Best way to attach wood to Keezer?

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Vintage Iron

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I just picked up a 5.0cu-ft chest freezer as a start for my Keezer project. I'm curious what you have found as the best way to attach wood to the outside of the freezer without causing an overheating condition?

I did some searching of old posts on the forum, and found some threads, but many of them have broken-pictures due to the Photobucket issue. Any info you can share is great!
 
I think the best way is to build a frame around your freezer and attach everything to the frame. This way you wont have a cooling issue, you remove any problems associated with piercing a refrigeration line, and can usually remove/replace the freezer if needed without destroying the look of your keezer.
 
+1 most of the builds I've seen involve framing around the freezer and attaching wood panels to that, instead of directly on the freezer. You could even rig up some small fans to keep air circulating between the freezer and the paneling.
 
When I built mine, I used construction adhesive to attach 1/4 oak plywood directly to the skin. 1/4" plywood has an R factor of <.3. My friend is an AC and R guy and said that over engineering by building space around keezers was silly and attaching the wood directly to the skin would have no noticeable effect on compressor life.
 
I simply used silicon to create a seal & haven’t had any issues but others have used two sided camper tape with success.
 
Anyway to attach the collar without adhesive so that it is easy to remove later if necessary?
 
I just used weather stripping from Home Depot. The weight of the collar holds it in place. I built mine so that I could open the collar as well as the top. I thought that it would make it easier to get kegs in and out, but I have never opened the collar. If I had it to do over again, I would not have bothered to hinge the collar, just the top.
 
I haven't done a keezer in a chest freezer. Mine is in a fridge and the only thing I did was at faucets in the door.

If I was going to skin the sides I would leave a little gap between the freezer and the skin. I would not be worried about the life of the compressor, but rather that I am insulating against the transfer of heat to the outside costing money for extra use of electricity. I would also leave a gap at the bottom and top so cool air could enter at the bottom and hot air escape at the top.

For a collar I was thinking cheap plywood on the inside a layer of foam insulation and a decorative wood on the outside. Weather stripping should be enough to seal between the collar and the freezer. If not a couple of dabs of silicon caulk in the corners and maybe one dab in the middle of the long sides should be enough to hold it in place.
 
If you can find it, the weather stripping that is used under camper shells is denser than normal weather stripping. You should be able to find it at any of the Big Box Stores with the rest of the weather stripping. I to just set the collar on the freezer and bolted the hinges and lid to it, nothing moves.
 
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