the freezer side that ran all the time and when the flapper was closed, it had a bypass way out back into the freezer. In that way, it would keep air circulating. There's also a passive opening between the two chambers at the bottom. Without the flapper door open, not much air will exchange here but it provides a method of return when the door is open.

I'm currently knee deep in converting one of these side by side fridges to a kegerator on freezer side and a fermentation chamber or another fridge on the fridge side. It works exactly as Bobby described. This makes it very difficult to actually control the fridge temperature.

Right now I have it set up so the the LOVE shuts off the compressor so it stays at 42F on the freezer side. However, the fan is connected directly to the compressor so when the compressor shuts off, i no longer get airflow from freezer to fridge and the temperature gets warmer than I like (55F) I may be able to rewire it so the fan runs continuously or just wire my love to the fan but i'd rather have more control and I think I need more air flow than that. To fix this I'm going to install a 120V AC cabinet fan between the two chambers that is wired with power that runs to the ice maker motor that I took out. I'll then controll it with the love so the fan can be on as long as it needs to to cool the fridge to a minimum of the current freezer setting (42F).

I think the key to this is getting a fairly powerful fan but with a small surface area. I only want this thing to be cooling when the fan is on. If it doesn't cool well enough, ill put in a bigger one.

As far as top vs. bottom mount. I'm just going to mount it up high (that is how the fridge currently works) and it will be more out of the way and less likely to be hit by kegs.

i dont think this would work very well because of everything that was stated about the cooling taking place on one side making regulating the temps challanging.

I have finished mine and It works great for Ales. I can't get it cold enough in the spring and summer for lagers. Hopefully I can try my hand at a lager this winter. If anyone wants any tips on how to convert this fridge let me know.

It will work. The compressor has to be controlled from a temp probe in the colder side of the box. The warmer box will be cooled by a fan blowing air from the cold box into the warm. You should be able to control both environments pretty accurately.

Old thread, I know, but thought I'd share how my Whirlpool side by side works.

There is a damper connected to the freezer temp dial, with "warmer" opening the damper. The other dial is the refrigerator temp control; it's an electronic thermostat with a temp probe at the damper mentioned above. It calls the compressor to run.

The fan runs whenever the compressor's on. There is a fan intake halfway down in the fridge section.

I bought 2 dual stage temp controllers, but am thinking I'll only need one now. I'll control the compressor with the controller. Since the fridge/freezer ⌂T was about 30°F before, and if I keep the fridge at 70°, the freezer side should be around 40° (I hope). 40's a good serving temp, I'm not picky about that.

I don't know if this'll work during winter though (in my garage), when the fridge side will have a heater running (and thus not ever calling for cooling). I'll start my own thread when I get the project completed.

Ive done this exact side by side set up with a Dual Stage control and a single stage control. The single stage simply monitors the freezer side and maintains a perfect 35 degrees. The dual stage controls a fan up high pulling cold air from my freezer into my (fridge) Fermentation side and also controls a small space heater if the temp drops too low. It does work perfectly and I will post pics and a DIY thread story. My only complaint is that dropping the temp down on the fermentation side is painfully slow. If I want to condition the kegs and drop from say 68 down to 50 takes 2-3 days.. Im currently pulling cold over with a 3" computer fan..Im thinking that fan simply isn't enough?? ideas??

I can cool the ferm side of mine off pretty quick. The fan is blowing air into the fridge side, but is there a way for it to exhaust into the freezer side? Mine has a "meat storage" switch on the bottom which opens a 1" hole to the freezer side. So, my fan blows in at the top, and exhausts to the freezer through that hole.

My biggest problem right now is the evap coil freezing up on me since I disconnected the defroster. So far it's fine if I serve around 55°F, which isn't too bad.

My side by side had a hole at the bottom right next to the coils and one at the top. I bought two fans and set them up in a push-pull setup. The bottom pulls cold air into the fridge side while the top pushes the warm air into the freezer side.

