Major Ice Build Up In My Coffin Kegerator

[Caldazar]

I built a coffin kegerator about six months ago. Made for four taps but just has one installed currently. Put my first beer in about four months ago and kicked it about a month ago. I’ve been sooo busy I have been unable to clean my lines out or brew another beer until now. Kept the kegerator running and set to 45 degrees F the entire time with the temperature probe hanging in the air right at the top of the keg. From keg installment to now. I also have had a computer fan pulling air from the kegerator up into the coffin box. Went to pull the empty keg out and clean everything and there is about two inches of ice in the bottom of the kegerator, freezing my keg and lines to the bottom. What are the chances that some weird temperature stratification caused colder air to settle on the bottom and freeze or is it most likely my probe went bad? What recommendations does anyone have to keep this from happening again if the probe isn’t bad?

Thanks in advance. I’ve attached a pic of my kegerator as well if anyone is interested.

 

[Golddiggie]

I hope you have enough space between the wood skin of your setup and the outside of the keezer/freezer body.

As for the ice forming, I have my temperature control sensor hanging in air between kegs. Zero freezing issues have been had (in about a year I've had the setup). I also only have a collar, not a full enclosure. While that does look pretty kick-ass, the freezers need at least some air flow around them.

BTW, do you have a fan inside the keezer moving the air around? I picked up a 120v fan, with speed control, that was installed when I built the collar. Angled to move air downwards (slight angle).

 

[Caldazar]

I hope you have enough space between the wood skin of your setup and the outside of the keezer/freezer body.

As for the ice forming, I have my temperature control sensor hanging in air between kegs. Zero freezing issues have been had (in about a year I've had the setup). I also only have a collar, not a full enclosure. While that does look pretty kick-ass, the freezers need at least some air flow around them.

BTW, do you have a fan inside the keezer moving the air around? I picked up a 120v fan, with speed control, that was installed when I built the collar. Angled to move air downwards (slight angle).

The back of the freezer is open and I have close to three inches between the freezer and the plywood that makes up the body of the keezer on the front and one side. The other side has enough space to store my c02 canister. I also have a fan in the coffin box of the keezer to pull cold air up to the taps but I don’t have a fan in the freezer part of the system. There was a lot more condensation in the freezer portion than I expected when I opened it. My guess is that since there was condensation on top and a pretty thick layer of ice in the bottom, that the temperature stratified.

 

[Golddiggie]

Try adding a fan in the freezer section to get the air there moving. Also, what's the freezer setting at? I have mine set to the warmest so that it actually runs a bit longer with each cycle. My thoughts were to reduce the chance of ice forming in the body with this. Since if it was set colder, there seemed to be a higher chance since it was going for more cold inside.

 

[TheMadKing]

The back of the freezer is open and I have close to three inches between the freezer and the plywood that makes up the body of the keezer on the front and one side. The other side has enough space to store my c02 canister. I also have a fan in the coffin box of the keezer to pull cold air up to the taps but I don’t have a fan in the freezer part of the system. There was a lot more condensation in the freezer portion than I expected when I opened it. My guess is that since there was condensation on top and a pretty thick layer of ice in the bottom, that the temperature stratified.

You need to beef up your weather stripping and stop all air leaks to the outside. The ice just forms on the freezer skin where the freon circulates through and that's normal. The problem is water getting in, in the the first place.

I put a layer of outdoor heavy duty foam weather stripping from home depot both on the rim of the freezer body and on the underside of the lid so that they meet when the lid is closed and it dramatically reduce the condensation issues I had.

Damprid is also useful for pulling moisture out, but its only useful if you have a good seal to begin with

 

[TheMadKing]

Try adding a fan in the freezer section to get the air there moving. Also, what's the freezer setting at? I have mine set to the warmest so that it actually runs a bit longer with each cycle. My thoughts were to reduce the chance of ice forming in the body with this. Since if it was set colder, there seemed to be a higher chance since it was going for more cold inside.

Huh? Are you using a freezer without some external temperature control?

I assume you're probably using an inkbird or something similar so you should have your freezer at the coolest setting it can go to. Freezers don't regulate their temperature by making their refrigerant cold or more cold. They just cycle the compressor on for longer and the freon in the lines is a constant temp while the compressor is running.

Since you are probably using a temperature controller it is taking over that function from the freezer thermostat, so you want to ensure that any time the inkbird turns the cool cycle on that the compressor kicks on. Since freezers are designed to run much colder then beer needs, it probably doesn't matter much, but just wanted to help with understanding the principals in play here.

If you want less ice, set your temp controller for a warmer temp so that the compressor cycles less and the average temperature is warmer, and seal up any leaks. You'll get some ice on the internal walls every time the compressor is on no matter what though.

 

[Golddiggie]

The freezer I'm using seemed to go far colder when I had the setting to a lower temperature. Yes, I'm using an inkbirdie to control the thing. I have zero ice forming inside the freezer. Maybe the fan moving air around inside the freezer is preventing that. I do know that I get water in the bottom that I have to deal with.