Kegerator Conversion with Danby DAR440BL?

Well, I just finally got around to measuring it tonight. Sorry dude. I did fit a 17" bowl in the back with two kegs and it has about 20.5" of hight clearance. That info doesn't help you now, but it may help someone else down the line!

maconmatt said:

Remember, you need to disable the light now that the door shelving has been removed. There's nothing to flip the switch and turn the light off when shutting the door.

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Wow good call......it would have taken me a while to figure that one out. Thanks!!

estoppel said:

Well, I just finally got around to measuring it tonight. Sorry dude. I did fit a 17" bowl in the back with two kegs and it has about 20.5" of hight clearance. That info doesn't help you now, but it may help someone else down the line!

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No worries, i figure i might as well try myself and if not then I will take it back.

I think i might try to find some 2' strips of plastic and screw them in with the gasket for around the door. Just the gasket alone does not give it a good seal. If I cant find anything i might just cut up the door shelving to make it work.

My door seals fine as long as my Gasket stays stuck to the door. Damn two way tape I bought sucked.

I still hadn't figured out that the light was on all the time...haha. I'll figure out how to disable it this wknd.

Been using this fridge for a couple of years now with no problems. Easy build, and my next step is to bore out the drain hole for a c02 line, and have the tank outside and split to run to two fridges.

Here's my little write up on the conversion: http://dcsanders.com/?p=12

I have a 20lb tank on a fridge similar to this one (446BBL). I want to keep the tank outside and run the line inside.

people have mentioned runnign the line in via the drain hole. I pulled off my drip tray to look for the drain hole and found two potential ways in.

I tried to gently pry them both off and it wasnt' happening and I didn't want to wreck anything. Which of these holes is the way to go. One is capped and the plug is glued on (the left one). The other is the drain I'm guessing but that rubber stopper is also really on there.

Which, if any should i pull off? If i run a 1/4" CO2 line up it will it plug the drain?

I drilled out the right hole, which is the drain. The stopper won't come out no matter how hard you pull, so you just have to drill right through it. The plug never even popped out of mine, it's still in there is just has a hole through one side of it.

I drilled it a little larger so it could still drain when I ran a 3/8's gas line in. So far so good.

The only thing holding me back is that I'm going with front taps. With careful placement will they be a problem?

I was hoping that I could fit a 6 gallon carboy in this fridge too. My 6 gallon carboy is different than the one pictured in this thread, it has ridges on it and seems to be taller and narrower. I don't suppose anyone has this same carboy and has tried fitting it into this fridge?

mforsman said:

The only thing holding me back is that I'm going with front taps. With careful placement will they be a problem?

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Front taps? As in through the door? There are not coolant lines or wires in the door.

I don't know what your carboy looks like, but I can fit all of my 6 gallon carboys in it.

re:6 gallon carboys. I've got two. One is taller and skinnier and fits but the other one is a little squatter and does not.

Neither looks like the one you described matts.

Well I wanted to resurrect this thread for a quick question.

I found this link on the thread: http://picasaweb.google.com/114416612335287313960/KegeratorConversion?gsessionid=1T47GBveSyj7Q8nShZ4fHw

And one of the pictures shows a fan going up in the tower. What is the purpose for this fan? Is this necessary in kegerators? Also does anyone have any tips on a good cheap controller similar to the ones in these photos? Here is the picture of the fan: http://picasaweb.google.com/114416612335287313960/KegeratorConversion?gsessionid=1T47GBveSyj7Q8nShZ4fHw#5310839562381855426

The fan blows cool air up the tower. If you don't have one, beer left in the lines within the tower will get warm. If you just put the taps in the door, you don't need this.

i use the fan design but modified. I put a 3/4 inch piece of copper pipe up through the tower. it is encapsulated in liquid expanding insulation foam to fill up the voids between the pipe and the tower. I shortened up the white plastic flex hose from the fan box, and mounted the fan box on the upper wall. punch a couple of holes in the flex hose, run the lines through the hose, and up the copper pipe. attach the end of the flex hose to the copper pipe. this will blow cold air on the lines, and up the pipe, and the copper keeps the lines cold.

