my Frigidaire LFPH44M4LB conversion/build

Hi folks -

Thought I'd share my conversion. Following is based on these threads about this fridge:

http://projectkegerator.blogspot.com/2010/08/project-kegerator.html
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/frigidaire-model-frc445gb-mini-fridge-kegerator-conversion-89013/ <--- this is a great thread
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/kegerator-conversion-frigidaire-lfph44m4lm-221800/
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/frigidaire-model-frc445gb-keg-conversion-157618/

Couple notes about this conversion:

1) sometimes, the refrigerant lines are not parallel with each other. Like mine
2) don't let your local hardware store sell you an expensive sheetmetal diameter saw. The sheetmetal ~maybe 3/32" thick. I was able to use a wood bit and slowly drill through it very easily
3) The lid - is very fragile and glued down. TAKE YOUR TIME. I am a pretty patient person but even i got a stress crack in the back part of the lid. I found using putty tools (like shown in the photo) worked well for sliding up the sides of the lid and kind of breaking some of the glue. I then started to pull from both corners. GO SLOW
4) Putting the lid back on. There are two tabs shown in the photo below. Because of how the fridge was manufactured, i couldn't get the lid back on with the full depth of the tabs. However, shaving 1/8" off, i was able to pry enough and snap the front side back in. For the rear, there are two sheet metal screws you can leverage through the top of the lid, or push it back down.
5). Copper vs Forced air. Seems forced air is the best but I've read good results from copper. If I get foamy pours, i may go back and work a fan in there. The materials for this were more than i was wanting to spend and i already had the copper laying around.

remove the door:


start to slowly pry the lid off (it's glued down)


Use a second tool to lift both sides of corner


need to offset depth in foam for tower reinforcement


Now.. gotta dig down in the foam to the refrigerant lines


about 3.25" deep


smoothed out a bit


3/4" plywood reinforcement


top of lid (need to shave off ribs)


front latch/lid tabs (i needed to shave 1/8" off of them)

shaved down ribs


copper tubes for the beer lines. silver tape has new expanding foam under it


fridge side of the tubes



plywood threaded inserts for tower mounting hardware


Car kegging system! (ok - just took a photo during transport after racking)


tape removed. now to re-level the foam


front photo


Jamil's dunkleweisen left and Dale's Pale Ale on the right


door mod


another front photo

Looks awesome. It seems like every fridge I see converted has that foam underneath the top of the fridge. Mine just has a large piece of styrofoam in between the removable top of the fridge and the hard plastic underneath the stryofoam. Does the foam just serve the purpose of insulation?

Also, what is the purpose of the silver tape and expanding foam? I would assume to prevent air leak but wouldn't that just help cool the tower?

looks great! I can not wait to build one for myself!

The silver foil tape keeps the expandable foam from growing in the wrong direction. letting it fill up the hole more thoroughly

cincybrewer said:

Does the foam just serve the purpose of insulation?

Click to expand...

Yes.

cincybrewer said:

Also, what is the purpose of the silver tape and expanding foam? I would assume to prevent air leak but wouldn't that just help cool the tower?

Click to expand...

On this fridge, you have to locate where the refrigerant lines are located roughly 3.25" - 3.50" under the foam.

Once the hole was dug, you need to use the expanding foam to fill the void. In the other reference links, some folks left a volume open, some including myself filled the hole back with the foam.

The only reason why i put the silver tape over the expanding foam (while it was applied) was the hopes it would eliminate some air pockets within the cavity. Once the foam cured, the silver tape pushed upward. I removed the tape and then leveled out the foam again. As an FYI, covering the foam doubled the cure time.

Very nice build!

<survey says>

at some point I'll be removing the copper pipes and putting a fan in. I'm getting foamy first pours.

Does this model come with the built-in freezer? How did you remove that?

Thanks!

It has a freezer but all you need to do is remove 2 screws & the door & shelf come out. The cooling coils are in the top of the freezer, not the shelf.

repomanz said:

<survey says>

at some point I'll be removing the copper pipes and putting a fan in. I'm getting foamy first pours.

Click to expand...

Think it would help if you had more copper inside the fridge? I'm thinking about putting a "T" fitting on the inside so I can run the beverage lines straight & be able to add more copper tube for more cooling in the tower.

Very clean and pro looking. Great stuff!

Flyin said:

Think it would help if you had more copper inside the fridge? I'm thinking about putting a "T" fitting on the inside so I can run the beverage lines straight & be able to add more copper tube for more cooling in the tower.

