hacking fridge temps?

[cjyh84]

Hiya,

I recently started using an unused small fridge as for my fermentations. I bought the analog johnson control to regulate temps. It does a neat job, altho the nob and the actual temps are off by a few degrees, but other than that, it works great. However, I want to cold crash to 0c but my small fridge apparently cannot go down to that temp. The lowest it goes is 12c.

I was wondering if there was a way to hack my fridge so it can go to 0c?

I did a search on the forums but most posts are about regulating active fermentation temps, not cold crashing, and also, most posts assume that the fridge can actually go down to 0c. but mine doesnt. :s

anyone with any ideas?

Jack

 

[ShaineT]

I know this isn't much help but I actually have a chest freezer rigged with analog temp control and it does a fine job of temps for lagering all the way up to ale fermentation. Only thing I can think of for the fridge is upgrading the fan so that it pulls more air across the heat sink and boosts the CFM.

 

[ChuckO]

There are two possible reasons why your fridge won't go that low.
1) It's internal thermostat shuts the compressor off when the temperature reaches the lowest that the thermostat can handle.
2) The compressor runs constantly but the heat loss from the fridge is as great as the cooling power of the unit.

In case 1 you can bypass the internal thermostat so that the unit runs continuously - controlled by the Johnson unit it is plugged into. In the second case there is little you can do except check for leaks at the door seal or for low freon.

 

[cjyh84]

good stuff. thanks for the input.

does anyone have any step by step advice? i have no idea how to actually fix/tinker w the default fridge things

 

[cjyh84]

http://www.wineloverspage.com/rscellar.shtml