Co2 tank sweating

[bbell21]

Hey guys, I knows I've posted a lot of questions recently but is it okay for a co2 tank to "sweat" or have slight liquid running down them during the deforest cycle of my mini fridge? Just worried because I know liquid and co2 do not mix. Any advice would be nice. I use a 4.4 cu ft magic chef mini fridge

 

[EcuPirate07]

Your fine. Sounds like the aluminum tank is getting really cold then when your fridge defrost it's basically raising its temperature too which causes, sweating. Milk does it too in the fridge......science.

 

[bbell21]

Your fine. Sounds like the aluminum tank is getting really cold then when your fridge defrost it's basically raising its temperature too which causes, sweating. Milk does it too in the fridge......science.

I know why I Just want to make sure this won't negatively affect the tank like with possible liquid getting in or something ?

 

[LBussy]

Nah, that's on the outside. What does concern me is that enough warm/moist air is getting in there to cause the sweating. Either you are peeking too much, or you have a leak in the seal somewhere that should be addressed.

 

[bbell21]

Nah, that's on the outside. What does concern me is that enough warm/moist air is getting in there to cause the sweating. Either you are peeking too much, or you have a leak in the seal somewhere that should be addressed.

Well the fridge goes through auto defrost cycles where you can see the liquid on the back of the fridge draining down and then once it kicks in it will freeze these droplets, I even purchased the fridge again because I didn't think this was normal and both do this!

 

[day_trippr]

Considering the tank internal pressure is somewhere above 500 psi there's zero chance of ingress...

Cheers!

 

[ajdelange]

Hey guys, I knows I've posted a lot of questions recently but is it okay for a co2 tank to "sweat" or have slight liquid running down them during the deforest cycle of my mini fridge? Just worried because I know liquid and co2 do not mix. Any advice would be nice. I use a 4.4 cu ft magic chef mini fridge

I'd be more concerned about the deforestation of your fridge!

On a slightly more serious note what you don't want is the situation where you CO2 tank is cold outside of the refrigerator because that means gas is leaving it and at a pretty good clip, or, IOW, you have a leak. I'd check for that. Well, you don't really have to do that as you'll be out of gas PDQ if you do have one of magnitude large enough to cool the bottle.

 

[LBussy]

Well the fridge goes through auto defrost cycles where you can see the liquid on the back of the fridge draining down and then once it kicks in it will freeze these droplets, I even purchased the fridge again because I didn't think this was normal and both do this!

Might be because you are aware of it and checking it more often and letting humidity in ... yes it is normal though. Is this a keg only fridge or is there other stuff in there? If it's a kegerator only, you might look at a dehumidifier. Folks have had success with something like this:



That will prevent you from getting rust rings under your tank (assuming it's steel) or mold or anything like that.

 

[EcuPirate07]

I guess all this depends on his fridge and setup. When I made a Kegerator I ripped out the freezer box to fit 5g corny kegs and I had no temp control just the 1-5 mini fridge dial, if this is his setup it's very easy for this to happen. It happened to mine all the time due to the freezer portion at the top working harder than the fridge portion. I would keep a towel in the bottom to keep all the extra condensation from pooling up.

 

[EcuPirate07]

Might be because you are aware of it and checking it more often and letting humidity in ... yes it is normal though. Is this a keg only fridge or is there other stuff in there? If it's a kegerator only, you might look at a dehumidifier. Folks have had success with something like this:



That will prevent you from getting rust rings under your tank (assuming it's steel) or mold or anything like that.

+ 1 on this I have it in my keezer and it works great, the cost up front worth it, better than changing the blue balls or powder every so many days. Gonna grab another for the gun safe.

 

[bbell21]

The fridge is a magic chef 4.4 ALL fridge no freezer. It is the standard 0-7 dial and right now I have it on 6. I was doing some research online and it says the liquid on the back is just the heating coil going through its cycle and draining the liquid (frost). I dislike this because I feel it will fluctuate the temp of my brew. ATM I do not have anything in the fridge other than the co2 tank and 4 cans of beer so maybe once I get the full keg in the temp won't fluctuate so much.

