John Paul Stoddard
Well-Known Member
Anyone ever replace a Refrigerator Door with a Glass one or modified one with a glass insert?
Ever Replace a Refrigerator Door with a Glass Door?
- Thread starter John Paul Stoddard
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No, I never had. I think you would need to use an insulated glass panel or risk constant condensation and lack of efficiency.
Funny you should ask. In the process of looking into doing something like this for my fermentation chamber. I want to get a mid sized, frost free, stand up freezer and cut the door panel out and replace with glass to show off the the Ss Chronical I want to buy for the the brewery.
Keep me posted if you dive into the project and I will do the same.
Cheers
Jay
I have one of those convenience store fridges that I use as a kegerator. I replaced the tempered glass with two layers of plexiglass so that I could put the taps through the glass.
I realize this isn't the most relevant because the door already had glass in it, but if you can figure out how to get the glass in there and seal it it should work fine.\
I realize this isn't the most relevant because the door already had glass in it, but if you can figure out how to get the glass in there and seal it it should work fine.\
raouliii
Well-Known Member
FWIW, that glass wasn't just tempered, it was insulated as well. The unit's energy efficiency has likely taken a major hit. In comparison, a tap through the side wall would have had very little effect on the unit's energy efficiency. FWIW.
Brewsncrabs
Well-Known Member
Maybe you can find one with a glass heater between the panes. Otherwise you will probably have huge condensation issues.
John Paul Stoddard
Well-Known Member
Definitely will use an insulated glass insert.
Would prefer a Unit already designed with a glass door...but around here I have a better chance of winning the lottery than finding one at a reasonable price. :hs:
Would prefer a Unit already designed with a glass door...but around here I have a better chance of winning the lottery than finding one at a reasonable price. :hs:
Calichusetts
Well-Known Member
Seem it done on this site somewhere...might have been in the show us your kegerator thread.
Interested in this... I recently bought an old upright freezer for my new Chronical. But, I really wanted one of those glass door display units such as a True GDM-23 or the like. I found an auction site for used restaurant equipment that looked promising but those things went up much higher than I was willing to spend. I got my upright freezer from the same place for $200.00.
He said he replaced it with two panes of plexiglass. Insulated glass is two layers of glass with or without an insulated glazing with a layer of air in between. I highly doubt his efficiency took much of a hit at all by replacing with plexiglass.
d_rock
Well-Known Member
Check out this thread, a member here put plexi inserts in his fermenters, looks great: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=522070
I had always thought insulated glass means they vacuum the air out of the space between so the heat/cold can't pass through as easily...
It's can be a vacuum but also can be other gasses like argon for example.
It can be a vacuum, inert gas, or just air.
That's true.
The inert gas or a vacuum are probably out of reach of most of us. In order to give yourself the best shot it would be best to build up the glass like an insulated unit. A continuous border trim of metal or impermeable plastic continuously sealed to both panes of glass. This will help your insulating value, but more importantly prevent additional moisture from getting between them and condensing. This is part of the reason for creating a vacuum in a commercial unit. It evacuates the moisture as well.
If you want to go the extra mile you could consider some descant beads in the cavity as well. It would soak up any residual moisture introduced during assembly and buy you some time if the seals pop at some point.
Good luck!
raouliii
Well-Known Member
I guess we'll have to disagree. I've got four TRUE GDM units, with the glass swing door, I use as kegerator, fermenter and cold storage . They definitely have multi-pane, insulated glass inserts in the door. While certainly not as well insulated as the exterior walls, the doors are much better insulated than what two layers of plexiglass would provide.
In accordance with the laws of thermodynamic, the coldest surface will be the one with condensation, and that will be the cooling element, so in fact a single un-insulated glass door will work, but the fridge will be less effective
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I used two sheets of plexiglass with a void space in between, and I purged the void space with CO2 to get rid of moisture.
Also, the fridge was actually a freezer intended to maintain much lower temps than what I am asking it to do, so while I certainly did lower the efficiency a lot, it really isn't all that expensive to run.
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