Window Unit Cooled Bar idea

[EZCyclone]

The idea here is to build upon the experience of all the walk in cooler builds. I would like to build my bar the size and shape I want it, with out the kegerator designating any details. The plan (attached) is to build a long but skinny very well insulated keg cooler with doors on the front, rather then the top. That way I don't have to have any tilting/lifting bar top sections and what not. Then of course running a temp controller on a 5000BTU window unit. There are like 15 on craigslist right now for $50.

I would like to hear peoples ideas, thoughts and what not about doing this. I have seen some of these outdoor walk ins that are WAY larger than what i;m looking at and they are able to get to 38, I was hoping to be able to get to down to 32 degrees. Granted I wont keep kegged beer at this temp, but I will have two chambers as I would like to have a ice bin in the colder side.

Total volume of the cooler would be less then 2'x6'x3'. Minus the insulation and what not I think I end up with about 25 cubic feet.

Do you think that a 5000BTU unit will be able to do what I'm thinking?

My bar build will start very soon now!:rockin:

Thant's right, excited! lol

 

[FermentNEthinG]

Air-conditioning unit will never cool to 38 degrees without freezing the condenser unit first. The max I have seen a new 5000 btu AC cool down was to 50 degrees. To achieve further cooling we had to plumb in a humidity/fogger line to use evaporative cooling to get down around 46 degrees.

 

[EZCyclone]

Ok, so your solution would be to go bigger? The BTU's were not really something I care about, I can go bigger. Maybe even do two of the 5000BTUS and have that as my two stage setup. I have read stuff online that to cool the cooler down below the coil freezing issue you simply cool it down slowly first.

Thoughts?

 

[EZCyclone]

Or would getting one of the small freezers like this:
http://ames.craigslist.org/app/3919671517.html

be a better option? Taking the door off and moving it modifying it to have a bigger cabinet.

I will try and find a link to this idea in a bit.

 

[EZCyclone]

Here's the one I was thinking. This worked very well for -TH- and his was only a fridge, where the one in that link is a freezer. I have to think that would work pretty good to get me from 70 room temp to 35-38.


https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/4-6-cu-ft-fridge-10-1-cu-ft-fermentation-chamber-conversion-88554/

 

[limulus]

I have a 4x4x4 fermentation cabinet that I built in my garage with a new 5050 BTU A/C unit (GE on sale for $99). It cools down to 15.5C (~60F) with ease and would go lower if I programmed the controller to go lower. I'm going to experiment with probe placement to keep it from cycling on and off too much. As someone already stated, you will have freeze ups if you use an A/C unit at those temps near freezing, but you can control it with a CoolBot. The CoolBot is specifically made for walk-in coolers and window unit A/C systems. However, they are $300 and you could just do something else for that price. There is also the problem of condensation draining from the A/C unit. The best solution for a basement bar is a keezer. I bought a new chest freezer last year when Home Depot had a special buy. I think it was $159 and it can hold 4 kegs.

 

[RickH]

I would think a small freezer with fans to push and pull the air would be able to do it. You would just have to have a really well sealed and insulated area. That said a freezer would avoid freeze ups, but I think its more about heat transfer. I think of the keezer ideas where people add tops that are made of insulation. But those have much more surface area too. I wonder if a small unit has been used to make a keezer before.

 

[EZCyclone]

That's what I've been looking for, and have found a few here and there, but I would call them cooled cabinets more then keezers. I'm looking for a small freezer like a dorm one to swap out for the fridge in the link I gave earlier. I think that will get it done. I'm just trying to figure it out. Those little dorm size freezers cost more then a new chest style one. But I want something oddball, I'm going to pay, lol.

Limulus I want front loading doors, or that would be the way I go.

 

[H22W]

With a little out of the box thinking, yes a window unit can take a small space right down to very near freezing.

I had this 32 cubic foot keezer/ferm chamber thing running in the mid 30s. I had to fool the condenser freeze sensor and heat the ambient air sensor. Then use STC to measure the condenser. Basically cool until the condenser reaches -9C then not cool again until the condenser reaches +1C so any ice would have melted.

The cooling cycle for such small space is so short (like two minutes) ice does not have much time to build up. Also such a small tight enclosure that is not frequently opened will quickly have the humidity removed by the condenser and be less likely to condensate/ice each cooling cycle. I also had PC fans blowing on the condenser as another ice precaution.

I never saw any signs of ice, except 1 time when I incorrectly set the temp control. And the window AC never had any sort of mechanical issue.

 

[EZCyclone]

H22W, now we are talking!!! This is what I was thinking. Truth be told I remember seeing your set up and may have got the idea from you! How big of window unit did you have? and it kept the beer in the mid to low thirties?

 

[H22W]

H22W, now we are talking!!! This is what I was thinking. Truth be told I remember seeing your set up and may have got the idea from you! How big of window unit did you have? and it kept the beer in the mid to low thirties?

I could get ice to form in that tumbler on the far right/front corner of the shelf, but never froze the beer. My AC happened to be 8,000 btu, just because that what I had. I am sure a 5000 BTU would have similar effect.

I learned the whole "beer machine" was grossly oversized for my modest beer consumption. When dear wife wanted to finish the basement and offered me real estate for "beer machine" on sunroom off the kitchen I scrapped the giant one in the basement and designed a mini version. Before I built the new one a local add popped-up for a used freezer $50, so I went with a standard keezer design.

Without having to buy many more supplies I hope to design a way to attached a ferm chamber to keezer. I plan to use PC fans and ducting to draw cool air from keezer to ferm chamber. I plan for the chamber to be a foam panel cube that will easily dissemble and pack up flat for when it is not in use.

Anyway the normal keezer thing is a lot easier to build and also runs much quieter, but the DIY window AC might get you something much more customized than possible with a freezer.

 

[EZCyclone]

And that's what im looking for!