First time converting fridge to kegerator

[masonpi]

Hi all,

I posted this in the DIY forum, but reposting here because it seems more active.

I picked up this 10.1 cu. ft. refrigerator from Home Depot recently--it fits two corny kegs & a co2 tank in it perfectly.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Magic-C...er-Refrigerator-in-Black-HMDR1000BE/302245062

I'm currently using picnic taps but just bought some Perlick 630 ss faucets and want to drill into the fridge to install them.

I'd like to drill through the side but don't know if there are any lines in there that I need to look out for. And I can't seem to find any diagrams online.

Has anyone used this fridge in the past or have any tips for getting the answers I need?

Thanks!

 

[kevin58]

For the very reason that I didn't want to drill through anything important I chose to just use picnic taps in my stand up refrigerator. I opted for a chest freezer with a wooden collar for my Perlick faucets.

 

[AJinJacksonville]

I'm too chicken to drill into appliances. I'd do a picnic tap and be done with it if you can not find any diagrams, others with experience, etc.

 

[AkTom]

Try emailing the manufacturer.
Cheers

 

[GoeHaarden]

have any tips for getting the answers I need?

Have you tried turning the fridge on to see if the sides get hot? If one side does not then it may be safe to drill a small pilot hole just through the outer shell. Then you can carefully probe around to make sure you're not going to hit any lines/coils...

I've also heard of people spraying an alcohol solution inside and see where it freezes on the walls to detect the coils.

 

[RealRayDizzle]

Could try removing the metal plate in the back to see if the coils are back there.
When I made the one below I cut a hole only in the metal first just to make sure there was nothing but foam behind it.

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw, I have yet to encounter a refrigerator that has the condenser running under the external sheet metal similar to modern chest freezers.
They either have an external passive condenser loop (big black tubing grid) mounted to the back of the cabinet on stand-offs, or they have a fan-driven radiator style condenser under the cabinet with the air flow exhausting through a front grid at floor level.

Armed with parts explosion diagrams available on line either style is quite amenable to safely drilling through the cabinet to run gas/fluid/electrics. I have three top-freezer fridges in my brewery I've holed through the back wall...

Cheers!

 

[masonpi]

I ended up emailing the manufacturer as AkTom suggested. They (surprisingly) told me that there were in fact coils on the side walls, so I drilled through the door. Slightly less convenient, but still works!
Thanks for the replies!

 

[50calshooter]

I've built a lot of kegerators (15-20). Never saw coils in the sides. I always put my faucets in the door but that's just the way I think it looks better. fridges are thinner then they are wider and when the faucets are in the side it sticks out into the room farther and the back is always exposed-not a clean look. Personal preference. One thing you don't want to do is store your co2 inside the fridge: 1) co2 is used as a gas that rises up from the pressurized liquid in the bottom of the tank. The colder c02 is the more it liquefies. It will last longer if it is room temperature. 2) Regulators do not like to be cold and damp and that's what is inside a fridge. The internal parts of your regulator will rust and the life span of your regulator will often be cut in half.

Delivering co2 and repairing co2 systems taught me a lot of little nuggets like that. I've seen some really nice hardware rot away because the tanks were in the walk in.