Be carefull when drilling your freezer

SSSSSSSSSSSsssssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Just when everything was going smoothly - the drill slipped and I damaged a pipe inside the feezer wall and degassed my new feezer.
Be carefull out there !

Ohhhhhhhhhhh, that sucks!!!!!! Time to fix it and fill!!!

Sorry to hear the bad news, as this sounds like something that would happen to me.

Thanks - you live and learn as they say. While its being fixed Im going to use the oppurtunity to install some DC female plugs for stir plate, fan and heat bulb.

Hopefully he can fix it and it is not very old. Old style refrigerant can run $100-150/lb with 2-4 lbs in your system.

I did that with an old unit, cost me some $$$ to have them come and take it away. I hate that sound SSSSSSSSSSSsssssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh it.

That's why we don't drill into freezers...can you say "collar"??

Yeah, why were you drilling the freezer anyway?

To install temp probe for dual stage thermostat and fan power cable.
Im also going to drill for cables for heat bulb and stir plate. The only other way is to close the cables under the lid of the freezer which I want to avoid.

Is there any other way ?

You probably could have drilled through the lid if you really didn't want to make a collar...

I considered that. Whats a collar ?

Bru said:

I considered that. Whats a collar ?

Click to expand...

One of these
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/gtsear...x8yvgpla&cof=FORID:11&q=collar&sa=Search#1160

There are several reasons to drill the freezer. Here's how I drilled through mine. if you do a search of my threads, there's more info. - Dwain

Dwain said:

There are several reasons to drill the freezer. Here's how I drilled through mine. if you do a search of my threads, there's more info. - Dwain

Click to expand...

Did you forget a link or photo in your post? I don't understand...

I understand that there are plenty of reasons to want to have an entry into the freezer. However, because of the way most freezers are built (coils in the sides), the safest way is either to build a collar and drill through that, or drill thru the lid, where there are no coils.

Hexmonkey,

Did you forget a link or photo in your post? I don't understand...

Click to expand...

Yeah, brain cramp. Sorry. As you can tell from the link, I was building a lager chamber. It didn’t work out, but I know why. I use the freezer for other homebrew stuff. I built another lager chamber using a refridgerator. Depending on what your plans are, there are several freezers you can cut through if you do so properly. I personally don’t like collars, even though some folks on here did a great job. I like the Irish Coffin look though, so go figure.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/holiday-lch0701pw-freezer-122466/

Then there's this:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/i-give-up-124057/

Luck - Dwain

In theory one can drill a freezer without puncturing any pipes as the pipes normally run about 5mm below the skin so if you drill carefully you should be OK. But theres always a risk As I was finishing the skin gripped the drill but and pulled it in
Now that I can see where the pipes are Im going to use a dremmel to cut a hatch out. Then the surface mounted plugs and grommet for temp probe will be installed in an aluminium plate which will be glued over the hatch and then the foam replaced with aerosol insulating foam.
But hexmonkey is right - theres no risk of heart ache if you drill the lid.

It happens man. I've drilled into two different units - one was a BevAir unit and I had no problem, and the second was my monsterator... check the sig and you can see what happened there.

It's quite unfortunate, but you live and learn.

I have now drilled 4 freezers without incident. I drill though the lid of the freezer as there are no refrigeration lines there. This is my main argument of why to use a chest freezer to make one.

As for the temperature probe line I simply run it under the lid gasket and let it seal over the line. It is thin enough that it makes no difference.