Cutting the plastic inside fridge

Hi everyone,

I'm working on converting my old Oster 4.5 cu minifridge into a kegerator, and it would be awesome if I could cut the plastic on the inside of the fridge. Is this going to seriously mess with the fridges ability to keep things cold, assuming the refrigerant coils stay intact?

Thanks!

Not likely, lots of folks do a bit of trimming w/ just a utlity knife.

or pull the whole thing out and replace it with thin plastic. The plastic can be bought at lowes or home depot.... it is the bumpy stuff they have one the inside of car wash.

take the door panel out carefully so you can use it as a template for the screw holes.

Usually the plastic is just to add shelving and cover the insulation. Cutting into it shouldn't hurt a thing. I converted a small sanyo fridge into a kegerator and had to cut some of the plastic off of the door to make everything fit. I started out with a Dremel tool but realized a sharp utility knife worked just as well or better. Usually the door doesn't have any coils or anything. You have to be careful not to cut into the actual insulation but I say go for it. There some helpful videos on you tube about this.

So I did some exploratory cuts to see what was up, the inside is mostly rigid foam insulation.

I can really pull all that insulation out and expect reasonable cooling?

EDIT:

I'm just starting to think this fridge may not be able to cut it, really. Does anyone have success fitting a full size keg into a minifridge, or does everyone stick with corny kegs and sixtels? Does a good variety of commercial beer come in these sizes? Is there a listing of beers and what sizes they come in?

Wait, hold on. You are talking about pulling out the insulation? You can take the plastic inner shell off or cut it to pieces all you like, but the foam insulation underneath it is absolutely crucial. Without it, your compressor will burn out.

Ok, don't panic

The only insulation I'm going to have to pull out (if I'm going to use this fridge) is the insulation within the door shelves themselves. There is still a layer of insulation within the door itself.

mdzitter said:

Ok, don't panic

The only insulation I'm going to have to pull out (if I'm going to use this fridge) is the insulation within the door shelves themselves. There is still a layer of insulation within the door itself.

Click to expand...

As long as you have the solid original outer layer of the insulation, you are fine. Any insulation that protrudes into the volume of the fridge, like inside shelving, is pretty much useless.

Yes I agree

I removed the shelve plastic and foam.
Replaced the panel with 1/8" ABS
Different project, same idea.






Cheer,
ClaudiusB

I wonder if you could smooth out the door and spray it with some sort of moisture proof coating.

JonK331 said:

I wonder if you could smooth out the door and spray it with some sort of moisture proof coating.

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Interesting idea. I'd love to hear if someone else has any thoughts on this option, it would definitely save an 1/8th of an inch for the replacement plastic, which might just be what I need to fit the kegs successfully.

Whenever you start cutting the side be sure to use an exacto knife so you don't punch through - may take many tries but if you avoid coolant lines it is worth it

Seal with "Great Stuff" expanding foam

WhiteToad said:

Whenever you start cutting the side be sure to use an exacto knife so you don't punch through - may take many tries but if you avoid coolant lines it is worth it

Click to expand...

Luckily, I don't think this mini fridge has any coolant lines in the door itself, nor the sides of the fridge for that matter.

The whole fridge appears to be cooled from the freezer unit, with the line to the freezer part visible from inside the fridge.

Nevertheless, caution will be taken!

Originally Posted by JonK331 View Post
I wonder if you could smooth out the door and spray it with some sort of moisture proof coating.

Click to expand...

Interesting idea. I'd love to hear if someone else has any thoughts on this option, it would definitely save an 1/8th of an inch for the replacement plastic, which might just be what I need to fit the kegs successfully.

Click to expand...

I used a hacksaw blade to smooth out the door.
You can get a cheap acrylic panel from Home Depot for under $ 10.00, paint it from the side facing the foam.
Will look good and you can be proud of your work, unless you like the ghetto look.

Cheers,
ClaudiusB

Luckily, I don't think this mini fridge has any coolant lines in the door itself, nor the sides of the fridge for that matter.

Click to expand...

Your condenser could be in the walls.
My fridge is like that, uses all three sides.
If you don't see the condenser in the back turn on the fridge.
After a few minutes touch the walls and the warm walls tell you the location.


Cheers,
ClaudiusB

The condenser is on the back, so I don't think there should be anything in the sidewalls of the fridge.

Has anyone had any luck bending the "freezer" portion itself? Mine is the mini freezer type, so its only about as half as wide as the fridge itself. I'd like to bend it flat so that it leaves more room for a CO2 tank inside the fridge, but I'm a little afraid of breaking the freezer unit and making an insulated box out of my fridge...

Maybe I just need some liquid confidence

The condenser is on the back, so I don't think there should be anything in the sidewalls of the fridge.

Click to expand...

Makes the modification a lot easier.

Has anyone had any luck bending the "freezer" portion itself? Mine is the mini freezer type, so its only about as half as wide as the fridge itself.

Click to expand...

Same here, except it is a small cube fridge.



How I did it

Cheers,
ClaudiusB

Claudius,

Thanks so much for posting those pictures, definitely helped me sort through the bending process.

Everything is going very well, I'm hoping I'll be able to fix 2 sixtels in here if I do some modification of the sides (VERY SNUG). I'm thinking I may need some extra help with the airflow in the fridge itself if I do manage to fit 2 in here.