Kegerator Build Igloo 4.6 FR465, Haier HNSE05, Kenmore 183.94679 and possibly others

[Genuine]

Mine runs for a good period of time and I'm guessing it has to do with the temp sensor. I just ordered a USB computer fan to put inside of it to Make the temps even, so we'll see how well that goes. I'll report back with my findings.

 

[temple240]

Mine runs for a good period of time and I'm guessing it has to do with the temp sensor. I just ordered a USB computer fan to put inside of it to Make the temps even, so we'll see how well that goes. I'll report back with my findings.

Please do!

 

[DrHops]

The fan will make a world of difference! I've had my Sanyo 4912 for a few years now and don't drink as much as I used to. I noticed that the first pour was always very foamy and a little warm. I added a fan with the tube that runs up the tower and now the first pour is always perfect! Great head, (as compared to all head before) and its nice and cold. The only drawback is the Sanyo is 100 % quiet, but the fan makes a low humming noise 24/7.

 

[Genuine]

I got the fan in there and after a 24 hour test run, with a digital thermometer in a glass of water, the lowest it ever got was 49-50 degrees. However, the temp was stable all around the fridge. I just need to adjust my thermostat a bit to get it to the lower 40's and I'll be happy with it.

 

[Hovik]

CO2 tank & temp controller installed.

 

[temple240]

Great work on the temp controller. Now I'm tempted to put one in mine.

 

[NathPowe]

I got the fan in there and after a 24 hour test run, with a digital thermometer in a glass of water, the lowest it ever got was 49-50 degrees. However, the temp was stable all around the fridge. I just need to adjust my thermostat a bit to get it to the lower 40's and I'll be happy with it.

Any update on this? I've been thinking about adding a small fan inside my Igloo FR464 to hopefully eliminate temperature stratification and, more importantly, cut back on how often it runs. Do you think adding a fan is a viable solution for these issues? Thanks in advance.

Edit: I don't have a tower - just taps through the door. Just trying to equalize/stabilize the temperature within the unit. Thanks.

 

[Hovik]

Great work on the temp controller. Now I'm tempted to put one in mine.

Thank you. If you are going to do it keep in mind that it's pretty tight in the original thermostat housing and you'll want to use a dremel to make room (the channels for at least 2 of the 3 screws will need to be ground down).

I should mention that for wiring I just used the 3 wires that were there for the original analog thermostat (black, white, ground). Since the digital controller doesn't have a ground I used 2 of the 3 wires for 110 power and the third wire as the switched (cooling) wire and just rewired accordingly at the compressor, I plugged it in and everything worked perfect. Re-wire at your own risk, I make no warranties whatsoever.

 

[Hovik]

hoping to avoid the warm/foamy first pint problem some have reported in other threads by running the tower portion of the beer lines through 1/2" copper that's extended well into the fridge. Didn't want straight copper pipes coming through the roof to impede movement of my CO2 tank. Hopefully it's effective...

 

[DrHops]

That's ingenious! I use a computer fan with hose and it takes up a little bit of usable space. I can't wait to hear how effective it is.

 

[snowtires]

Awsome stuff there hovik. Good job not hitting any lines. That copper tubing looks like a great idea, i find to help with foaming i coil my excess beer line and drape it behind the kegs near the freezer lines and it helps a lot. I might steal your copper idea tho because it looks cool and probably works great.

 

[Genuine]

Any update on this? I've been thinking about adding a small fan inside my Igloo FR464 to hopefully eliminate temperature stratification and, more importantly, cut back on how often it runs. Do you think adding a fan is a viable solution for these issues? Thanks in advance.

Edit: I don't have a tower - just taps through the door. Just trying to equalize/stabilize the temperature within the unit. Thanks.

I'll take some photos tonight of it. It's keeping my temps at 36-38 and has made a huge improvement. Definitely helps to get that air circulating in there to keep temps level.

 

[NathPowe]

I'll take some photos tonight of it. It's keeping my temps at 36-38 and has made a huge improvement. Definitely helps to get that air circulating in there to keep temps level.

Look forward to checking this out. I was doing some cleaning around the house last weekend and found an old power supply that I hooked up to a computer fan I had laying around. Going to rig it into the kegerator as soon as the next keg kicks. Hoping it'll cut down on how often it cycles.

