hi folks,
Truly an epic thread here. I've read probably 95% of this thread and now I come to the tribe with some design questions. I am breaking in my LFPH44M4LB now to ensure it's functioning properly before i cut anything.
Unto the fun stuff!
1) For those with this kegerator, did you secure the tower to plywood under the plastic top OR through the ceiling inside the fridge? I used ply wood. I glued a large piece to the plastic top after using pliers to rip off all those plastic ridges so it sat flush.
- For those that went the plywood route, I see several options on how to do this but what about the tower stability? Were you happy with this decision?Very happy. I could probably pick my fridge up by the tower.
- For those with the through hole design approach I am sure those coolant lines were a bit of a p.i.t.a.
- For either option, what did you do with the foam you had to remove? Fill back in with expanding foam? Create a collar that sits around the coolant lines up to the lid/plywood? I left the hole there assuming it would help cool the tower more.
2) copper tubes vs forced air into the tower. Looking at this thread, it appears there are many coolant lines that run on the top.
- those that went the copper route: Were your copper lines tubes close to coolant lines? less than an inch awayDo you have a line-freezing issue? No. I set my fridge's thermostat to the lowest setting. Do you get foamy first pours? No. I have ten foot lines though and about 1-2 fingers head.How did you secure the copper tubes?The holes I drilled were close enough to the diameter of the copper that they fit snug without needing other measures. I can slide them in and out with a little force. I saw one option using adhesive
- those that went forced air route: Is this overkill? How about condensation on the tower (inside or out)? How much more db does this add to your fridge?
- those that didn't do either: how are those first pours??
3) This fridge and it's longevity (i see brumbler's broke at some point)
4) If it isn't addressed in my questions, what would you have done differently with your build?I would have dug away a little more foam so that the top sat a little lower. Due to the ply wood, you need to dig away a little extra foam so that it sits like it did prior to the conversion. I glued it down and it's a little higher than originally.
I have in the fermentor Dale's Pale Ale which is going to be the first to be poured from my conversion.
thanks for your thoughts/advice!
Jon
Hope that helps