Good/bad place to put a hole in my chest freezer

[banks412]

Hi all,

I recently bought a 7 cubic foot chest freezer ("Holiday" brand) to use as a fermentation chamber. I'm hoping to buy the Johnson Controls A419 thermostat today to use with it.

I'd like to run it through the wall and then seal it in place with some silicone, but I'm not sure where to run it through at. I'd be devastated if I drilled through a cooling line and destroyed the thing.

Can anyone tell me where I should avoid drilling when doing this? Should I just run it through the top and not drill at all? Seems like the probe cord is kind of thick and would create a but a leaky spot in the lid...

Thanks in advance!
tb

 

[LandoLincoln]

Be prepared to destroy your chest freezer if you decide to drill through any of the walls.

I just have the probe wire sitting in between the lid and the freezer. The seal does a pretty good job of closing the gap.

Other options: drilling a hole in the lid and sealing the lid with sealant or building a collar that goes between the lid and the freezer and drilling through that.

 

[MachineShopBrewing]

I wouldn't drill through the side of a freezer. The cord really doesn't mess up the seal very much. I just run mine under the lid. If you are going to build a collar for it, then you can run it through a hole and seal it.

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

You could always just go with a STC-1000 instead, its probe wire is nice and thin.

I just run mine up the back corner by one of the hinges and when the top is closed theres no seal issue.

 

[LandoLincoln]

Also consider the fact that cold air sinks and hot air rises. Chest freezers are pretty good at keeping the cold air where it belongs just with gravity. A little gap from the wire isn't going to mess with the temps that much.

 

[Jon73]

I agree, just run it through the seal. I have no hard facts to back this up, but I'm sure the thermal loss from a 1/4"? cable would be minimal.

 

[banks412]

Ok - gotcha guys. I really didn't want to drill through the wall in the first place.

About the STC-1000. How difficult is this to wire? I'm assuming it would work the same way as the JC A419 in that it regulates power to the unit based on the set temperature? I see that they're SUBSTANTIALLY cheaper in price, but I really worry about cutting wires in my freezer as much as I worry about drilling a hole through the side and goofing the dang thing up for good.

I'll search the forums and see what I can find, but any advice here would be helpful too.

Thanks again guys!
tb

 

[Hang Glider]

you don't have to cut your wires - you can wire up the end of an extension cord into the controller, then plug the freezer into that.

 

[banks412]

Hang Glider - know where I can find plans for that?

 

[srice]

Take a look here:
http://www.onemansbeer.com/keezer-build-diy-temperature-controller/

 

[banks412]

Thanks for that, srice...

I'm going to be using my chest freezer as a fermentation chamber. I keep seeing postings about folks who use these controllers in relation to HEATING for when they use their freezer as a fermentation chamber. Why is this? I live in the south (costal Texas) and heat is something we have more than we know what to do with. I want to wire up my freezer to maintain 68F for ale fermentations and the occasional cold crashing. Am I going about this the wrong way? I'm assuming this setup will allow me to do this using the cooling portion of the controller?

 

[Hang Glider]

yep. and dual-stage controllers allow both heat and cool.

Single stage controllers work just fine, but in the winter, in your garage, you may find you want a little heat - and you'll have to re-program the device to come ON when too cold, instead of too hot.

 

[BigFloyd]

When you use a dual controller like an STC-1000, you can use it for either heating or cooling. It just depends on what you plug into the outlets.

 

[banks412]

So would I then need another STC 1000?

I'm sorry for being so dense. Seems every time I have this down in my head I get all confused again.

 

[BigFloyd]

You only need one per freezer

 

[LandoLincoln]

So would I then need another STC 1000?

I'm sorry for being so dense. Seems every time I have this down in my head I get all confused again.

No, the STC 1000 is a "dual stage controller" - it can control two circuits - one for cooling and one for heating.

Think of each of the stages as a light switch. The controller watches the temperature via the probe and if the probe says things are getting too warm then it flicks the switch to allow power to flow to the cooling unit. If it gets too cold then it flicks the other switch to allow power to flow to the heating unit.

 

[banks412]

Ok, so only one STC-1000. So, if in the winter (ha! winter in South Texas) I need to heat the freezer a little bit to maintain proper temps, would I plug the freezer into the opposite outlet (I'm going off of the plans from Onemansbeer's outlet/STC-1000 box build)? If so, what/how would I heat the freezer?

 

[banks412]

OOOH!!!! Landolincoln - I think that makes sense to me now. So, I'd need some sort of 'heating element' to plug into the 'Heating' socket that would kick on when the temp probe says, 'Wait, too cold in here. Kicking off the freezer and kicking on the heating element.' I know, a childish explanation, but what can I say....?

So, what have you guys used as heating elements? I don't have a huge freezer - it's only 7 cubic feet. A small lamp? I dunno...

