Upright keezer build- anyone familiar with this design

[SanPancho]

so i got this sucker for free. says its electrolux commercial unit, built 10/02, so not the most recent but shouldnt be too bad on electricity. ive seen a few other builds that use very similar units, but were different brands. this one is maybe from canada? strange.

anyways, i've seen on other threads that the wire shelves will hold some decent weight, so i was planning on using one, maybe with some support. no need to drill. but then i realized i didnt want the temp probe from the inkbird unit having to run through the door so it turns out maybe i do need to do a little drilling.

but what i'm not sure of is if its ok to drill into the sides or bottom of the freezer. does anybody know? there's a condenser and fan unit in the hump on the back wall, and seems to blow air up the back and out the register at the top.

i would guess all the cooling happens back there, so the side walls should be fine for drilling?

anybody know from experience?

 

[grampamark]

I looked up the model # on one of the many appliance repair sites (the freezer is actually made by Frigidaire) and the exploded drawings showed all of the cooling system parts located below the floor and behind the hump. Drilling through the sides should be a safe choice. Link here.

Mark

 

[SanPancho]

I looked up the model # on one of the many appliance repair sites (the freezer is actually made by Frigidaire) and the exploded drawings showed all of the cooling system parts located below the floor and behind the hump. Drilling through the sides should be a safe choice. Link here.

Mark

GRAMPA!!!!!!!!!

 

[grampamark]

GRAMPA!!!!!!!!!

You're Welcome!

 

[NeoBrew]

That looks similar to the one I put together. It's been great for me.

Are you certain it is a freezer? If it's an "all refrigerator" you won't need a temp probe.

 

[Jtk78]

That looks similar to the one I put together. It's been great for me.

Are you certain it is a freezer? If it's an "all refrigerator" you won't need a temp probe.

Nice build.
This looks very similar to what I want to make. You are able to fit ball lock kegs on a shelf above the ones on the floor as well? I was looking for a 20cuft because i thought the 17cuft were too short for this. It would be great if I knew I could have 2 layers in a smaller size. I'm looking to have 8 taps with room for 1 or 2 more kegs for aging and storage.

 

[SanPancho]

Ive been cleaning it out and measuring, cutting out door shelving, etc so havent turned it back on yet. But i was told it was freezer and the tag says commercial freezer so thats my assumption.

 

[NeoBrew]

Nice build.
This looks very similar to what I want to make. You are able to fit ball lock kegs on a shelf above the ones on the floor as well? I was looking for a 20cuft because i thought the 17cuft were too short for this. It would be great if I knew I could have 2 layers in a smaller size. I'm looking to have 8 taps with room for 1 or 2 more kegs for aging and storage.

It is tall enough to take two level's of kegs. (I have all ball lock pepsi style kegs, so thinner and taller than pin lock.) I can fit five on the floor if I take off the shelf rails on the door. It's a tight fit that way.

I had originally planned to put the kegs on the top half. Because the coils protrude on the bottom area it would allow 6 kegs on top if the shelves were taken off the door. Unfortunately the shelves that came with it were glass. They also fit into the side wall with relatively slender pins. I was not confident I could put 6 full kegs on that shelf. I had begun trying to figure out how to build a shelf that was floor supported, but then decided 5 kegs was enough for now and just switched to using the floor. If I ever want to grow beyond 5 kegs I figured I could work out how to put the shelf in then.

 

[NeoBrew]

Ive been cleaning it out and measuring, cutting out door shelving, etc so havent turned it back on yet. But i was told it was freezer and the tag says commercial freezer so thats my assumption.

Then I'm sure it is a freezer. I'm just surprised at how identical the inside looks to mine.

 

[grampamark]

Then I'm sure it is a freezer. I'm just surprised at how identical the inside looks to mine.

The link I posted above shows that it is a freezer.

 

[Jtk78]

It is tall enough to take two level's of kegs. (I have all ball lock pepsi style kegs, so thinner and taller than pin lock.) I can fit five on the floor if I take off the shelf rails on the door. It's a tight fit that way.

I had originally planned to put the kegs on the top half. Because the coils protrude on the bottom area it would allow 6 kegs on top if the shelves were taken off the door. Unfortunately the shelves that came with it were glass. They also fit into the side wall with relatively slender pins. I was not confident I could put 6 full kegs on that shelf. I had begun trying to figure out how to build a shelf that was floor supported, but then decided 5 kegs was enough for now and just switched to using the floor. If I ever want to grow beyond 5 kegs I figured I could work out how to put the shelf in then.

I just wanted to chime back in to say not all uprights in this cuft range are tall enough to have a shelf and have more kegs on top. I was inquiring on a Kenmore model this week that was too short. By my math, you will need at least 55" inside height for this to work.

 

[SanPancho]

im actually going to only be using the bottom for kegs. and as it turns out, the wife says she does not want to see taps coming out the front of the cooler as this is not a frat house. (as if i would ever confuse this place with my beloved old fraternity home...)

so instead i guess im going to have to put 5 or 6 kegs on bottom, keep at least one or maybe two shelves for hop/yeast/etc storage, and have the taps in the upper portion of the keezer.

at that point, im not sure i see a reason for bar taps. might as well just have the picnic taps running up above the kegs. to that end, i was thinking of trying to find some sort of bracket that could hold the picnic tap heads on the keezer wall and then you could just pull it off the bracket and fill you beer, then put it back.

kind of like those brackets they make for your garage where you can have a broom, rake, etc hanging on the wall nice and neat. not sure where i'd go looking for something like that on a smaller 1/2" scale.

if anyone has had to do a "serving" area inside the keezer please post some pics as i'd love to get some ideas.