Vintage Kegerator Project

[RyanSweeney]

I purchased an old GE fridge this past Monday evening. It was built in 1956. In the realm of vintage fridges, I picked it up fairly cheaply...but it's got a bit of heavy rust here and there, and it had a dent in the door.

Tuesday night, I scrubbed the inside and door. It cleaned up pretty nice. It's far from perfect...has a few cracks in the plastic shelving in the door, but I'm not "restoring" it as much as I'm "rehabbing" it.

Last night, I tried removing the plastic door liner/shelving, but the entire bottom row of bolts are rusted in place. Fortunately, I was able to lower the liner enough to get behind the dent and push it back out. I can't shape it as much as I'd like to because I can't get the door liner out of the way, but it's WAY better than it was. I'll just add some Bondo after I sand the entire thing.

This project will be very much like that of HBT user "kerber". He did his vintage GE conversion in 2011, and it is awesome. I will be using a Raspberry Pi, Arduino, temperature sensors and a Power Switch Tail to control and maintain the temperature.

I have a lot of work ahead of me, but I think it'll turn out pretty nice. I already know that I will use this fridge as my practice run. I'm sure I can find vintage fridges in much better condition than this one is in, but I did get it pretty darn cheaply...and it works very, very well.

 

[LabRatBrewer]

Good luck, I hope to see it progress.

 

[Dan]

Neat project! Best of luck. There's nothing better than imagination and rejuvenation. : )

 

[RyanSweeney]

Thanks fellas. I'm going to start sanding it down this evening.

 

[ImNoExpert]

Gook Luck!

 

[RyanSweeney]

Built a DIY paint booth this weekend and got two good coats of primer on the fridge.

 

[RyanSweeney]

 

[Homercidal]

Awesome! Can't wait to see it when it's done!

 

[Feem74]

Sub'd. I've been wanting to do this and spending lots of time on HBT getting ideas and on CL looking for the right fridge. Keep the great pics coming.

 

[RyanSweeney]

Picked up 4 cans of appliance epoxy this morning. Hoping to get a coat done tonight.

 

[Grannyknot]

Oh man. Doing it right.
Can't wait to see the finished product.

 

[Stealthcruiser]

Sub'd.

 

[RyanSweeney]

Sanded and applied the second coat of primer on the door. Then I sanded and applied the first good coat of paint on the fridge.

 

[RyanSweeney]

Drilled holes for the shanks this morning. Sanded the door and moved it into the paint booth but had to call it quits for a few hours.

 

[1948GEFridiaireKeger]

Does it still work/keep cold? Or are you redoing the refrigeration on it as well? The reason i am asking, is I have the fridge in my signature that needs new refrigeration and was wondering what you did to yours. It looks good so far and I hope to get mine in that shape some day too.

 

[RyanSweeney]

It still works and works very well. Of 9 cooling levels, I had it set on 5. I set my fridge thermometer in it for a couple of hours and it was 39 degrees.

 

[RyanSweeney]

 

[Howhownow]

Subbed

 

[Demus]

Kinda reminds of Darth Vader! Very nice! Release the power of dark side!!!


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[RyanSweeney]

Kinda reminds of Darth Vader! Very nice! Release the power of dark side!!!


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Haha. I just didn't want it to be white.

I painted the badge black because each letter would have had to come off. I didn't feel like messing with all of that on this fridge.

The only shiny bits on it will be the handle and the faucets.

 

[RyanSweeney]

I'll be glad when these babies are full!

 

[Demus]

You MUST obey your master!!!


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[kcmobrewer]

That looks awesome. I love it. How many cornies will it hold?


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[RyanSweeney]

Two comfortably. Three if you crammed them in and you might even have to remove the door shelves. I'm just going with 2. There's plenty of room for 2 kegs and the CO2 bottle.

 

[kcmobrewer]

Ah. Still very cool. You gonna have a separate fridge for carbing?


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[RyanSweeney]

Ah. Still very cool. You gonna have a separate fridge for carbing?


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Maybe later. I'll be selling my current kegerator (converted Sanyo fridge) to help pay for the making of this one. If I find a good Craigslist deal, I might snatch it up.

 

[Grannyknot]

Looks like its going to be a beauty.
What sort of paint sprayer are you using?

 

[RyanSweeney]

Looks like its going to be a beauty.
What sort of paint sprayer are you using?

Just some Rustoleum Appliance Epoxy...rattle can.

 

[RyanSweeney]

Insulated an reattached the door tonight. Installed the faucets too. Still gotta reattach the door shelves and make holes for the beer lines.

 

[ChefRex]

Shame it wasn't a 57, the big fins are so cool, Subed

 

[HumulusHead]

Sub

Sexy!!


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[Demus]

More machine now than man, twisted, and evil....



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[kcmobrewer]

Awesome


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[FuzzBeckersHB]

Nice job Ryan..looks killer..


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[Demus]

I can't believe you geeks didn't pick up my Star Wars references. Then again, maybe I'm the geek...

 

[RyanSweeney]

I knew what you were doing!

 

[Hello]

That looks incredibly slick.

 

[RyanSweeney]

Thanks for the compliments guys. I still have a bit more to do, but it's come a long way in 2 weeks.

 

[chewse]

Really like it!

 

[RyanSweeney]

The shanks conveniently lined up in the butter storage space. That was a total accident, but it's a good accident.