 

[LandoLincoln]

Ok, so only one STC-1000. So, if in the winter (ha! winter in South Texas) I need to heat the freezer a little bit to maintain proper temps, would I plug the freezer into the opposite outlet (I'm going off of the plans from Onemansbeer's outlet/STC-1000 box build)? If so, what/how would I heat the freezer?

No, you'd have to come up with something that heats up the insides. In your case, you only need a small amount of heat, so a simple 100-watt incandescent light bulb would probably do the trick.

 

[LandoLincoln]

OOOH!!!! Landolincoln - I think that makes sense to me now. So, I'd need some sort of 'heating element' to plug into the 'Heating' socket that would kick on when the temp probe says, 'Wait, too cold in here. Kicking off the freezer and kicking on the heating element.' I know, a childish explanation, but what can I say....?

So, what have you guys used as heating elements? I don't have a huge freezer - it's only 7 cubic feet. A small lamp? I dunno...

It's okay - it took me a while to understand what a dual stage controller does too.

 

[banks412]

Think the 'humidity' inside the freezer would affect it? Have to look at the local hardware store for a freestanding light socket. Maybe a shop lite or one of those small 'temporary' clip on lights with the aluminum housing....

 

[ajdelange]

You can drill anywhere you like as long as it is not near the condenser tubing. This can be detected by letting the thing run for a while (you could put a couple of incandescent lamps inside as a load) and then feeling the sides for a relatively cool spot. One bloke had a damn clever scheme involving painting the area with a solution of (I think it was) sodium bicarbonate in rubbing alcohol. The alcohol evaporates faster in the warm ares than the cool. Don't drill where the powder appears first.

If you are fortunate enough to be able to borrow an IR camera, that, of course, would work nicely.

 

[LandoLincoln]

Think the 'humidity' inside the freezer would affect it? Have to look at the local hardware store for a freestanding light socket. Maybe a shop lite or one of those small 'temporary' clip on lights with the aluminum housing....

Not really. I've seen guys install light bulbs inside paint cans. I own one of these Brewer's Edge space heaters that does the job nicely and takes up practically no space at all.

 

[banks412]

That's rad, and would definitely be worth the $35 for the slim profile!

 

[banks412]

Hey just out of curiosity - once I get this all wired and set up - I have a dial on my freezer to control temp (I would assume) from 'OFF' to a max of 7. Where should I set the dial? All the way, or just something in between?

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

Because your not going to really have to worry about heat all that much in Texas, atleast anytime soon concentrate on getting it built up and doing Ale temps

When it comes to heating, there are IMO safer options than a straight light bulb. Something about putting a light bulb in makes me super weary with how ridiculously hot a 60W light bulb can get in a matter of seconds.

You can buy reptile heat pads to put your beer on, you can buy FermWrap. There are also people here who have found very mini space heaters with fans built into them that might work...

As for your Freezer i'd probably set it somewhere in the middle for fermentation chamber, because the chamber WILL overshoot your beer set temperature by a bit, so you dont want it to be too far off. For example if you set your chamber at 68, your freezer by default chills at like -20F or something crazy as they are meant to be deep freeze freezers.

It will continue to chill until your beer hits 68 and then turn the freezer off, but in doing so the air in there is now lets say 20F which will continue to chill your beer a bit more beyond 68F until that ambient temp raises up. Hopefully that makes sense.

 

[LandoLincoln]

Hey just out of curiosity - once I get this all wired and set up - I have a dial on my freezer to control temp (I would assume) from 'OFF' to a max of 7. Where should I set the dial? All the way, or just something in between?

It's really not going to matter. The very lowest setting on your chest freezer is still going to be higher than your fermentation temps.

 

[joshjv]

I've seen guys install light bulbs inside paint cans.

I use this. It works great, it' cheap, and easy. If you discover that you need more or less heat, just change the wattage of the bulb. I don't like the idea of a plain bulb, because I like to keep my beer in the dark..

 

[Hang Glider]

Hey just out of curiosity - once I get this all wired and set up - I have a dial on my freezer to control temp (I would assume) from 'OFF' to a max of 7. Where should I set the dial? All the way, or just something in between?

just set it at it's coldest setting and let the controller do the work. (really, it doesn't matter - the controller will cut it off before it reaches freezing, (if you've set it right) no matter what setting you use on the freezer.

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

just set it at it's coldest setting and let the controller do the work. (really, it doesn't matter - the controller will cut it off before it reaches freezing, (if you've set it right) no matter what setting you use on the freezer.

What im curious about for those freezers, is are those gauges the temperature they operate at, or are those the "level" of chilling they offer?

As in does 5 mean it chills to 20F instead of 0F, or does it mean it chills to 0F at "half power and 50% slower" than setting it to 10 does?

Hopefully that makes sense.