Click to expand...

What I'm going to try when my kegs dry up is to put a fan in and connect the cold air tube to one side. The goal would be to push air up one side of the copper tube and have the pressure push it back down the other tube.

I don't think there's a good way around this by adding more copper. I wish I had just did the fan on the first go around. lessons learned on my part.

Did you have to glue the top back on, I'm assuming? What did you use if so? Would you ditch the copper tubing and just make a bigger hole and run a fan into the inside hole?

rkiser said:

Did you have to glue the top back on, I'm assuming? What did you use if so? Would you ditch the copper tubing and just make a bigger hole and run a fan into the inside hole?

Click to expand...

No, i didn't glue the top back on but borrowed an idea from one of the reference links.

http://projectkegerator.blogspot.com/2010/08/project-kegerator.html scroll down towards the end were he talks about the hillman fasteners.

However, to note, with the copper tubes and how I setup my tower and cuts on the plastic lid, the lid is fine with no fasteners in the back. Unless you pull up on it you'd never know it wasn't fastened down. No tower sway either.

Great write up, I just have a few questions...

What size copper tubing did you use?
What size hole saw?
Approximately, how far apart were the coolant lines ?

BaldManBrew said:

What size copper tubing did you use?
What size hole saw?
Approximately, how far apart were the coolant lines ?

Click to expand...

7/8" OD copper pipe
Used a 7/8" wood cutting bit
My coolant lines where 1.5" apart, but they we not perfectly parallel

If i were to do it again, I would have done a larger hole, put a fan blowing cool air up and omitted the copper from the design.

Nice work! Your thread has been a lot of help in my build I'm doing now. A few questions for you...

1. How did you attach the cabinet pulls?

2. How is the plywood attached? Is it glued to the lid? Loose? Something else?

3. For the threaded inserts in the plywood, did you purchase those as a set with bolts that fit through your tower base holes?

Sorry to revive an old thread...

Craichead said:

Nice work! Your thread has been a lot of help in my build I'm doing now. A few questions for you...

1. How did you attach the cabinet pulls?

Click to expand...

I bought the cabinet pulls from IKEA. They came with the cabinet pull and the screws. I mounted the machine screws with a washer under the top of the fridge panel.

Craichead said:

2. How is the plywood attached? Is it glued to the lid? Loose? Something else?

Click to expand...

The plywood is liquid nailed to the underside of the top of the fridge panel. I used liquid nail on the plywood and top fridge panel before I drilled the holes and put in the inserts.

Craichead said:

3. For the threaded inserts in the plywood, did you purchase those as a set with bolts that fit through your tower base holes?

Click to expand...

The tower hardware goes through the top part of the fridge, through the plywood and into the inserts (got those at homedepot that fit the tower mounting screws) and those 3 pieces are tightened down securely. This assembly is put back on the top of the fridge and secured / snapped back down.

repomanz said:

<survey says>

at some point I'll be removing the copper pipes and putting a fan in. I'm getting foamy first pours.

Click to expand...

Leave them and push them into the fridge a little more so you can get a copper T on it, then do what I did here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/kegerator-keezer-fan-circulation-412148/ This will not only circulate the cold air up into the tower but it also circulates it around the fridge as well.

My tower is ice cold and since the fan is blowing the cold air through the copper pipe where the beer lines are running through, the beer in the lines all the way up to where it connects to the shanks is as cold as in the keg.

My beer lines are 10' long and are coiled up neatly on top of my keg, fridge is set to about 36 degrees with a serving pressure of 9PSI (I have a Heff brew in the keg right now) pours with a perfect amount of head.

I may modify what I did with the fan. Currently the fan is plugged into a wall socket so it's on 24/7, i want to connect it to the compressor side so it only goes on when the thermostat kicks the compressor on or throw a fan speed control on it.

Thanks for your help.

I'm not going to post every step, because repomanz did an excellent job at that already. I'm just going to point out of a couple of things that I did differently in my (almost) final product.

I opted to use the existing screw holes and screw down the lid into those with longer screws. This was a PITA because it was challenging locating the precise spot to drill the hole in the lid:



Back screw:



I think repomanz did this, based on his photos, but I saw some others who didn't. Before I drilled the holes for the cabinet pulls, I made sure a pint glass could not fit between the back and side pulls:



And the whole shebang:



Much thanks to repomanz for his very helpful tutorial!