Blower Set Up

[TomK]

If you're feeling any cold air at all, it's probably enough. The True TDD-1 has about a 1" diameter hose in the tower and it doesn't feel like much air coming out the end, but the tower sweats like a pig. So, I guess it's probably getting cold enough, if that's any help.

(Oh, and if I did the math right, a 3" tower is a whopping 0.05 cu ft w/o insulation!)

[lunkhead]

I now understand that even a hardly noticable air flow going out of the tower cooler is probably very enough to cool a 0.2 foot tower !

Im true??

But why some of you ( i think its Lunkhead who used a blower) said they try several fans and were unable to push air with them in a hose. But trust me even if its weak fans are pushing air in a hose. And if only 1 or 2 cfm is enough ... why spend on a blower and copper pipe at 3 time the cost?

Understand me here im really not trying to prove other are wrong because im a NOOB in kegerator world , i just want to be able to find the better solution with cost/performance maximum balance.

Thank you to write down your thoughts and idea !

Joey

When I first tried to set up tower cooling I tried using fans into funnels, had no air flow at all. I had a heat gun blower that would blow air through a pipe, but I wasn't going to destroy my heat gun for this. So I invested 5.95 in a blower that was way more powerful than I needed. So, using DC wall transformers I already had laying around, 0 cost, I found one that supplied just enough voltage to spin the blower and move air up the pipe. You don't have to use copper, Any cheaper thin wall metal or plastic will do. I had the copper laying round from previous plumbing jobs, so added cost was 0. I see alot of people use thick wall or corrigated plastic. This just takes up extra space in the tower opening which adds resistance to air flow. I have not had to open up the bottom of my tower for extra air flow. Back to the fan solution, someone here tried a fan in a box and found it moved air. So I tried it out just to see and it does work. It seems the fan needs the box to build pressure and push the air up the pipe. BUT, to small a box or to big a fan just stalls the airflow over the fan blades and it ends up moving no air. For those going this route I would suggest building this on a bench first, varing the voltage to the fan until you get good airflow out your pipe. I did this with my blower setup before it even went into the danby. If you like to tinker you can come up with a good cheap solution. If you don't like to tinker, find a friend that does an offer cold keg beer in payment.

[lunkhead]

If you're feeling any cold air at all, it's probably enough. The True TDD-1 has about a 1" diameter hose in the tower and it doesn't feel like much air coming out the end, but the tower sweats like a pig. So, I guess it's probably getting cold enough, if that's any help.

(Oh, and if I did the math right, a 3" tower is a whopping 0.05 cu ft w/o insulation!)

Thanks TomK. Did the math based on a 15" x 3" non insulated (danby) tower and it works out to approx .061 cubic foot. If you can change this amount of air at least once per minute in the tower, your cooled.

[WhiteToad]

Has anyone had any issues with moist conditions affecting their fan's performance?

[rimfirejoe]

Hi all!

I have posted a project box/computer fan pictures a few months ago in this thread. I have upgrade to a 12 v 0.85 amp 80 mm blower only one week after installing the fan box because the difference was not noticeable. Was unable to get a good poor. I then did the resistance mod and upgraded the fan for the blower. Im now having a 38 F liquid beer temp on the first pull instead of the 44 F before all the mods. Now with the blower the second pour and all other after that are great. But the first pour still foam too much ... in a pint glass i get 1/3 of foam.

I dont know what to do next to have a great first pour. I live alone and i often only drink a pint a day. And this pint is always too much foamy.

I was looking at this blower, seems to have great review, any better than mine ?
Beer, Home Brew, Kegerator Tap tower cooling fan kit on eBay.ca (item 290363215120 end time 29-Oct-09 22:17:38 EDT)

Maybe upgrading my hose diameter..but i can feel a very good airflow coming out of the one i already have.

Thank you for tips and tricks

Joey

[Scott Zuhse]

If the blower moves the air it should be fine. There is something else causing the issue. What beer are you dispensing and what is your pressure.

