Painting a White Freezer Black

I picked myself up a lightly used Magic Chef 7.2 Cu. Ft. freezer last weekend, which was a fantastic find as it will be able to hold 6 ball lock kegs and a 5lb CO2 tank once my collar is built. The only real downside is I was planning a black keezer build and this one is white.

Now, I know that freezers can be painted with enamel spray paint, and I'm planning to go that route. But where I run into problems is in regards to the coils on the back and the white rubbery seal around the top.

So first up are the coils. They're attached to the back of the freezer with a few removable tabs, but I'm guessing that bending the coil away from the freezer to paint the back is a no-no. And I'm not really willing to leave most of the back of the freezer white. So how have others done this, or how would you recommend getting it done?

And then there's the seal. It's white, obviously. And I'm guessing the enamel paint wouldn't work, as the seal is flexible and would chip the enamel coating the first time I closed the freezer. But a white seal on a black freezer is going to look a little funny. Thoughts?

Reply #56.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/co...-chest-freezer-162225/index6.html#post2296626

I tried the enamel paint and scratched off way too easily. The Paint I listed in that reply is just awesome!!!

Here are before/after shots:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/co...-chest-freezer-162225/index7.html#post2310453

John

I've seen people paint their fridges and freezers with chalkboard paint (available at Homer Depot and Lowes). I plan on doing this when I get a chance.
That way I can just write what I have on tap on the fridge itself.

I have converted 3 7.2 Magic chefs but just painting the tops and the wooden collars, all with chalkboard paint. Personally I think the spray looks better than the paint on and have used both. I recommend first spraying a couple coats of black primer if you can find it (not that easy). The chalkboard paint really isn't that resilient and if it scratches through you'll have white. The others don't have any scratches that I can see, if they do they are black. I do really like the look of the chalkboard paint, even without chalk. It's kind of a black slate.

You can see the scratches on the keezer one's lid.

I had a similar thing come up. Because my freezer was so cheap and had some minor dings in it, I decided that brush-on paint was fine. It is cheaper, and in the end I can't really see brushmarks anyway because of the textured surface of the metal.

Maybe it is because my rubber seal is older, but so far I haven't had any problems with paint chipping, cracking, or peeling from it or anywhere on the freezer. It has worked out way better than I had expected for <$10 in paint.

As far as the coils go, I don't know about that- mine are all internal.

BTW, I think mine looks smaller but similar to the one in johnodon's post.

Before


After (with almost a year of use)

Figured I would report back and answer my own questions for the sake of posterity:

The coils are attached to the back in four places by plastic tabs attached to the freezer with short screws. Once these were removed, there was enough "give" to allow me to paint behind the coils without much fuss.

And it turns out the rubber seal pops right out, so I didn't mar it with any enamel paint. It's still white, but at least it's not painted with the wrong paint. My new plan is to hide the seal behind some molding around the top edge of my collar.

If you do your collar with midered 1X8 tongue and groove board, you can just shimmy the tongue into that crevice the gasket goes into on the lid and then the gasket goes right into the groove on the board. After that, it's really an air tight seal and I just use a couple L brackets to hold in place.

You have to get the measurements right and mider it like a picture frame so the grooves match up. They all work well, but the third one came out the best. That's the one you see in the picture above with the 15 gal corny (and 4 5 gals around it) is actually a 1 X 10 T&G. The springs are totally enough to hold even that. Just a suggestion.

If you have the patience, try coloring your seal with a sharpie. The have some out now with nice wide tips.