Industrial fridge into kegerator question

[humpadilo]

I recently acquired an old fridge that was used for stuff like immunizations. I got it working great. My issue is, I want to put the taps for the kegs on the side of it. They would go on the wall the kegs are against in the photo. The unit has the compressor and fan on the top. How do I make absolutely sure that there are no coils on the side of this thing where I want to put the taps? It seems like the cooling unit is all located on the top, but I’m far from an expert.

 

[day_trippr]

Make and model number would be a good start...

 

[humpadilo]

Make and model number would be a good start...

Here you go.

 

[day_trippr]

Wow. That would be a Nor-Lake Scientific Premier refrigerator of ~52 cubic foot capacity and very pricey when new (like, $9K or better). Their basic design locates all of the cooling apparatus in the "top hat" and relies on blowers located there to keep the cabinet cold. In theory there should be nothing in the wall cavities but insulation.

The safest approach is to drill a small (1/8"d) hole just through the inside wall then use a probe to poke around in the wall cavity to see if there's anything hiding in there. If poking doesn't hit anything, widen the hole and check again. Continue until the required inside hole diameter is reached then drill through the exterior wall. Repeat as needed...

Cheers!

 

[Gusso]

Damn, nice score! You could easily put 4 taps on each side if you wanted.

 

[humpadilo]

Wow. That would be a Nor-Lake Scientific Premier refrigerator of ~52 cubic foot capacity and very pricey when new (like, $9K or better). Their basic design locates all of the cooling apparatus in the "top hat" and relies on blowers located there to keep the cabinet cold. In theory there should be nothing in the wall cavities but insulation.

The safest approach is to drill a small (1/8"d) hole just through the inside wall then use a probe to poke around in the wall cavity to see if there's anything hiding in there. If poking doesn't hit anything, widen the hole and check again. Continue until the required inside hole diameter is reached then drill through the exterior wall. Repeat as needed...

Cheers!

That’s exactly what I did. It turns out it was safe to drill. It’s an awesome find. I got it for free and just paid someone to fix all the wiring back up. Turns out nothing was wrong with it except for the wiring was disconnected.

 

[humpadilo]

Damn, nice score! You could easily put 4 taps on each side if you wanted.

Yeah I’m super pumped about it. Technically I can fit 9 kegs in the bottom of each side. But I have only 4 on one side right now. The other side is being used for non alcoholic stuff. Like drinks and extra food.