Blower motor heating up Haier to 60 degrees

[edjanx]

I've got a Haier that can barely get my beer down to 42 degrees, even with the noted thermostat tweak. At least the eBay company I bought it from, Beverator, is making good on their customer service obligation and sending a replacement that will hopefully rectify that situation.

Still my issue is the blower motor set up, which is intended to blow cold air through some flex pipe to cool the beer line up through a wall mounted spigot. By leaving the blower on overnight, it is heating the temperature of a glass of water inside the Haier from the low 40's to almost 60. It's an AC blower motor that I got for around $27 from a company called Pelonis in Pennsylvania. Here is the link to what I bought: Pelonis Technologies, Inc. - RC1231 Series AC Blower

These are the specs:
Amps: 0.27/0.29; Watts: 26/27; RPM: 2750/3050; CFM: 40/43

I will attach a picture of the set up when I get home tonight, but I'm beside myself wondering if there is anything I can do to my set up to alleviate such heat. Are there units out there that are known to run cooler that won't cost me an arm and leg like the Micromatic setup? What is the factor that determines heat output, the Amps? Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Kind Regards,
Janx

[Skinsfan1311]

I'm no expert, but that fan blower that you installed is 40/43 CFM, which appears significantly more powerful than the Dayton, (15 CFM).

I don't have the specs in front of me, but I bet the Dayton gives off a lot less heat. I wouldn't think that Micromatic would sell them if they had a heating problem.

You can get the identical Dayton blower, for ~ $45.00 in the Grainger catalog.....

[stemikel]

I have to agree with the previous reply. A 40-43 CFM blower would be more appropriate for a large cooler or very small walk-in (MM sells 60CFM blowers for commercial purposes and recommends against their use in home kegerators b/c of the heat production). I would return the Pelonis and go with the Grainger. Good luck.

[Such5]

I also have a Haier and I had the same problem when I added a blower for my tower. I actually bought the smaller blower 12 cfm I think? from grainger. I just ordered the 15 cfm one. We will see if that helps. When I got the 12 cfm blower all set up things were great! But, after a few days my cooling plate in the back of the fridge started icing up. It got to about 1 inch think of ice and my temps went threw the roof. I defrosted it and it worked great again for a few days then iced up and temps went up really high. The blower motor was noticably warm to the touch. After a few weeks of this I decided to disconnect the blower and low and behold.....no problems. Temps were perfect and no ice buildup what so ever! But obviously I had foam issues due to the tower not being cooled. I've just lived with it until I read this Thread and just ordered the 15 cfm blower and I hope it works. If not I'll have 2 great blowers that I can use for absolutly nothing! That and about $100 down the drain. Please let me know how the new blower works. I'll post back also and let you know. It seems no one else has this problem. I'm also wondering if it has to do with the Haier?

Brett

[ashman]

Originally Posted by Such5

I also have a Haier and I had the same problem when I added a blower for my tower. I actually bought the smaller blower 12 cfm I think? from grainger. I just ordered the 15 cfm one. We will see if that helps. When I got the 12 cfm blower all set up things were great! But, after a few days my cooling plate in the back of the fridge started icing up. It got to about 1 inch think of ice and my temps went threw the roof. I defrosted it and it worked great again for a few days then iced up and temps went up really high. The blower motor was noticably warm to the touch. After a few weeks of this I decided to disconnect the blower and low and behold.....no problems. Temps were perfect and no ice buildup what so ever! But obviously I had foam issues due to the tower not being cooled. I've just lived with it until I read this Thread and just ordered the 15 cfm blower and I hope it works. If not I'll have 2 great blowers that I can use for absolutly nothing! That and about $100 down the drain. Please let me know how the new blower works. I'll post back also and let you know. It seems no one else has this problem. I'm also wondering if it has to do with the Haier?

Brett

Same thing has happened to my POS Avanti with a 15CFM Blower

[edjanx]

I just ordered the 15 CFM from Grainger. I'll get back to you all within a week with results. I have the same icing problems as Such5, and I read about Ashman's woes in other threads.

Thanks to all who have responded thus far - at least I don't feel so all alone and desperate. You can't imagine the $ I spent on the modification to get the wall mounted spigot. There has got to be an acceptable solution somehow. I'll also post pics as previously promised when I get home, as I'm thinking placement is much more critical than I had originally thought.

[edjanx]

Image of my setup

[mtlcafan79]

Has anyone used one of the 2 D cell battery powered RV fridge fans? Are they worth it for circulation within the unit around the keg? I can't see them putting off much heat, but I don't see them cooling the tower much either being just a small fan.

[stemikel]

The batteries die too quickly.

[edjanx]

Since so many others have had success with this blower motor, I'm convinced that Haier is a garbage, not capable of cooling under anything but an optimal condition, but I'm still not giving up. I came up with a configuration that will allow me to blow the unit's cool air up through the flex pipe with the beer line, while having the blower totally outside the Haier unit. It required a slight modification of the blower motor and I'll be drilling a 2 " and a 1 1/4 " hole in the side of the Haier, but I have high hopes that this will work as I did get the beer down to the mid-30's without a blower motor running (after 3 -4 wasted pours of foam to get to the cold stuff in the keg). Stay tuned! I'll provide pictures and the results by this weekend.

