Wiring a Refridgerator freezer controller

[skoorb67]

I would like to make my refrigerator freezer combo into a duel purpose. I want the bottom refrigerator and top freezer to be controlled to ale fermentation temps i.e. roughly 60-70 degrees. That way I can ferment in the lower and store stuff like potatoes, grain, and etc in the upper freezer. My wife is a serious gardener an needs a place to store root crops and I need a place to ferment. I have a digital Johnson controller on my keezer and it works well with turing the freezer temps all the way down and plug-in. But with a fridge freezer combo how would I make something similar to controlling temps in two places? It does look like the freezer does all the cooling I.e. cold air from the freezer is pushed down into the fridge...any help would be much appreciated.


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[ShineOn]

That's a tough order

MOST standard refridgerators only have one compressor/fan. They usually have a damper to divert air from the freezer to the cold storage. You could possibly assume control of the damper but the freezer area HAS to be the colder part. What Brand/Model number is it?

 

[Falcon3]

I might caution you against storing your grain in the same place as you ferment (at least in a very enclosed space like a fridge). Grain is crawling with Lacto and you're one little mistake away from souring your batch.

As the poster above said, regular fridges don't control the temps independent of each other very well. Both areas run off a single compressor so it's either ON or OFF on both the fridge and freezer at the same time.

 

[skoorb67]

Wow didn't know about the grain...make sense.

The fridge is a whirlpool mod ET1PHKPQ04


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[Takuie]

I have heard that you can remove the damper completely and fan force the air through where the damper used to be and stay within a degree or two of desired temperature setting. Never tried it myself, makes sense when I think about it tho.

Another option would be to wire your controller to the damper control. Freezer will kick on when needed and if bottom needs cool air, controller will open damper if not it will leave damper mostly closed. If bottom needs cool air and unit is not running, if wired correctly damper should open and allow cool air to "fall" into bottom section. Again, all just speculation and assumptions.

 

[ShineOn]

I cant find a schematic however I did find that it uses a (what looks like ) a 4 wire damper control motor, assuming 2 for forward and 2 for back. What I would do is....

Basically just pull the cold air from the fridge by opening the damper and turning on a/the fan. As the cold air gets pulled, the temp in the freezer will rise and the compressor will kick back on. When desired temp is reached you close the damper. You'll need to figure out how to make the fridge controler THINK the bottom section is ALWAYS too cold or the compressor will turn on and it will be trying to open the damper. I'd prolly see if there is a way to move the temp sensor into the freezer

This won't be all THAT hard, but it your not familiar with fridge operation and whatnot it could be a little challenging

 

[skoorb67]

Wow thanks for that...for going beyond my expectations. Thank you.



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