Keezer Cycle Times

[Bacardio]

I have just built a bar in my basement, within the bar I have built a small keg box (23"Hx31"Lx13"W). I have a small Winter 2.1 cu freezer cooling the box. Eventually I want to run a draft tower, but after I am satisfied with box's thermal properties.

The keg box itself has 1.5-2" of Pink Rigid Insulation on top of any wood on the top and side with more pink insulation foam between the wood supports. In the bottom I have aluminum sheeting over a 3/4" if plywood with 3.5" of rigid insulation below that.

I have my control unit is set at 37 degrees with a variance of +/- 5. I have the temp probe zip tied to a beer bottle.

So when the temp is at 34.5 the compressor shuts down and it takes roughly 2.5 hours to reach 39.5. The compressor turns on and it takes 3.5 hours to cool back down to 34.5

Any ideas on, if these compressor run times are bad or how I can cool the box down faster. Seems the cool down times are really long compared to other posts I see. Thanks

 

[GrainToGlass]

I would recommend having the temp probe inside the bottle with water so it's actually monitoring liquid temp and not ambient air. See if that helps! Also, that seems like a big variance. I have mine set at 2º variance, so once it hits 42º it takes only 15 mins or so to cool back down to 40ºF and holds for several hours.

 

[k1ngl1ves]

Running for 3.5 hours is bad. Really bad. Like "Killing your compressor " bad...


Strap (or tape) and insulate the probe to a full keg.


Edit: I mistook this for a standard keezer. I need to read better. Lol!

I believe day trippr may be on to something...

 

[day_trippr]

I don't think this has anything to do with where the probe is located.
It's clearly not hanging in free air or is sunk in an empty bottle because it would get chilled down to set point rather rapidly (hella quicker than 3+ hours).

2.5 hours to gain 5 degrees isn't great but it isn't horrible, so the thermal efficiency of the cabinet and insulation seems ok. Otoh, the cool-down time is ridiculous, leading me to believe whatever is being used as a chiller, it's wicked under-sized...

Cheers!

 

[Bacardio]

Here is what I am using to chill the box.
http://www.amazon.com/Whynter-CUF-210SS-Energy-Upright-Freezer/dp/B00G23MKL6/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1459559876&sr=8-1&keywords=whynter+freezer

 

[day_trippr]

There's no btu/hr rating in there anywhere that I can see.

Do you have anything inside the enclosed space to circulate the interior air?
If not, definitely put a small DC fan in there and see if that significantly speeds up the cool-down time...

Cheers!

 

[Bacardio]

I have a 120mm computer fan circulating the air. Here are a couple of images of the box

 

[day_trippr]

Was hoping you didn't have the fan yet.

Was all that beer already chilled? If it wasn't, maybe after letting things chug along for another 24 hours the picture will look better?

Cheers!