Sanyo 4433S for Kegerator

COSTCO has these

http://www.sanyo.com/appliances/refrigerators/index.cfm?productID=901

in their latest coupon book for $120 after coupon and rebate. Any reason this wouldn't be as good of an option as the 4412??

well.. there is a .5 cuft difference.. not sure if it would accomodate 2 kegs and a co2 tank like my 4912, but you could take your kegs there and try it out firsthand...

I have a 4.9 cu. ft. refrigerator and it holds 2 corny kegs snuggly. I can't imagine the 4.4 cu. ft. refrigerator being able to accomodate more than 1 corny. Pull out the tape measure before you buy.

I just saw this as costco yesterday when looking for the 4912. It did have a freezer compartment and some controls which looked like they might get in the way.

rfreitag said:

I just saw this as costco yesterday when looking for the 4912. It did have a freezer compartment and some controls which looked like they might get in the way.

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That would be my guess. The 4912 doesn't have a freezer, so it has lots of extra head room.

Oh well, it was worth a try. I never noticed that it had a freezer. I guess the extra $60-$70 for the 4912 will be worth it.....

I'm going to attempt a 2-keg set up with the sanyo 4433. I'll Let you guys know how it goes.

nwupwolf (or anyone else?) did you do this yet? i just got a 4433 and am curious how the conversion goes anf if you can get 2 cornys in there. thanks!

yeah I got it to work. It required a lot of modification on the door but nothing too complicated. I can email you the pics if you want them.

I should also say, that I was using 2 ball-lock kegs. I don't think the pin-lock kegs would work, because they are a little bit wider in diameter. Also, I wasn't able to fit the CO2 inside the fridge...which may or may not be important to your design.

The door modification... really involved digging out some of the foam on the door. If you want the pictures to help guide your design, I can include some captions... so you can learn from my mistakes

CHEERS

E

With the door off. If I could do it again, I would just cut the plastic away with a utility knife, and essentially making a frame out of the plastic. Getting the rubber seal stripping back on was kind of a pain

Dig out foam on the opposite side of the thermostat

Disconnect thermostat and start bending the freezer down. Make sure freezer is bent slowly and the fridge has been sitting at room temperature for a day. The second picture is the freezer bent against the back wall flush

Remove the top of the fridge. and get a piece of 8x8'' wood. Remove enough foam to allow wood to sit snug in foam. Drill top, wood and fridge (There are little plastic 'fins' that will prevent the wood from sitting flush against the top, just score those with a utility knife and break them off).
I added some foam under the wood for better insulation.

You'll have to move the thermostat toward the front of the fridge. I just used some Velcro, mainly so I can adjust it as I need to, when cleaning the kegs and moving them in and out of the fridge.
The CO2 is on the outside. I drilled as high and back as I could (there are some coolant lines running in the sides of the fridge)

I also painted the inside of the foam black and put a Chalk board surface coating on the inside so I can keep track of when I put beers in there and how many kegs I got out of my CO2 tank. I haven't had enough money to buy the tower yet, but of course that is next on the list.

OH and I forgot. To properly mount the CO2 tank I bought a fire extinguisher bracket and plan to glue it DO NOT drill the sides of the fridge the coolant lines are there.

nwupwolf said:

OH and I forgot. To properly mount the CO2 tank I bought a fire extinguisher bracket and plan to glue it DO NOT drill the sides of the fridge the coolant lines are there.

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Do you have any documentation on exactly where the coolant lines are?

Great pics. Few questions. with the corny that sits further forward toward the door, is there not enough space behind it and perhaps on the little shelf to keep the Co2 inside? Also, how were you able to bend the freezer unit down with it being in those shelving style tracks on the side? Did you just bend it in the center first, and then down? Did the coolant line not torque too much in the back as you bent it? Thanks again for the help. Looks good.

No I don't have any documentation for the coolant lines. I had seen a diagram for the coolant lines online, but I don't know where online sorry.

My problem with the CO2 on the back shelf was that it would fall off and bump the 'front' keg and sometimes push the door open. BUT after I had already drilled the side, I realized that when the keg was full, the CO2 shouldn't push the door open. If I could do it again (which I will because I sold that on craigslist) I would glue an extension platform of some kind to the 'hump' then the CO2 could stand up and not tip over.

