My Latest Project - Walk-in Cooler

[BrewProject]

John,

This is an awesome project! I hope that instead of documenting your progress here in a discussion thread, you will (eventually) put together a PDF file with text and pictures on your construction steps, materials, costs, and lessons learned. If you need someone to host the file, I would be more than happy to from my company website. I did this with The Great Fridge Project and it proved to be very helpful for some people.

that is a great instructional PDF...

thanks, someday a kegarator will be mine :rockin:


Also Great work on you cooler John Beere

 

[John Beere]

John,

This is an awesome project! I hope that instead of documenting your progress here in a discussion thread, you will (eventually) put together a PDF file with text and pictures on your construction steps, materials, costs, and lessons learned. If you need someone to host the file, I would be more than happy to from my company website. I did this with The Great Fridge Project and it proved to be very helpful for some people.

Of particular interest, I'm wondering how you will deal with moisture?

Keep the pics coming!

Thanks but I happen to own a moderately successful Internet business and have pretty much unlimited hosting resources. I fully intend on putting together some sort of instructional materials on my website (www.johnbeere.com) once complete. I suspect that the real challenges may occur once the cooler is up and running - such as if I have a moisture problem - so I'm thinking about using more of a blog that I can update as time passes and achievements / mishaps occur.

The unique thing about my project is that I took a defined area, that was unique to my house, and turned it into the cooler. Due to this, its not as if I can say here are the "blueprints" to build it yourself - as I had none and it has been full-on experimentation. Nonetheless, I think I can give others a pretty good idea of what materials I used, the cost to create the cooler, and the challenges I have encountered.

I think its important to note that, while I do have some building skills, I have never worked construction or really know what I'm doing - this has all been off the cuff. I just re-read this entire post and its been very interesting to see how my original ideas have changed and how much direction the board has been able to provide.

 

[John Beere]

After a few days away from the project, I'm back on it. I put 1/2" MDF on the floor and started placing the wall board. The plastic wall board I chose is EXPENSIVE at $30 a sheet (I needed 7 sheets) but it is going to look really good once finished.

Here is a photo of the floor. A layer of the plastic wall board will go on top of this to finish it off.

Here is a photo of the wall board after installing it on three of the walls and the ceiling. Notice that the room isn't exactly square. I'm looking for some "L" shaped rubber molding that covers at least 1"... haven't been able to find anything yet. Anyone have any ideas?

And finally, for tonight, a photo of the simple light fixture on the ceiling near the entrance.

 

[david_42]

Some bathtub molding is about that wide. I'm thinking about the type that comes in a roll and a crease for folding. The pebbled surface looks great, but I'd be worried about cleaning it.

This certainly has my keg locker beat!

 

[PT Ray]

Everything appears to be well designed. But the use of an interior door caught my attention. Using an exterior grade pre-hung door could have eliminated having to add insulation to it. That and it would already have all the weather stripping. I did not notice anyone addressing this so figured I would throw it in.

 

[drost]

Here is a photo of the wall board after installing it on three of the walls and the ceiling. Notice that the room isn't exactly square. I'm looking for some "L" shaped rubber molding that covers at least 1"... haven't been able to find anything yet. Anyone have any ideas?

JB - Looks GREAT!!!

Would this work for you?
http://www.teksupply.com/webapp/wcs...ard&breadcrumb_categoryIds=38358|38854&isDoc=

 

[Grimsawyer]

Some bathtub molding is about that wide. I'm thinking about the type that comes in a roll and a crease for folding. The pebbled surface looks great, but I'd be worried about cleaning it.

This certainly has my keg locker beat!

When I was a Pizza Dude (that was a KICK @$$ JOB btw...) the kitchen had that kind of plastic wall board. It cleans up really easily. If you waterproof your room you could pressure wash it if you wanted to clean it w/o scrubbin, tho I'm not sure of a mess that would take pressure washing to clean that kind of wall. That stuff is TOUGH!! Don't know how many pizza pans I witnessed thrown against it without even a chip. Not sure about the corners, but the gap between pieces of the wallboard was bridged with a white strip that interlocked with the wallboard.

 

[Bernie Brewer]

When I was a Pizza Dude (that was a KICK @$$ JOB btw...) the kitchen had that kind of plastic wall board. It cleans up really easily. If you waterproof your room you could pressure wash it if you wanted to clean it w/o scrubbin, tho I'm not sure of a mess that would take pressure washing to clean that kind of wall. That stuff is TOUGH!! Don't know how many pizza pans I witnessed thrown against it without even a chip. Not sure about the corners, but the gap between pieces of the wallboard was bridged with a white strip that interlocked with the wallboard.