 

[bbell21]

Might be because you are aware of it and checking it more often and letting humidity in ... yes it is normal though. Is this a keg only fridge or is there other stuff in there? If it's a kegerator only, you might look at a dehumidifier. Folks have had success with something like this:



That will prevent you from getting rust rings under your tank (assuming it's steel) or mold or anything like that.

I only checked it after I woke up this morning and it was obviously going through its defrost cycle because soon as I closed the door the unit started up and once I came back about 5 minutes later the water droplets on the back of the fridge were frozen. isn't the point of a defrost cycle to turn the ice into liquid (the drops I see on the back) so would the dehumidifier be working against the fridge?

 

[Onkel_Udo]

I only checked it after I woke up this morning and it was obviously going through its defrost cycle because soon as I closed the door the unit started up and once I came back about 5 minutes later the water droplets on the back of the fridge were frozen. isn't the point of a defrost cycle to turn the ice into liquid (the drops I see on the back) so would the dehumidifier be working against the fridge?

I am thinking you are little too concerned about all this because of ignorance (lack of knowledge, not an insult) about the "frost free" refrigeration process.

Fridge coil get cold which cools the air and the cool air cools the contents of the fridge.
Air when cooled will eventually drop below the dew point so condensation will occur.
The condensation will freeze adjacent the coils so a defrost cycle is need for a few minutes every few hours...or many hours depending on the unit.
You have a MINIMUM of 40#'s of thermal mass per keg and it requires give or take an hour of a 50 degree temperature differential in air to change that ONE keg 10 degrees (why we have wort chillers).

So the end result is given the short time you are in defrost mode, you cannot effect that mass of liquid even a 1/2 of a degree but that mass of liquid CAN keep the interior cool enough during the defrost cycle that the droplets on surfaces other than the coils will melt but still be basically 33 degrees so the second the cooling cycle kicks on again they freeze.

Honestly, your number one problem is likely you keep opening the stupid door. With a functioning FF fridge that has an unblocked drain you will normally reach humidity equilibrium after 2-3 days if you do not open the door and do not have a door seal leak. You openned it how many times in the last 24 hours?

 

[jbb3]

... ATM I do not have anything in the fridge other than the co2 tank and 4 cans of beer so maybe once I get the full keg in the temp won't fluctuate so much.

You answered your own question... Load that thing up and give it time to equalize the temp inside. Then it will cycle much less frequently.

I hope you have a tap on the outside of the frig so you don't have to open the door every time you want a beer? If not, and if you drink as many beers as I do, you're going to stress that poor little frig...

 

[bbell21]

I am thinking you are little too concerned about all this because of ignorance (lack of knowledge, not an insult) about the "frost free" refrigeration process.

Fridge coil get cold which cools the air and the cool air cools the contents of the fridge.
Air when cooled will eventually drop below the dew point so condensation will occur.
The condensation will freeze adjacent the coils so a defrost cycle is need for a few minutes every few hours...or many hours depending on the unit.
You have a MINIMUM of 40#'s of thermal mass per keg and it requires give or take an hour of a 50 degree temperature differential in air to change that ONE keg 10 degrees (why we have wort chillers).

So the end result is given the short time you are in defrost mode, you cannot effect that mass of liquid even a 1/2 of a degree but that mass of liquid CAN keep the interior cool enough during the defrost cycle that the droplets on surfaces other than the coils will melt but still be basically 33 degrees so the second the cooling cycle kicks on again they freeze.

Honestly, your number one problem is likely you keep opening the stupid door. With a functioning FF fridge that has an unblocked drain you will normally reach humidity equilibrium after 2-3 days if you do not open the door and do not have a door seal leak. You openned it how many times in the last 24 hours?

So I'm basically worrying for no reason. Thanks for the helpful info, you are correct, I do not know much about these mini fridges. When I first bought it and kept all the interiors inside the back wall was a perfect sheet of ice and now droplets form from constantly checking is my guess. I will leave the poor fridge alone. Thanks for your help

 

[bbell21]

You answered your own question... Load that thing up and give it time to equalize the temp inside. Then it will cycle much less frequently.

I hope you have a tap on the outside of the frig so you don't have to open the door every time you want a beer? If not, and if you drink as many beers as I do, you're going to stress that poor little frig...

Haha yeah!! I just drilled for a nice little door tap, just got another week in the primary until I can keg for the first time 😁