Keezer Compressor Question for HVAC Experts

[microbusbrewery]

So some friends of ours gave us an upright freezer a while back which freed up a 7-ish cubic foot chest freezer (we'll call it chest freezer #1) that my wife had been using. Since my wife didn't need chest freezer #1 any longer, she said I could turn it into a keezer. I already have a kegerator but I wanted to build the keezer so that I could roll it to the back patio when we have BBQ's.

So I figured cool, I'll work on it when I have time but no rush. Fast forward to a couple weeks ago where my ferm chamber made from chest freezer #2 suddenly died (compressor running, but no cooling). So I went ahead and turned my kegerator into a ferm chamber and got to work on converting chest freezer #1 into a keezer.

Sorry for the long intro...and now for my question...the chest freezer is your typical Whirlpool with no exposed condenser coils (heat is dissipated through the skin). I was checking things out today and noticed there's quite a bit of room around the compressor so I was wondering if it might benefit from adding a muffin fan that would blow directly on the compressor whenever it's running. Basically I'm trying to help ensure chest freezer #1 doesn't crap out on me anytime soon like chest freezer #2 did. Any idea if that will help extend the life of the compressor?

 

[beaksnbeer]

What are you using to control temperature?
How warm is the area it sits in?
A 5 degree swing in temperature settings will help the most.
Make sure that the lines to and from the compressor aren't rubbing against the sheet metal.

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

Most keezers dont wrap around the back, or if they do its only minimal around the corners to give the illusion it is wrapped. Then the entire backside is open.

I dont think it was necessarily temperature that killed your compressor. There are just some freezers out there that are poorly made.
I almost bought a 5cuFt Frigidaire i think it was on Amazon until i saw it had a ton of negative reviews for dying after 6 months.

Also if your compressor is coming on too often it can wear out, make sure that your freezer is sealing properly and not losing the cold air.

 

[Fordzilla]

Most keezers dont wrap around the back, or if they do its only minimal around the corners to give the illusion it is wrapped. Then the entire backside is open.

I'm a little confused by this, would you care to elaborate? Are you referring to the collar? What do you mean by "open"?

I think the fan is pretty good idea, although probably not necessary. On my fermentation chamber, I have a computer power supply mounted directly above my compressor. It has a built in fan that pulls air away from the compressor. It also powers my internal fans.

 

[beaksnbeer]

Some of the chest freezers the cooling coils, tube that the refrigerant flows through is only wrapped in the front and sides not in the back. Designed that way as a way to protect form heat build of when pushed against a wall.

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

I'm a little confused by this, would you care to elaborate? Are you referring to the collar? What do you mean by "open"?

I think the fan is pretty good idea, although probably not necessary. On my fermentation chamber, I have a computer power supply mounted directly above my compressor. It has a built in fan that pulls air away from the compressor. It also powers my internal fans.

Sorry i was really thinking of a coffin style keezer in my comment

In that the wood facade that they put on doesnt go on the back. If it did I could see it causing heating problems with the compressor.

 

[microbusbrewery]

I dont think it was necessarily temperature that killed your compressor.

Also if your compressor is coming on too often it can wear out, make sure that your freezer is sealing properly and not losing the cold air.

I use the STC-1000 with the compressor delay set to the max (10 min I think it is). The ferm chamber was insulated pretty well. Even in my garage during the middle of summer it didn't kick on very often (I know because I spend a lot of time in the garage). I think it was just its time.

I think I'll probably end up adding a fan to the new keezer. It may not help much but it also shouldn't hurt anything. Oh, and I won't be using a facade on the keezer either.

 

[BLAKELYB]

The better it rejects heat, the better it works. It is designed to reject heat by natural convection, and somewhat by radiation. You are asking about forced convection (blowing) on the compressor.

You can blow the fan on the hot sides of the casing where heat is rejected, or on the compressor. But I do not think it will help a lot and the fan may run when the compressor is off and nothing is hot. I would not bother with it even though it may help a little.

Make sure you have about 4" clearance on all hot sides.

You could paint the hot sides flat black to improve the radiant portion of the heat rejection, since black has higher emmissivity than light colors. It might do as much good as a fan on the compressor.

I do not think a fan would have extended the life of your freezer that crapped out. Probably some other more serious problem.