Questions on upright freezer ferm chamber

[millsbrew]

I got a quasi-deal on a Kenmore upright freezer to use as ferm chamber. It's pretty banged up and has some scratches but supposedly was only a floor model.
Here is the id tag.


My questions:
I've spent hours online trying to find pictures of the inside of this freezer. There is a slice along the bottom of the back panel. Is this opening normal or is this a problem?



Another question is what setup do people recommend? The size is not ideal. I can fit 2 carboys on the floor and another 2 on the middle shelf, however they won't be able to fit an airlock on top. I don't mind doing blowoffs, but I've already racked up a serious collection of 3 piece airlocks. And using blowoffs means losing space for 1 of my carboys to a bucket to hold the star san based solution.

Lastly, I can't find info on the weight limits of the shelves. 2 carboys are going to tip the scales at 80 pounds total. Can the shelf hold that much?

Thanks guys and gals.






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[day_trippr]

You can find some parts diagrams for that freezer here. From these it appears the evaporator is behind the panel with the opening at the bottom, there's a fan located somewhere in the vicinity - maybe up near the top - along with a vent panel. Presumably the fan pulls air in one end and exhausts it out the other - so that cutout at the bottom is either an intake or exhaust for the cold air loop. Probably the intake, as having the cold air flow from the top would make a lot of sense.

The original shelves look like standard wire type. I doubt they'd be safe supporting 80+ pounds of vessels and beer...

Cheers!

 

[strumke]

That's normal, I have the same slice on mine and it drains to an evaporation pan. I found this out the hard way when I kept coming home to a puddle in the freezer and not realizing that the drain got clogged with gunk. Fixed with a chopstick!