Magic Chef Wine Cooler Conversion

So i just scored a free Magic Chef MCWC44DZ wine cooler, my uncle in-law was tossing as one of the internal DC recirculating fans had died. My original thought was to turn it into a fermentation unit but with the bottom "compressor hump" it's not big enough to hold a sankey. Plan B was to make it a kegerator, by default it'll go down to 44F and it'll hold 2 corneys + CO2 just fine.

Upon opening the unit i noticed the first problem, a insulating piece that separates the fridge into top and bottom areas. Two screws quickly took care of that, but it wouldn't pull out as it was connected to the main unit with a bunch of wires. Thankfully each set of wires has a quick connect piece, and the front of the insulation piece had a snap-off door to easily access the disconnect pieces that were shoved inside. So with the insulating piece out i opened it up and saw that the brilliant designers put all the brains of the unit inside this part. This unit is one of the few dual-zone units they make, one would think they'd standardize the placement of the circuit board someplace else. And as this piece bisects the fridge it has to come out to make room for the kegs. Note that this bisecting/insulating piece does not have nor is it connected (directly) to the LED controls on the front door.

A quick test determined that nothing on circuit board is needed for fridge operation. With everything on the circuit board disconnected; if I short out the red and brown wires on the quick-connect power cable on the fridge wall the compressor kicks in. Open the short and the compressor stops. I figure i can just hook up a Ranco to this and i'm set to go (along with cutting a hole for the beer lines).

Question 1: It is a shame to lose the functionality of the LED readout on the front panel and the built in thermo couple, the unit looks a bit dead/naked with the LEDs off. Does anyone have any ideas on how to use them? Can i just hook up the red/blue wires to power on the circuit board, and the ribbon cables to get temperature information?

Question 2: Do i need recirculating fans on the inside of the unit? Removing the circuit board also removes the power source / controller for the DC fans, and removing the fans frees up 2" of depth on the fridge.

Question 3: Does anyone know where the coolant lines are on a Magic Chef? There are definitely some in the back, the DC fans were there to move air past the back wall. What's the probability of lines at the top of the unit?

I converted a Magic Chef wine cooler to kegerator. My model isnt this fancy but it works sweet. If you bypass the thermostat and use a temp controller it'll go way colder than 44.

The light and LEDs would be sweet but only for bling. If you connect it to a temp controller they will serve no purpose anyway. The light into the unit is just going to show you a couple of ugly cornies and CO2 tank anyway. What you really want to see is your beautiful homebrew flowing out of the draft tower on top!! :rockin:

Try the alcohol and baking soda test on the top of the unit to look for refrig lines.

A fan or 2 inside to blow cool air up the draft tower would be nice to keep that first pour from having too much foam. This would be the one thing I would like to add on to mine that has been described nicely in this forum.

Good luck, you'll love it. Make sure you get some nice perlick faucets. I used the cheap ones that came on my draft tower for about a week before I got sick of cleaning them to keep them from sticking.

cmuench said:

I converted a Magic Chef wine cooler to kegerator. My model isnt this fancy but it works sweet. If you bypass the thermostat and use a temp controller it'll go way colder than 44.

The light and LEDs would be sweet but only for bling. If you connect it to a temp controller they will serve no purpose anyway. The light into the unit is just going to show you a couple of ugly cornies and CO2 tank anyway. What you really want to see is your beautiful homebrew flowing out of the draft tower on top!! :rockin:

Try the alcohol and baking soda test on the top of the unit to look for refrig lines.

A fan or 2 inside to blow cool air up the draft tower would be nice to keep that first pour from having too much foam. This would be the one thing I would like to add on to mine that has been described nicely in this forum.

Good luck, you'll love it. Make sure you get some nice perlick faucets. I used the cheap ones that came on my draft tower for about a week before I got sick of cleaning them to keep them from sticking.

Click to expand...

What model is yours?

The model number is MCWC44DZ.

To follow up on the questions i posed (3 years ago):
1) i re-ran the original cables inside fiber innerduct (1" tubing) to protect from moisture, etc. Works great and the temp controls work.

2) I ran the unit for a while without the fans but the back wall froze up (also a dead give away as to where the coolant lines are). Adding the fan back to the mix made the unit more efficient (mixing the air) and prevents condensation buildup (and freezing).

3) See #2. None on the top of the unit and i cut a 2" hole to run 8 beer lines and 2 glycol coolant lines to the T-tower bolted to the top.

Here is what I ended up with. Both of them work after taking the relay out and cleaning it. I also bypassed the thermostat, running with my stc-1000. Still need to buy a second stc. Cost for the fridges was 25 bucks total.

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