Fridge with freezer

Hey guys, i'm gonna be converting a fridge with one of the freezers that is little more than a metal shelf with coolant lines in it. i know that this is not ideal, but it is what i have to work with. i have heard of people saying that the freezer can be un-bolted and moved to make cornies fit. Does anyone have any pics of their freezer mover mod? I also have a tower tower to mount to the top of the bar. there is only about a 10 to 11 inch gap from top of fridge to bottom of bar. have heard many people say that the lines need to be kept cool, use PVC pipe and a fan. have also had people sat that since distance is short, you just need pipe insulation around the beer lines (foam that is "c" shaped), anyone have any ideas/ insight?
thanks a million

I, sad but true, recently killed an old fridge doing just that... It's DOA now..., but I did sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night (don't tell my wife).

You'd have to carefully bend the coolant lines out of the way. I did this on an old upright freezer. The shelves were formed by tack welding the wire shelving onto the coolant lines and I had to cut all the wires, etc. I bent two of the shelves up against the back wall.

I just scavanged an old fridge from work. It's wide enough to fit two cornies across (just a touch more than 17 inches - but it's only 23 up to the cooling element. SO, I'm going to carefully try and bend it up out of the way when I get the kegs here and can take some final measurements.

the fridge that i'm using has the "U" shaped thin metal sheet freezer...im sure you know what i mean even though that is not best description. it is screwed into the top in four different places (corners i think...most logical). we plan on unscrewing them so the freezer floats.then take the freezer and screw it into back wall on top of that little shelf in back. hose connecting the freezer to back seems to be pliable rubber, so i think it should work. now i'm just wondering about gap between bar and fridge and whether the pipe insulation solution is actually a solution.
thanks for responses!

Off topic but how was the pumpkin ale "homebrewer_99"? Was thinking about one eventually.

Bobby_M said:

You'd have to carefully bend the coolant lines out of the way. I did this on an old upright freezer. The shelves were formed by tack welding the wire shelving onto the coolant lines and I had to cut all the wires, etc. I bent two of the shelves up against the back wall.

Click to expand...

I have almost the same freezer here and consider doing the same. I already looked at the coils and know I have to be very careful, but I am quite concerned about breaking one of the coils and having a dead freezer. Any advice about the coils and how far you can bend them?

Just bend SLOW and careful.... 90 degrees max, and that is tough sometimes with worrying about pinching/breaking the line. I did it on a mini fridge for a friend before (and back when he decided it wasn't big enough) with no repercussions....

I've heard speculation on it, but not sure- anyone try heating the lines to make them a little more plyable?

I guess I will have to try and see what happens. Not really looking forward to this tho.

Check out this post by mustangfreak- no after pics, but same deal...https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/got-whirlpool-fridge-98359/ As long as you are careful about it, it should be ok. Best of luck!

MoRoToRiUm said:

Just bend SLOW and careful.... 90 degrees max, and that is tough sometimes with worrying about pinching/breaking the line. I did it on a mini fridge for a friend before (and back when he decided it wasn't big enough) with no repercussions....

I've heard speculation on it, but not sure- anyone try heating the lines to make them a little more plyable?

Click to expand...

The lines in the picture are aluminum and heating them with a torch may cause you problems. There is refrigerant in the lines and if one of them breaks and you have an open flame present you will have a bad day for sure. Try to locate a tubing bender that will work with the size line you have and use that to gently bend the tubing. I have done refrigeration work for over twenty years and have never been very lucky at repairing broken aluminum lines and you will also have to replace any refirgerant that leaks from a break. Refrigerators use critical weight charges to operate properly.

Good luck.

Salute!

You can get a tubing bender at a good car parts place. They help keep from kinking and breaking the lines.

Bobby_M said:

You'd have to carefully bend the coolant lines out of the way. I did this on an old upright freezer. The shelves were formed by tack welding the wire shelving onto the coolant lines and I had to cut all the wires, etc. I bent two of the shelves up against the back wall.

Click to expand...

Lordy, what a pain this has been.

The good news: I got a 7 cu ft upright freezer for only $25 off of Craigslist.

The bad news: It took me three hours to get those damn shelves out of the way so I could use it. And I only moved two out of the three shelves so far. Not to mention all the cuts on my hand. I just plugged it in ten minutes ago so I'll see if I did any irreparable harm to the lines in an hour or so.

I wish I wasn't so poor so I could buy exactly what I need.