 

[Genuine]

Here are a couple pics I snapped this evening. Its a blue led lit dual USB fan.

 

[NathPowe]

Genuine, how did you route the power cord for the fan into your frig? Not quite sure how to approach this. Would drilling a hole in the 'hump' work? Seems unlikely that there would be anything in there that could brick the unit.

Any thoughts (from anyone) are appreciated.

 

[temple240]

I think people usually use the drain hole in the back of the fridge.

 

[NathPowe]

Yeah that was my original plan, but when I did that the other day (turned the frig off since the door was open while I was working), I was instantly reminded that it's a drain hole. Water was dripping down the wire that would eventually be plugged into an outlet. This seemed to be a less than optimal solution, but perhaps I'm being overly cautious.

Anyone try anything else?

 

[Genuine]

Genuine, how did you route the power cord for the fan into your frig? Not quite sure how to approach this. Would drilling a hole in the 'hump' work? Seems unlikely that there would be anything in there that could brick the unit. Any thoughts (from anyone) are appreciated.

Believe it or not, I just snaked it between the door edge. Seal works well, didn't do anything fancy.

 

[temple240]

I officially bricked my igloo while I was clearing out insulation to drill a hole for my new tower. It was a traumatic experience. I thought I was being careful but I wasn't careful enough.

The good news is that I bought and converted a Frigidaire 4.4 the very same day. I liked my igloo but the Frigidaire is much nicer.

 

[snowtires]

How did you brick it clearing out insulation? What did you hit?
Edit: never mind I was reading back through the post and realized you had a different fridge and your lines are in the top. Glad you got a kegerator up and running tho.

 

[JPrather]

I'm in the market for a fermentation chamber. I was leaning towards a small chest freezer, but the Igloo FR464 is $119 at Wal-mart right now, and I'm strongly considering it.

I've seen a couple of posts that indicate that this thing will do a 6.5 plastic fermenter with blow-off tube without modification. That would be great. I would like to do some lagering, so if anybody has successfully held this thing <40f with or without a temp controller that'd be great to hear.

 

[NathPowe]

I use the Igloo 464 for my kegerator. I keep it at 41*F without a temperature controller and there is still room on the dial to go colder. So I think you'd be just fine keeping it <40*F for your purposes. Note that there isn't a way to dial in a specific temp on the unit itself - I put a thermometer in there and tweaked it until I got it where I wanted. Took a little patience but once it's done, it's done.

Good luck with the project.

 

[Newsman]

Just placed an order for an FR464 stainless steel. I'm going to try the cornstarch and alcohol trick to make sure there's no coolant lines in the top.
I "printed" the instructions to a PDF so I have 'em now.... too cheap to buy a membership to that site.

 

[temple240]

Be careful! The line that I hit was very well hidden and it only took a slight push with a dull blade to break it. The coolant lines are just above the plastic so you need to be extremely careful when when you cut from the inside of the fridge.

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[Newsman]

Be careful! The line that I hit was very well hidden and it only took a slight push with a dull blade to break it. The coolant lines are just above the plastic so you need to be extremely careful when when you cut from the inside of the fridge.

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Yeah... like I said, I"m going to try the cornstarch and rubbing alcohol to see if I can figure out where the coolant lines are. With luck I'll avoid 'em. But thanks for the reminder!

 

[temple240]

Here are some pictures of where I planned to drill the hole. I cut the plastic from the inside of the fridge first and started to clear out insulation. I ruptured the coolant line while trying to expand the hole in the plastic. The coolant line that I hit was towards the front of the fridge.

The pictures aren't great but I hope they're helpful.

 

[snowtires]

Being that the fr464 is a completely different fridge. I have no advice except don't hit the lines

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[Newsman]

Well, like I said, I'm going to mix up some cornstarch and rubbing alcohol and spread it on the fridge after it's been running for awhile and hopefully that'll show me where the lines are.

 

[val214]

Here are a few pics of my igloo build. These igloo mini fridge have small violent lines both on top and bottom. Be extremely careful with the bottom lines. They seem to be two inches apart from each other. The top lines run vertically and the bottom lines run horizontally. Be extremely careful the bottom lines are close to the surface. I can keep this mini fridge at 40* with no controller.

 

[snowtires]

What model is this?

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