Frost on Cooler Plate

[Dingodile]

Hello all. I've been lurking here for quite a while and this Forum has been of great benefit to me.

I recently installed a 12V blower fan in my kegerator. It's working great and the tower is sufficiently cooled. But I'm now experiencing a great amount of frost developing on my cooler plate. This frost develops very quickly and has the consistency of fresh snow, it's unlike the thick ice that develops over time.

Based upon a couple of threads, I'm thinking that I should install another fan and aim it directly at the cooler plate. Is this correct? Also, can I hook this new fan up to the 12V transformer currently powering my blower fan or does it require it's own power source?

All responses would be greatly appreciated.

[happytappy]

Frost may be due to a bad door seal or a seal not sealing properly

[Dingodile]

Thanks for the input, but this frost never occurred prior to my installation of the blower fan.

[jaeckleint]

You can hook both fans to the same power supply as long as the total amps combined from both fans do not exceed the power pack rating.

[Dingodile]

Thanks Jaek! So will both utilities both received 12V?

[KingPin461]

Originally Posted by Dingodile

Thanks Jaek! So will both utilities both received 12V?

Thats correct, for example, if you have a 12VDC 5.0AMP charger, you could theoretically run five 1amp fans. Each of the 5 fans will get 12VDC. Most cell phone chargers are 5-12vdc and 600milliamps (0.6 amps), see what your fan is rated at and try to stay under the amp specs on the charger. hope this helps......cheers

[Dingodile]

Here's an update...Yesterday evening I installed a small 80 x 80 x 20 computer fan and aimed it directly at the cooler plate. The snow-like frost is still developing, but at a much slower rate. Also, my temp seems to be holding steady now. I put a flashlight in and shut the door to see if any light was escaping so I could tell if my seals were good. No light escaped. So I'm at an impasse and really don't know what to do.

Has anyone else experienced this type of frost?

BTW I have a Haier Brewmaster HBF05EAVS.

[Waterloo]

I had been having the same problem - frosting on my cooling plate.

I have two outputs on my blower - one for the tower, and one to circulate within the compartment. The one that was circulating within the compartment was blowing in the general direction of the thermostat (not intentionally).

With the fan blowing towards the thermostat, it was detecting that it reached temperature faster, turning off the compressor. Then, it also detected that it was too warm too quickly. Therefore, you end up with "short-cycling". There isn't enough time between cooling calls for the frost to melt completely, and so any remaining liquid is re-frozen on the cooling plate.

[Dingodile]

That's a possible explanation. I don't know if my fans is directing air at the thermostat, but I'll adjust the fan and hope this suggestion works. Thanks.

[THE ICEMAN]

Waterloo is pretty much right. If your unit uses static cooling, no evaporator fan, then when you added a fan it also added heat load. You would probably have more luck if you went with a temp control that senses the air temp, like these... Aftermarket temp controls.
These controls have settings that would allow for defrost. In order to make use of these controls use of these controls you would have to disable the stock control by taking the leads off the old control & wiring them together.

THE ICEMAN

[Dingodile]

Ok please bear with me here...

So your suggestion is that I use a temperature control to turn off the kegerator when it's temperature rises to a certain level (due to accumulation of frost), so that it can defrost? Correct? Will the temperature control then turn the kegerator back on after a period of time or after it reaches another programmed temp.?

Also could you please explain why I would need to disable the stock control? Couldn't I simply plug the kegerator power cord into the temp. control and place the sensor in the keg.

I really appreciate your expertise.

[THE ICEMAN]

Originally Posted by Dingodile

Ok please bear with me here...

So your suggestion is that I use a temperature control to turn off the kegerator when it's temperature rises to a certain level (due to accumulation of frost), so that it can defrost? Correct? Will the temperature control then turn the kegerator back on after a period of time or after it reaches another programmed temp.?

Yes, yes, no & yes.

Originally Posted by Dingodile

Also could you please explain why I would need to disable the stock control? Couldn't I simply plug the kegerator power cord into the temp. control and place the sensor in the keg.

I really appreciate your expertise.

It would be like having a car with two steering wheels. You only need one.

THE ICEMAN

[Dingodile]

Here's an update for those interested. I junked the blower and used a standard computer fan. I modified one of those project boxes referred to in other threads and everything seems to be working great.

The tower is cool to the touch and the cooler plate is essentially frost free. The fan generates under 2 watts while the blower generated nearly 9. So I'm convinced the blower simply ran too hot (although it blew much more air) and caused the frost to develop.

I'm also maintaining a consistent temp. of around 30 degrees. However, I haven't put in a new keg, so I don't know if my tower is cool enough to eliminate foam yet.

I also ordered a temperature control, so you'll hear from me shortly regarding help with its installation. Thanks to all.

[Dingodile]

Ok so I've received my temperature control and need some help with it's installation. I picked up the E54 model. So what is the best method of istallation? Should I simply cut the stock power line and splice the temperature controls power line to is and thus eliminate the original thermostat from the equation?