Coffin Keezer Heat Rejection.. Help!!

[TheMadKing]

My beautiful coffin keezer has died for a second time in 2.5 years.

I tried replacing the start relay and the capacitor but no dice, so it must be a bad compressor. My best guess is that my freezer is overheating and shortening compressor life because it's fully enclosed on 3 sides.

Surely I'm not the only one that has had this issue. How do you make sure the skin of your freezer can reject heat inside the wooden frame?

Is a simple PC fan or three enough? Or do I need to start cutting holes in one side for a vent?

 

[Deadalus]

Mine is fully enclosed. I left a few inches for an air gap on each side plus I put one vent in on the short side near the compressor. The vent is an iron grate much like a forced air vent in size.

 

[TheMadKing]

Mine is fully enclosed. I left a few inches for an air gap on each side plus I put one vent in on the short side near the compressor. The vent is an iron grate much like a forced air vent in size.

How long has it been running like that? And how old is your freezer?

This one that just died was purchased brand new in 2021

I have a similar air gap all around but no vent.

 

[Deadalus]

I should add, I built it to look rough, and the boards I used aren't completely square. In the front, I left a slight gap in the design as I was aiming for a specific layout and the boards were a little shy of the needed width. So I get a little air that way too.

 

[Deadalus]

How long has it been running like that? And how old is your freezer?

This one that just died was purchased brand new in 2021

I have a similar air gap all around but no vent.

Freezer is at least 8 years old and it has been enclosed for about 2-3 years now.

 

[Deadalus]

It's airy like a barn, which is fine as it is made out of reclaimed barn wood. The vent is around the middle of the short side where there was an exhaust grill by the compressor. I'd recommend perhaps a computer fan on the back corner by your compressor maybe. Or a vent there and a fan to blow the warm air out.

 

[TheMadKing]

It's airy like a barn, which is fine as it is made out of reclaimed barn wood. The vent is around the middle of the short side where there was an exhaust grill by the compressor. I'd recommend perhaps a computer fan on the back corner by your compressor maybe. Or a vent there and a fan to blow the warm air out.

Thanks!

I'm debating either a replacement or rebuilding to a collar keezer for simplicity sake. Either way it's a PITA

 

[Deadalus]

That's a really nice build, it would be sad to let go! A pain they have been dying though. I dread the day myself, I'd have to put mine on its back to get it out.

You inspired me to finally write mine up and post it but I got tired of writing. Soon!

 

[TheMadKing]

Ok so update.

I have scoured the internet and I apparently built my keezer around a unicorn size.

There are no freezers on the market currently that match the dimensions I need.

So... I'm thinking I need to come up with a method for adapting my keezer lid to a different sized freezer. I was thinking I could make a "gasket" adapter from plywood and flexseal with some weather stripping. This could be used to go either a larger or smaller freezer.

Does anyone have any better ideas? Or have done this mod before?

 

[Deadalus]

Yes, I have. I won't say it's perfect. I have a gap between the freezer lid and bar top. I tried 1" vinyl tubing but it was very stiff. I switched to 1" flexible PVC to house the lines and allow for pvc fittings. The issue is that my surround lid hinge and freezer hinge aren't the same hinge and aren't exactly next to each other. The hole in the feeezer lid and the hole in the bartop don't track along the same radius. I needed to use a solid walled tube because I put a box on the end inside the freezer with a computer fan to blow cold air up into the iron pipe tower housing my taps. The PVC is still a little stiff.

 

[Deadalus]

If you haven't seen where I posted my keezer build, I put some pics up to show you how I addressed this.

 

[TheMadKing]

If you haven't seen where I posted my keezer build, I put some pics up to show you how I addressed this.

Hmm well you were smarter than me. My keezer lid is the bar top. So it still uses the original hinges and opens just like a freezer would.

But I could do something similar if I find a slightly shorter freezer. I'll look into that thanks!

 

[Deadalus]

Hmm well you were smarter than me. My keezer lid is the bar top. So it still uses the original hinges and opens just like a freezer would.

But I could do something similar if I find a slightly shorter freezer. I'll look into that thanks!

I'm not sure one way is better than the other. If you found a shorter one, you could build a collar to raise the lid back to the same height. And if it was less wide, it would open an air gap on the sides. I thought about mentioning a 5 cubic ft . You might lose a 5 gallon keg spot but you could maybe double up with two smaller 2.5 gallons, torpedo kegs, or even perhaps those PET soda bottle looking kegs. Just depends on what you find.

 

[TheMadKing]

Ok so update

I crawled back through old keezer builds and low and behold, the original Jester build had freezer heat dissipation built in!

So I built a coolant plenim under a new scratch and dent garage ready 8.8 cuft freezer from Lowes ($299).

I used an Amazon range hood ventilation fan to pull air out the bottom from the front of the freezer body. So in theory it should pull air around the sides and across the front to cool the skin.

I also had to rebuilt the inside of the lid to accommodate the different dimensions of the new freezer. So it took a couple days and 3 trips to Home Depot.

I also used Flex seal to cover any and all wood and foam insulation to hopefully reduce mold and moisture issues.

Finally, I'm adding gas struts to help support my nearly 100lb lid. I'm amazed it hasn't broken yet but the factory freezer hinges actually hold it. But better safe than sorry

PS. I'm controlling my cooling fan with an interval timer so I'll have it run for 20 minutes every hour or so. I could have it kick on when the inkbird controller tells the compressor to kick on, but then it shuts off and won't dissipate residual heat.