I like that Push Pull Idea, I'll try that.. and yes I do have that "return" hole low on the center wall..
JP,, are you controlling the compressor with a Love control or similer?
If so relay power to the compressor from the (frequently) Orange wire.. and make sure the defrost timer always has power. The defrost timer will disconnect the power to the compressor when it turns on the defroster.. I had the exact same prob and fixed it this way

It does work really well. I haven't lagered yet to see how well it keeps the temp constant in the fermenter but the ambient temp fell really quickly. I am waiting to get some shelves built and my new keggle set up.

drkwoods said:

I like that Push Pull Idea, I'll try that.. and yes I do have that "return" hole low on the center wall..
JP,, are you controlling the compressor with a Love control or similer?
If so relay power to the compressor from the (frequently) Orange wire.. and make sure the defrost timer always has power. The defrost timer will disconnect the power to the compressor when it turns on the defroster.. I had the exact same prob and fixed it this way

Click to expand...

Yeah, that I might try that. I kinda freaked out the first time the defroster circuit kicked on.... next morning the freezer side was 133°F and cooked my keg that was in there. The controls were powered off the output side of the defrost timer. Still scared to hook it back up now that I have 3 kegs in there, since I still can't explain what happened last time.

My controllers are the cheapo Ebay ones from China - heat/cool contacts, 110V, display °C.

I also used the China cheepos for control. I used the power from the fridge light to power the controllers so the defrost does not affect the operation of the controllers. I used the one controller to replace the thermo and the other controls the computer fans and a fermwrap on the fridge side. Seems to be working well so far. I have had it running for a little over a week now.

The trick I found to keep the freezer defrosted and at the same time not going above 100 degrees, was to make sure the Defrost timer was always powered and that it was working properly. Usually a Pink wire leaves the defrost timer and runs to the defrost element. the Orange wire has power when the defrost element is off and is not powered when the element is on. This is so that the defrost and compressor are not on at the same time.. The Cheapo controller should use this on/off power to relay to the compressor, that way your controller isnt fighting the defroster. If the defoster wont shut off at about 60`F then look for the Bimetal to be bad.. Its the device that breaks the power to the heating element when it goes above 60 degrees.. If you need help LMK

drkwoods said:

The trick I found to keep the freezer defrosted and at the same time not going above 100 degrees, was to make sure the Defrost timer was always powered and that it was working properly. Usually a Pink wire leaves the defrost timer and runs to the defrost element. the Orange wire has power when the defrost element is off and is not powered when the element is on. This is so that the defrost and compressor are not on at the same time.. The Cheapo controller should use this on/off power to relay to the compressor, that way your controller isnt fighting the defroster. If the defoster wont shut off at about 60`F then look for the Bimetal to be bad.. Its the device that breaks the power to the heating element when it goes above 60 degrees.. If you need help LMK

Click to expand...

Thanks for posting that.... I'll make a note of it. I need to check my wire colors to see if they match the ones you mentioned.

Maybe the high temp cutoff ("bi-metal") is bad on my fridge, and if that's the case, I guess I'll just leave it as-is with the defrost circuit disconnected. So far, if I keep serving temps at around 50-55°, it doesn't seem to freeze up.

I'm planning on making a fermentation only garage fridge in the south using a Johnson Controls A19 and a side by side for Freezer/lager & Fridge/Ales. It seems like i should be able to set the A19 up in the freezer side at 35ish and crank the fridge to coolest in the summer and warmest in the winter and maintain a ~50+ fridge side. Anyone tried this way?

Also, I've noticed a lot of side by sides have a freezer width around 10". That prevents using buckets unless theres a long skinny one I don't know about. Are you guys all fermenting in kegs?

goodmojo said:

Also, I've noticed a lot of side by sides have a freezer width around 10". That prevents using buckets unless theres a long skinny one I don't know about. Are you guys all fermenting in kegs?

Click to expand...

I serve from kegs on the skinny freezer side, and ferment in carboys and buckets on the spacious fridge side