Yeah like I said ealier that stuff is called Milkhouse board (Told ya it was expensive!) and it is indeed good stuff. Back when I was a meat cutter the cutting room was finshed with that stuff and we pressure washed it every day. However, I don't think you have a drain in that room, so that's not a good idea. I was just trying to give an axample of how tough that stuff is.

 

[John Beere]

For the corners I went with the only thing I could find wide enough to cover the gaps. It is really made for outside corners but worked pretty well on inside corners. I haven't caulked around it yet so I am holding final judgement until I get that done. Either way, it is what it is...

Here is a picture of the back corner as it stand now. Should get a chance to caulk it all in the next few days. Notice the one piece is discolored... didn't notice that until it was glued on tight. O well...

And a photo of the doorway. Still haven't insulated the door. PT Ray, yeah, I considered an exterior door, but this was the only 24" door I could find (that was the widest door I could install)... I think it will work out fine.

BTW, I've been running at test all afternoon - even without the door insulated I've been able to sustain 35 degrees with no problem. Not really testing efficiency - more testing the AC's ability to run under these conditions and not freeze up. Seems to be working with no problem. Won't be able to run efficiency testing until I get the door properly insulated.

 

[John Beere]

A few more photos from this evening. All that is left is to insulate the door - which would have been well underway but the weather didn't cooperate. Hopefully will get that finished tomorrow. Then it will be down to cleaning everything one last time and installing all the shelving. Oh, the cord is just draped over the door to get it out of my way...

Looking up through the doorway:

Looking straight in through the doorway:

Looking towards the door from the back of the cooler:

 

[Jaybird]

I think you found your calling!!!! how many SF is the cooler now with all the insulation installed?
JJ

 

[John Beere]

I think you found your calling!!!! how many SF is the cooler now with all the insulation installed?
JJ

Just figured it up... 168 sq. ft. (excluding the doorway).

 

[Jaybird]

Very Nice!!!
JJ
ps
THIS IS MY 100TH POST!!!!TIME TO BECOME A MEMBER WOO HOO

 

[John Beere]

Got the door insulated today... still needs to be sanded a bit and then caulked. Its six layers of 3/4" foam board thick. The side of the door away from the hinges is on a 15 degree angle for clearance. I tried several different angles just to make sure it couldn't be less - 15 degrees is the answer.

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

Very very very nice

 

[Exo]

Wow, I'm thoroughly impressed by this DIY.

 

[John Beere]

Installed the racks tonight... was able to fit a 48"x18"x72" rack and a 36"x18"x72" rack together into an "L" shape in the back corner. I put a much smaller rack directly under the AC unit just for a little more shelving. There is a lot of deadspace in there but there is also a WHOLE lot of shelf room too.

Couple of photos of the shelving:

And one of the little shelf:

 

[MrSaLTy]

Ok, where did you get that shelving? looks like good stuff. Man I would love to build one of these but seeing as it gets really cold here in the winter, I dont think I could use a A/C unit.

 

[John Beere]

Ok, where did you get that shelving? looks like good stuff. Man I would love to build one of these but seeing as it gets really cold here in the winter, I dont think I could use a A/C unit.

I looked everywhere but couldn't find anywhere that sold a matching 4' wide rack and a 3' wide rack... until I tried Target. They are a little lighter weight than the similar rack Sams carries (but no matching 3' rack) - but they were way cheaper and I'm not going to need to put that much weight on the shelves as I have plenty of floor space. Don't know the regular price but they were on sale today for $49.99, $39.99, and $14.99...

 

[Biermann]

This thing is freakin' awesome. . . It'll break your heart if you ever decide to move.... I'm getting ideas from this that I'm sure my wife will NOT like. . .

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

Ok, where did you get that shelving? looks like good stuff. Man I would love to build one of these but seeing as it gets really cold here in the winter, I dont think I could use a A/C unit.

A refridgeration guy I know said that in the winter, unplug the AC then use a temp controled air input duct to control how much outside cold air is allowed into the room.

 

[John Beere]

Open question to everyone - how do I know how hard the AC is working? or if the compressor freezes up? I have felt the air coming out of the back of the unit while holding 35 degrees inside the cooler and it is barely warm...

I also bought a "Kill A Watt" from Amazon ( http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00009MDBU/sr=8-1/qid=1156082717/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-7800337-6148944?ie=UTF8 ) which will measure how much electricity the AC is using over the course a week / month / etc. Very interested to see the results...

