No collar keezer

[theQ]

Due to a limited height space constraint I won't do a collar.
(Will install it under counter-top with a sliding mechanism)

However, this will bring some complications such as

1. can I attach the manifold inside, one option can be to glue a piece of wood inside. Can I drill in the inside wall ? How deep are the cooling lines/grid ?

2. being under the cabinet, I'd have to have a way to bring the lines thru the countertop and the main concern there is the how do I get 3 lines into an insulation yet flexible tube and how do I keep them cold. I think I have to do that thru the side. Someone said it's safe to drill within 1" of the top edge is that true ?

3. Do people run fans inside make the temp constant throughout the freezer ?

Any thoughts/brainstorming are welcome!

 

[mongoose33]

Due to a limited height space constraint I won't do a collar.
(Will install it under counter-top with a sliding mechanism)

???

However, this will bring some complications such as

1. can I attach the manifold inside, one option can be to glue a piece of wood inside. Can I drill in the inside wall ? How deep are the cooling lines/grid ?

Unless you KNOW where the lines are inside the freezer sides, you risk puncturing them and ruining a perfectly good appliance. Glueing would work if you can get it to hold.

2. being under the cabinet, I'd have to have a way to bring the lines thru the countertop and the main concern there is the how do I get 3 lines into an insulation yet flexible tube and how do I keep them cold. I think I have to do that thru the side. Someone said it's safe to drill within 1" of the top edge is that true ?

I'd think your bigger concern would be how to move that keezer with lines connected to it through the countertop, such that you could replace kegs as needed.

3. Do people run fans inside make the temp constant throughout the freezer ?

Any thoughts/brainstorming are welcome!

Very common for people to take a computer power supply fan, or a desktop USB fan, and run it inside the keezer.


I have drilled holes in the side of a refrigerator as well as in the top above the freezer, but each time I drilled a 1/8" hole and used a piece of stiff wire (coat-hanger will do) to probe inside and see if there were any lines there. That's about the only sure way I know to find out if lines are in the way.

Unless you can get an infrared camera to see where the cold and hot lines are.

 

[theQ]

@mongoose33
Thanks for reply

I will have a tower on the contertop and the lines will go beneath to the freezer. Think of a double door cabinet, with a heavy duty slider that would allow me to move it back and forth, horizontally so I can open the lid and replace the kegs. I will have to have 24-36" of loose lines (grouped, insulated and chilled) that will lead back to the tap "hole".

 

[kh54s10]

Sounds like a plumbing nightmare to me. Having the slack in the lines and still closing things up so that you are not refrigerating the space above the freezer and below the counter.

 

[theQ]

Not really. Think of 3 beer lines and maybe 1-2 water lines going into a insulation tube that will be loose in a cabinet. i might do an additional side insulation pouch to keep the lines more insulated. The freezer will only have 1.5"-2" hole thru the lid and there all the lines mentioned above will be bunched up together in an insulation tube ...

 

[theQ]

Unless you can get an infrared camera to see where the cold and hot lines are.

That is a good idea! I think I can borrow one... That will give me a perfect insight in the way the lines run.

 

[bleme]

I think this is the build you are looking for:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/scrats-keezer-bar.427207/

 

[theQ]

@bleme the way he fished the lines back into the cooler is the way to go! The rest I have under control.

I will have sliders like him but mounted low on L brackets the cabinets are already inwill be able to slide it in and out easily without building anything but the main thing is the way he did the pipe-in-hole contraption. That would work for me as well. My tower is 2" black iron so I can fit a 1.5" pipe in it and have a way to slide it in as he does! Thanks again!