Well explained, thanks guys! We will see what I come up with for tower cooling, probably something similar.

Anyone know if the older b3 7 gallon conicals will fit in one of these?

Quick question on temperature controller sensor routing. In the picture in this LINK it looked like the sensor was just run through the door and they closed it.

Does anyone have any more elegant suggestions for sensor routing? I noticed this fellow ran the power cord from his fan through the drain plug. Looks slick but not enough room for the sensor I imagine.

BUMP:

I am thinking about getting one of these from sams club soon.

Does anyone know about fitting two sixtels and a tank in it?

I assume I would have to got with the lowboy (low profile) Sankey coupler.

I know cornies fit but I wanted to be able to fit sixtels in it as well. I know they are slightly bigger. I plan on drilling the drain plug eventually so I can put the tank externally .

Any help is appreciated sorry if this was already answered.

I can't offer any help on the Sixtels.

As far as mounting the tank externally, drilling out the drain is about the easiest part of the job. Just take off the drain cover (two screws at teh back of the fridge) and run a drill bit through it. It takes 45 seconds.

Kylito87 said:

BUMP:

I am thinking about getting one of these from sams club soon.

Does anyone know about fitting two sixtels and a tank in it?

I assume I would have to got with the lowboy (low profile) Sankey coupler.

I know cornies fit but I wanted to be able to fit sixtels in it as well. I know they are slightly bigger. I plan on drilling the drain plug eventually so I can put the tank externally .

Any help is appreciated sorry if this was already answered.

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Let this thread be resurrected!!!!

Anyone have any luck with fitting 2 sixtels in this fridge?

Has anyone installed 2 taps thru the front door of the Danby DAR440BL? What size shanks did you use and how was the fit with 2 ball locks and 5 lb c02 tank inside?

katbro75 said:

Has anyone installed 2 taps thru the front door of the Danby DAR440BL? What size shanks did you use and how was the fit with 2 ball locks and 5 lb c02 tank inside?

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I have exactly the same question!

I tried two 1/6 barrels lat night. It was a no go even after removing the molded in shelf ledges. Just not quite wide enough.

PortlandPatrick said:

I have exactly the same question!

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I did on tap through the door. Definitely room to do 2 if I wanted, but might need to move them a bit higher.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/my-simple-kegerator-build-339585/

The shank size I used was, I believe, 4 1/8".

Here's a look at what it looks like with two on tap at once. It's a tight fit, but it works great.

Sadly, per a conversation I had with Danby on Facebook last week, this model is back-ordered and won't be available until "around October or November", so if anyone wants to do this conversion, buy it when and where you can, because what's currently in the stores is all that's available.

I bought my first one from Walmart in May for $179 and then they were sold out for a while, but then I bought a second matching one for bottled beer a few weeks ago which they delivered to my house for free. Looks like they are out again, but you can sign up to get an email when they are back, or just look for something similar.

Thinking about using this model but contacted my local beer market and they don't sell cornies. Does a 1/6 barrel or 1/4 barrel work? Has anyone tried? Sorry if it has been answered earlier.

Bump

bberzina said:

Thinking about using this model but contacted my local beer market and they don't sell cornies. Does a 1/6 barrel or 1/4 barrel work? Has anyone tried? Sorry if it has been answered earlier.

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One 1/6 barrel will fit without modifications. That is what I use with this fridge. Two almost fit, but not quite.

A 1/4 won't fit.

RSNovi said:

One 1/6 barrel will fit without modifications. That is what I use with this fridge. Two almost fit, but not quite.

A 1/4 won't fit.

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What modifications are needed to fit two 1/6, aside from removing the shelving in the door? On the one that does fit, do you have any height issues with a sankey D tap/coupler?

I seem to be finding some conflicting info, and nothing really definitive, whether or not two 1/6 can fit.

I put a flush interior door panel on and trimmed to molded in shelf supports on the side and two 1/6 barrels won't go. They are too wide. The only option would be to extend the depth of the refridgerator with a wood frame like I have seen others do on here so you could offset the two kegs.

I am using a commercial coupler and don't have any height issues. Not much room, but it fits in no problems.