 

[John Beere]

Did some more testing today... slowly dropped the temperature down to 35 degrees and held it with no problems. I had a thermometer in the AC's vent to measure air temperature - it was holding steady at 19 degrees but rose to 21 degrees before I could take a photo.

The other thing I did that is still experimental is I took a white labs yeast jar, filled it with the goop from an ice pack, drilled a hole in the top, placed the temperature controller's probe through the hole and into the goop. I then placed the container in the very top of the back of the cooler. I know I don't want to measure the air temperature, so I'm thinking this will work well. Time will tell...

Dismiss the 106 on the LCD... that was some alarm setting.

 

[Bernie Brewer]

OK Beere Man, you've inspired me. You're not going to believe this, but I already have a walk-in cooler in my basement. It is a leftover from back in the day when the house was a cheese factory (only in Wisconsin, right?). The refridgeration equipment has long been removed, however. It has been my beer room since we bought the place 4 years ago. I have never felt the need to replace the refridgeration, though, since in winter the room holds a steady 45-55 degrees as is. That is, until you started this thread. Now I want cold year-round! You have inspired me to pitch the idea to SWMBO, and much to my surpise, she isn't opposed to the idea! She even said that I should get rid of the old shelving in there and replace it with nicer stuff. Of course I have so many honey-do projects to do before I can start that it could be several months before I get into it, but at least I have a tentative go-ahead.

BTW be sure to post when you figure out how much juice that thing is gonna use.........

 

[user 574]

Open question to everyone - how do I know how hard the AC is working? or if the compressor freezes up? I have felt the air coming out of the back of the unit while holding 35 degrees inside the cooler and it is barely warm...

I also bought a "Kill A Watt" from Amazon ( http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00009MDBU/sr=8-1/qid=1156082717/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-7800337-6148944?ie=UTF8 ) which will measure how much electricity the AC is using over the course a week / month / etc. Very interested to see the results...

That Kill A Watt thing is pretty nice. I'd like to pick that up just "because". As for how hard that AC unit is working; Not really sure but what I'd be most curious about is how many hours is the compressor on in a 24h period. Does the unit turn off completely when compressor goes off or is a fan always on/compressor toggles type of unit?

 

[G. Cretin]

color me jealous.

 

[John Beere]

OK, have some statistics... granted its without much of a load in the cooler. I actually think the unit will be somewhat more efficient with a heavy load... but could be wrong.

The unit has now been running for 24 hours at 33 degrees while plugged into the "Kill A Watt". It averaged .2 KWPH or 4.8 KW during the entire 24 hour period. I'm going to estimate $.10 per KW - meaning it cost $.48 to run. Remember it is the dead of August and is probably hardest at work this time of year. Tickle me pleased...

FYI, the temperature controller turns both the AC and the fan off and on at the same time as they are wired together. I don't know for sure this is correct, but I believe that an easy way to tell how hard an AC is working is by how hot the exhaust is coming out of it. I felt the exhaust coming off the rear of a window AC at a friends house and it was blowing fairly hot air. In contrast, the exhaust from my unit - blowing 19 degree air - is barely warm!

 

[Exo]

OK Beere Man, you've inspired me. You're not going to believe this, but I already have a walk-in cooler in my basement. It is a leftover from back in the day when the house was a cheese factory (only in Wisconsin, right?). The refridgeration equipment has long been removed, however. It has been my beer room since we bought the place 4 years ago. I have never felt the need to replace the refridgeration, though, since in winter the room holds a steady 45-55 degrees as is. That is, until you started this thread. Now I want cold year-round! You have inspired me to pitch the idea to SWMBO, and much to my surpise, she isn't opposed to the idea! She even said that I should get rid of the old shelving in there and replace it with nicer stuff. Of course I have so many honey-do projects to do before I can start that it could be several months before I get into it, but at least I have a tentative go-ahead.

BTW be sure to post when you figure out how much juice that thing is gonna use.........

Only in Wisconsin...land of the cheese and the built-in fruit cellars in our basements...

 

[PT Ray]

I agree once you get some mass in there the the cooler should run more efficiently. Most of the current load will come from startup which will be minimized with increase in mass, it may run a little longer but less frequent. If I remember correctly, having the fan kick on and off with the compressor is how commercial units work, but I also want to say they have additional fans that do run constantly.

 

[Ize]

I bow to you Sir. What an amazing job. :rockin:


Ize