Drilling in the side of mini fridge

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Ambleside

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Hi,

I've got a whirlpool WAR488 4.4 cu ft fridge that has no freezer, just the coils/plate thing on the back wall. (Same fridge as the danby 4.4 a lot of people convert)

However I'm using 2 taps with 1" pass thru shanks on the side instead of a tower. Is there risk of hitting Coolant lines in the side? (I plan on drilling two holes side by side on the left wall, as I face the front).

Is there risk of hitting electrical wires for the light/ thermostat? If I did hit this, is it fixable, as opposed to a write off when hitting a cooling line?

Attached it the electrical diagram. I have no bloody clue how to read it. I strayed away from the right side as that's where the light switch is.

image.jpg
 
Well I drilled thru my mini fridge and hit a cooling coil. My suggestion is to drill thru the door as there is nothing to hit there. I tried to fix the fridge twice but between the cost of the fridge and repairs I am out 350 dollars and it still doesn't work. I call it a lesson learned. :eek:
 
There would be coolant coils in the side?
I would have assumed that all the cooling comes from the plate at the back, and the line would just go up from the compressor. I could be totally wrong.
Here's the fridge.

image.jpg
 
Some of the larger mini-fridges have visible external coils on the back (mine's 10.3 CF with taps through the side). You can use the baking soda slurry trick to see where any internal coils might be.

If you hit a wire (I did) you can solder it back together. This might be a wire to the 'door open' sensor. Just make sure the fridge is unplugged before you go drilling into it.
 
Good points. I started looking into the pros and cons.
Obviously, side tap will be cleaner. But even if I did baking soda slurry, still could hit a wire, and I don't want to deal with electrical fixes.

If I go door, the front is convex, but I suppose I could get some silicon to seal up the gaps.

The nut on the inside of the door is tightening against smooth insulation (door panel screwed off) so won't be able to tighten it hard, but I don't think it needs to be.

As for having room for the shanks when the door closes, I have 1 3gal and 1 5 gal. So I'll put the shanks above the 3gal, no issues there.

Won't be as clean of a setup when opening door and such, but I think that outweighs the risks.

What do you all think.
 
The other thing you can do is to drill through the metal slightly and poke around in the insulation beneath with a sturdy wire. If anything is in the way you'll find it. Sometimes these wires and things will be taped/glued to that metal side though.

Or buy a fridge that is already well-understood and has a thread on HBT showing what other people did.
 
I measured where I put my tap hole it was from the top 2 1/2 down and from the door 3 1/2 in . I just grazed a line and it took 2 hours to notice. this hole was on the opposite side of the door hinge. I wish you the best, if I was to do it again I would go thru the door as it is a guaranty that you can't hurt anything.:)
 
I traded a newer one for an older (larger) one that had coolant grate on the outside in the back and a small icebox chamber inside.

I didn't hit anything when I drilled a hole for my thermistor, but maybe I got lucky.
 
I went through the door, didn't want to risk it. Cheers guys!

Unfortunately a new issue though with tap pressure :( lots of trial and error in this kegging game I suppose.
 
Clean design, looks good.

As long as you don't have things packed in there with no room for lines to move you'll be fine.
 
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