RSNovi said:

I put a flush interior door panel on and trimmed to molded in shelf supports on the side and two 1/6 barrels won't go. They are too wide. The only option would be to extend the depth of the refridgerator with a wood frame like I have seen others do on here so you could offset the two kegs.

I am using a commercial coupler and don't have any height issues. Not much room, but it fits in no problems.

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Thank you, in a ton of threads on the topic this is the most concise answer I've found. I just ordered the danby w/ a 2 tap tower ... I guess I'll just run one 1/6 keg for now and then I'll have the option of going to 2 cornies (or maybe 1 draft and 1 corny?) if I ever get into home brewing.

Does anyone have a link to the wood frame modification?

can anyone give me the interior dimensions of this fridge? I want to modify it to fit a half barrel but I need to make sure it will work before I buy it. I need measurements from the front to the hump, front to cooling coils, side to side, and top to bottom.

Hey everyone thanks for all the information on the danby kegerator conversion. I have one question though. I just received my dar440l off of walmart and I'm have ONE problem. When I peel the inner door seal back there are no screws. It looks like the shelving is glued on instead. Did danby change the build of the refrigerator or am I just an idiot? Should I just hack the shelving away with a boxcutter?

Well, I have now bought two of these because I accidentally punctures the cooling lines trying to clear up an Ice-Jam.

The first time, I removed the screws holdign the gasket on (you had to look uner a lip to find them) and then tried to reglue the gasket to the door. I couldn't find an adhesive that worked and screws tended to tear the gasket. I ended up with a very poor seal and lots of ice build up on the cooling lines (which lead to me eventualy accidentally puncturing the lines).

So on the second unit, I cut the shelving out with a box cutter and it was a very wise decision. It cut away really easy and was easy enough to clean up with sand paper so that it didn't look awful. My fridge also doesn't ice up nearly as often.

JusticeAle said:

When I peel the inner door seal back there are no screws. It looks like the shelving is glued on instead. Did danby change the build of the refrigerator or am I just an idiot?

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I just bought a new 440BL and there doesn't appear to be any screws holding the lining in the door. Worse yet, the gasket is held into a groove in the one-piece plastic door panel that appears to be glued in. I like to think that neither I nor JusticeAle are idiots, so I think they must have changed the design.

estoppel said:

So on the second unit, I cut the shelving out with a box cutter and it was a very wise decision. It cut away really easy and was easy enough to clean up with sand paper so that it didn't look awful. My fridge also doesn't ice up nearly as often.

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On the second unit, were the screws there or was it a newer one like the ones we seem to have gotten? Did you put something back in place of the door panel to make it flush?

dinertime said:

I just bought a new 440BL and there doesn't appear to be any screws holding the lining in the door. Worse yet, the gasket is held into a groove in the one-piece plastic door panel that appears to be glued in. I like to think that neither I nor JusticeAle are idiots, so I think they must have changed the design.



On the second unit, were the screws there or was it a newer one like the ones we seem to have gotten? Did you put something back in place of the door panel to make it flush?

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Seems like you and I are in the same boat dinertime.

So I have all my parts(kegs, co2 tank, lines, tower, etc) and I installed the tower. The door hinge is on the right side when you look at the fridge. The first keg fits in fine on the left side but the right keg obviously doesn't fit because of the shelving. So I'm going to use my dremel(rotary tool) and cut the shelving on the right side as minimal as possible(box cutter is a good idea too). Then I plan to seal the cut with foil tape as it should basically just be a long rectangle cut with minimal width. I'll post pictures when I'm all done with the build, but as for the screws being non existent in the new build beware comrades for I believe they have been phased out in order to lessen the cost of the fridge? Here's some pictures of the fridge model # and seal to put things into perspective. Notice how the gasket is held into a groove just as dinertime said. It is obvious that we have to work around the groove and keep it there in order to seal the door.

Yes! mine looks exactly like that. I will eagerly await your update.

Is the groove in the door, in the gasket, or both? If the gasket has a channel in it that slides around the glued in panel, you may have the option to treat out the glued-in panel, cut a flat panel the same size, side the gasket around the outside of it and then screw the panel/gasket to the door.