Side-by-Side Freezer/Kegerator Controls

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butterblum

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Has anyone ever had success converting only the refrigerator half of a side-by-side fridge/freezer unit into a kegerator?
I believe you would have to control the small damper shown in the attached picture - I would like to continue to utilize the freezer for hop storage, but control the airflow into the fridge portion using keg temperature.
I'd like to stick to a Johnson/Inkbird style controller, if possible, but I don't know how the damper is controlled (presumably DC).
Thanks
 

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Has anyone ever had success converting only the refrigerator half of a side-by-side fridge/freezer unit into a kegerator?
I believe you would have to control the small damper shown in the attached picture - I would like to continue to utilize the freezer for hop storage, but control the airflow into the fridge portion using keg temperature.
I'd like to stick to a Johnson/Inkbird style controller, if possible, but I don't know how the damper is controlled (presumably DC).
Thanks
A thermostat controls it, triggering it to close or open according to the refrigerator’s temperature needs.
The damper motor is a 120V in most units. A few mechanical versions exist.

Damper
Mechanical
 
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I have not done what you are asking, but I do use a side-by-side for serving from the freezer compartment and fermenting in the refrigeration compartment. I am sure that what you want can be done. I suggest removing the existing damper and replacing it with two fans. One fan located where the damper is that moves air from the freezer compartment into the refrigerator compartment. Locate the second fan towards the bottom that moves air from the refrigerator compartment to the freezer compartment. This will ensure good air flow that is needed to drive low temperatures in the refrigerator compartment. Good luck and let us know what you come up with.
 
I use the freezer side for lagering at 33* with CO2 on a Johnson control. The fridge side does not turn on, but with both vents open it gets down to 50*. On the fridge side I fit 2 -6.5 Big Mouth fermenters. The top one has a heat mat with 2 layers of reflectex plugged into an ST1000. I ferment lagers on the bottom.

In your situation I would just plug into wall outlet set freezer to -10, set fridge as high as it goes and use a heat wrap and controller around the fermenter.
 
You may be overthinking this. My refrigerator (not side by side) currently allows temperature on the refrigerator side to range from 35-44F. What keg temperature do you want? There are at least one or two builds here that I have seen which were side by sides with fermentation and chilling ranges outside the fridge and or freezer ranges. I was looking into this once myself but I recall the examples were not easily searched here. I was interested in fermenting on one side and conditioning kegs (on deck) in the other.
 
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