[ashman]

Won't this just blow room temperature air into the tower. I have the same issue with my Avanti. I bought the Dayton 15 CFM Blower and the liquid temp goes up to 45 to 50 degrees. I am interested in seeingyour results.

[Such5]

I think he is talking about mounting the fan outside of the fridge. Then plumbing a cold air tube out and into the fan and then plumbing the cold air back in and up to the tower. Thus removing the warm motor from the cold fridge? I have though about doing this but I just don't have the time. I've just decided I'll pour half a glass of foam for every glass of beer.

[edjanx]

Such5, you are correct. I turned it on yesterday afternoon, went to the movies, and when I came back 5 hours later, it was 42. I cranked it down to the coldest thermostat setting (I was at about 3/4) before going to bed, and in the morning it was 50. I come home from work now and it is 52 with a 1" layer of frost on the cooling plate.

The set up has a beautiful airflow as intended, but what's up with the high temp and massive frost on the cooling plate!?!?! I'm besides myself at this point. I'm going to attempt the Haier thermostat adjustment, which it turns out I was previously doing incorrectly. Here is a link on my site to a PDF for the proper method, which is actually a Haier service bulletin. http://janx.com/beer/Haier_Therm_Adjust.pdf

[Larry Tapper]

Just looked at your pictures of the fan installation. It looks as if you insulated the flex tube but not the return tube . How long of a run is this? the units were designed to be direct draw.

[edjanx]

Hi Larry,

Form the draft system, it's a 5 ft run. I used black foam insulation over a 2 1/2 flex pipe on the outside of this 5 ft run right to the wall mounted tap. Inside this, there is 1 1/2 inch flex pipe that the beer line runs through. The 2 1/2 inch flex pipe returns the air nice and gently. I will upload a few pictures of my newest configuration tonight.

Kind Regards,
Ed

[edjanx]

bar_front.jpg

under_bar.jpg

blower_mount.jpg

inside1.jpg

blower_hook_ups.jpg

[edjanx]

to_wall.jpg

inside_wall.jpg


This should give everyone a complete perspective of the system I'm trying to work with. It really is the centerpiece of the whole bar, and now it's 6 weeks since I've finished it, 3 disastrous foaming keg parties, and mounds of frustration. Note the 2 1/2 inch flex pipe in the last picture. I have it totally wrapped up in black foam and then that is wrapped in tape to keep it tightly bound. It is this way all the way down the inside of the wall. The box is air tight too, and you can feel the air being taken in the input hole to the blower and also feel it coming back out of the 2 1/2 flex pipe return after traveling through the wall.

BTW, I just checked temp again, and after 3 full turns of the Haier thermostat screw almost 3 hours ago, I'm down to 45 degrees. Another 7 to 9 degrees, and I'd be golden. Let's see what happens overnight.

[ashman]

AWESOME blower set up. Now my mind is racing. two questions.... What did you use to connect the incoming air to the blower, and how did you attach the blower to the side of the box. It looks like you simply used a couple bolts to attach. But the tubing looks tricky as it is very close to that spinning fan. Did you take the plate off of the motor and then reattach it?

[edjanx]

Thanks for the kind words on the blower setup. I used a 2 inch PVC connector that had an octagonal edge on the one side (I took the blower into Lowes and looked around for 15 minutes until I found it). It fit perfectly over the plate over the blower motor. Then I drilled through through the PVC to where the two screws in the plate were, and replaced those screws with longer ones of the same thread size. I was going to seal it, but it didn't even need it since it snugged up so nicely. From there, a two inch elbow that slipped over the 2 inch adapter on the one side, and didn't have a lip on the other. After drilling the holes, it fit perfectly inside the fridge. To attach the blower, I marked up where the three holes on the blower output lip were on the outside of the unit. I drilled through these with a smaller drill bit than the screw size, then used #12 2 inch screws from the inside of the unit to catch these three holes. It snugged up perfectly. Last, I used Great Stuff to seal around both holes in the fridge.

After running all night, it was at 46 degrees. I'm turning off the blower motor to see if that makes a difference. Also a question for Larry regarding the direct draw. I only used the amount of beer line that came with the system if that matters (about 7 ft). Otherwise, I'm not sure what the 'direct draw' comment means.

Regards,
Ed
blower_mod.jpg

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[ashman]

Keep us up to date on the temp.

[edjanx]

Will do. So far, regardless if I'm running the blower motor or not, it's still at 44 - 45 degrees. At least I know that the blower is no longer contributing to the issue.

I'm convinced that the excessive frost is the issue. I can make a few snowballs off of what I just scrapped off the cooling plate. I'm thinking that with that much build-up, it can't cool any further. I'll see what cleaning the frost off does for it. I removed the glass of water I had in there to measure the temp, thinking that it can be the source of moisture for the frost build up?

I searched around on frost in the forums too. Having an air-tight box and not opening the door too often is the only thing I've found, which I don't believe is the culprit in my case. Any experts that can add insight to the frosting issue, please let me know.

Regards,
Janx

[lunkhead]

A question / suggestion. Are you trying to run the full 15cfm into the cooling tube? If the tube is too restrictive perhaps it's making the blower work too hard and causing it to heat up. In my tower cooling setup most of the blower output does not even go up the cooling tube, it's just blowing up across the cooling plate. It does not take much air to cool the tower on these small units. Plus the extra air moving across the cooling plate may help keep the frost down, seems to work that way in mine.