As far as bending the freezer down. Just make sure the fridge has had a day to get at room temperature. I bent it at the coolant line not the actual 'freezer tray'. I displaced the freezer tray from the side ridges, then slowly started bending it at the coolant line by placing my hand behind the coolant line and my other hand on the freezer tray and applying opposite pressure. Don't use pliers or anything to hold the line, as you might kink the coolant line. Just take the bending part slow and you should be fine.

Hope that helps

nwupwolf said:

You'll have to move the thermostat toward the front of the fridge. I just used some Velcro, mainly so I can adjust it as I need to, when cleaning the kegs and moving them in and out of the fridge.
The CO2 is on the outside. I drilled as high and back as I could (there are some coolant lines running in the sides of the fridge)

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Hi. I have the same fridge I am also turning into a kegerator. So far so good. Freezer bent, foam removed, resealed. Two questions: One, where exactly did you drill the holes for the CO2 lines, and how do you remove the top of the fridge?

I did this same conversion and I was able to fit my CO2 tank (5#) inside the fridge on the back little shelf and I have 2 cornys inside (see attached photo). I also used a Johnson Systems digital thermostat to control the temp. I drilled a small hole for the probe. I went to the back of the fridge and drilled the hole at what would be the base of the shelf. By doing it from the back, you can see where the compressor etc is so you dont hit anything vital. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00368D6JA/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Interesting. So I don't HAVE to drill a hole in the side for the CO2, I can set it on the back shelf? Also, where did you drill the hole for the probe? Did you just attach the digital thermostat monitor somewhere outside the kegerator?

This should give you an idea. The digital monitor is just double side taped to the back. The smaller white wire is to a tower cooling unit that I made as well which just runs all of the time. I have my thermostat to kick the fridge on at 42deg and back off again when it gets down the 38. I had actually been keeping the kegerator on my deck outside with a smoker cover over it if the weather was bad. It did really good out there until we started getting 100+ temps here in Indiana so I had to bring it back inside. At 100 deg the fridge couldnt really stay under 50 deg. Good luck. I found that bending the cooling unit was easier and less stressful that I thought it would be. I used a small piece of 1x2 to hold up to the bottom side of the line to give me some resistance as I bent the shelf down. I used a dremel multi max to cut the areas of plastic off of the side walls and the door. It went through like butter and was really easy. I used a router to make a small riser for the draft tower. To me it was easier to have something like this to screw into vs using bolts and I felt like it dressed it up a little more but you can manage without it.

Also, I didnt remove the top of fridge at all. Just drilled a hole with a hole cutting bit. There is less metal on this unit to go through than other fridge models Ive helped with so it was easy and I dont think there are any lines to worry about in the top of this unit. I just found the dead center and then moved my hole a little more toward the back than dead center and drilled away. Very easy. It does help if someone else uses something to push up on the top from the inside so the hole saw goes through that interior layer of plastic as it wants to just bend down as youre drilling

Thanks! That is super helpful.

ak6143 said:

I did this same conversion and I was able to fit my CO2 tank (5#) inside the fridge on the back little shelf and I have 2 cornys inside (see attached photo). I also used a Johnson Systems digital thermostat to control the temp. I drilled a small hole for the probe. I went to the back of the fridge and drilled the hole at what would be the base of the shelf. By doing it from the back, you can see where the compressor etc is so you dont hit anything vital. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00368D6JA/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
View attachment 67831

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Are these ball lock or pin lock width kegs?

ak6143 said:

I did this same conversion and I was able to fit my CO2 tank (5#) inside the fridge on the back little shelf and I have 2 cornys inside (see attached photo). I also used a Johnson Systems digital thermostat to control the temp. I drilled a small hole for the probe. I went to the back of the fridge and drilled the hole at what would be the base of the shelf. By doing it from the back, you can see where the compressor etc is so you dont hit anything vital. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00368D6JA/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
View attachment 67831

Click to expand...

I have this same model refrigerator from my college days and was wondering what you did with the temperature controller? Thanks!