[pvs6]

Generally the most efficient air mover is the squirrel cage (blower) over a bladed fan. These are found most often as 120 volts ac. but I had one that was 12 volts dc that plugged into the car's cig. lighter to blow up beach toys etc. That fan was my first attempt. It blew way more air then was needed. I removed it even though it worked because it made too much noise for my liking since I could hear it run with the door closed. I think the reason or one of them that people choice the blower route is that 120 Vac can be hard wired into the unit without having 2 cords from the unit to the wall plug. The down side of a blower as I see it is it's overkill, as pointed out above very little air flow is needed for tower cooling. Also the blower has brushes in the motor and the sparks create heat. With a computer fan \ transformer setup the heat is outside the unit created by the transformer the fan it's has no brushes and it's only heat is from friction in the blade bearing or basically none. But the deal breaker for me with the blower was the noise.
Some people have tried a fan just sitting in the unit aimed at the tower with the hope that cold air would get in there. But you were right when you figured it out that a trapped high pressure warm air blocks out the cold and people find that that set up doesn't work. Some sort of fan blowing into a hose running to the top of the tower works every time. Is some cases with certain units there is still even when the tower is cooled the issue of a big diff. in temp. between top and bottom of unit. That is best addressed by adding a small fan in the bootom of unit blowing up. I used 3 1/2 computer fan that works well. The copper in water might help if you couldn't get a fan but not much. The people who supply the tower hose via a blower are less likely to need an extra inside box fan to move air because the CFP is a lot higher with a blower than 2 computer fans. More power = more heat, more cost to run, and more noise. So why not use just enough to get the job done.
Even with the tower cooled the space inside your unit from the top of the keg to the top of the unit may still be warmer than the beer in the keg. The bulk of your beer line lives in that space so if it's still enough warmer then keg beer temp. you can still have 1st. pour foam. With towering cooling I cut my 1st foam by 3/4's. But when I added the fan inside the box I got perfect pours since. I had about 5 F. diff. between top and bottom. Measure your temp. diff. top vs bottom or just add a small $10. computer fan inside cause it can't hurt and I guess may get you what you're looking for.

[rimfirejoe]

If the blower moves the air it should be fine. There is something else causing the issue. What beer are you dispensing and what is your pressure.

Im dispensing a white 5.5 % local beer at 12 psi.

My blower is like 0.85 amp and move a LOT of air so im sure its not the problem.

Maybe just uprade the standard tiny Danby Fan with a 80 mm Computer fan would do a good difference. Can i just swap those without any wiring or power supplying problem ,,, I have 2 brand new Antec Blue Led Computer fan 80 mm at 0.17 A.

Maybe this mod would finally get everything ok !

Thank you for your answer so far

Joey

[woody]

maybe check out my thread at

Crazy cooling fan idea

for some ideas

[jays0n]

I just finished building a similar cooler but used an AC fan, 25cfm, that I found at a local electronics surplus shop. It was nice to not need the transformer and the thing is basically silent. For the air flow I used a piece of sump hose from Lowes and have it pointing right at the faucet shank.

I also replaced the tower insulation with 1/2" foam and I get cold pours and only sweat on the faucet itself. If anyone needs some foam to replace your insulation drop me a PM, I had to buy much more than I needed and probably have enough left to do 2 or 3 more towers.

[rimfirejoe]

Im dispensing a white 5.5 % local beer at 12 psi.

My blower is like 0.85 amp and move a LOT of air so im sure its not the problem.

Maybe just uprade the standard tiny Danby Fan with a 80 mm Computer fan would do a good difference. Can i just swap those without any wiring or power supplying problem ,,, I have 2 brand new Antec Blue Led Computer fan 80 mm at 0.17 A.

Maybe this mod would finally get everything ok !

Thank you for your answer so far

Joey

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