Kegerator tower is too warm

[Mike5150]

I've recently taken the parts from an old kegerator that stopped working on me, and installed them into a 5.5 cu ft chest freezer. The tower was not cooling so I bought the small blower from Grainger.com that was mentioned in a few other posts about tower problems and installed it. My problem is that I think the blower is heating the air. The temp in the chest is 33-34 degrees, but when I stick the thermometer in the end of the hose that runs up into the tower the reading is about 40 degrees which is alot better then the 65 degrees that I was getting in the tower before installing the fan, but I still have to pour off the first half glass or so because of foam. Where I come from that's called alcohol abuse and is punishiable by things I can't post on these boards. Does anyone have any suggestions for me?

Thanks alot!
Mike

[psychodad]

Do you have good return air flow? The fan can't blow air up there unless it can get back out.

[Mike5150]

I would have to say yes. I drilled a 2 1/4" hole in the lid of the chest freezer. I placed a 1 1/4" outside diameter tube into the blower and fed it 3/4 of the way up the tower (just below the tap actually) I cut a small hole in the hose and fed the beer line inside the 1 1/4" hose up the tower to the tap. When I place my hand over the hole on the underside of the lid I feel a decent airflow coming out. I also tested the temp inside the hose where I fed the beer line through (which is still inside the chest). The temp there was about 40 degrees also. That's why I think the blower may be heating the air slightly.

Mike

[lunkhead]

Do you have any specs or part number for the blower. If it's an A/C powered unit it may be too much for your application, The blower is working too hard to move air into a small area and it warms up.

[Mike5150]

Sure, here's some info off of the tag.

Dayton
Mod: 2C782
HP: 1/250
RPM:3160
Volts: 115

It is an AC powered unit, and your probably right about it working too hard. The motor is pretty warm, especially when you consider it's been sitting in a 33 degree chest freezer. Would wiring it up to a dimmer switch help, or should I get a new fan? If a new fan is the way to go, any suggestions on what specs to look for would be appreciated.

Thanks alot!
Mike

[Mike5150]

Think I may have answered my own question. I have a spare dimmer switch from a recent remodeling project, so I wired that up to the blower. Unfortunately it doesn't work too well. The dimmer doesn't really let me adjust the blower very much. It goes from high (normal speed) to very low speed and very little air flow. It doesn't give me much of a range. I either need to use something else to adjust the fan speed, or get a different blower I think.

Mike

[joepizi]

I am not sure what the problem with the foam is, but I have the same blower with a similar hose size and I do not get the first glass of foam. I used to when I wasn't getting return airflow back into the chest but it doesnt sound like that is your problem since you can feel the air coming back into the chest.

Even though 40 is higher than the temp in the chest, I would think it is still a good enough temp for the beer to not be foamy. I doubt you could get the tower the exact same temperature as the chest since the tower is not insulated as well as the chest.

I can measure the temp of my tower when I get home if you like.

[Mike5150]

If it's not too much of a hassle, I'd appreciate it if you could meause the temp in your tower. Maybe I will take my tap off the tower and stick it in the chest for a bit to see if that helps. If you wouldn't mind, I'm curious if your motor housing is warm to the touch also.

Thanks!
Mike

[lunkhead]

The blower is going to be like a 25 to 35 watt light bulb in your 5.5cuft unit. With the dimmer you say it runs slow but as long as it moves air and stays cool it should work, but. How long of a run are you trying to cool? How insulated is the run? Can you still feel return air at the lower speed?

[Mike5150]

Looks like the blower is still getting warm, even on the slow speed. One thing I just thought of...the wires on the blower are identical and there are no markings or indications which should be connected to the hot and which should be neutral. Would that make a difference? As for the run, it's a 12 inch tall tower mounted to the lid of the chest freezer. There is a 2-3 foot hose connected to the blower and running up the tower which currently has no insulation (I removed it to improve the airflow). But sticking one of those pencil like thermometers in the end of the blower hose is giving me a 40-42 degree reading, so the air is already warmed before it even gets there.

Mike

[psychodad]

It is an AC blower, so which wire is hot and which is neutral isn't going to matter.

I'd do an experiment. Remove the dimmer and restrict the blower inlet with a piece of cardboard and let us know what that does for your fan motor temperature. With this type of blower, if you reduce the amount of air that it can take in, the amps should go down and so should the heat.

[joepizi]

I felt the blower and yes it feels warm, but I would think that too much air passes through the blower for the warm temperature of the blower to really transfer that much heat to the air going to the tower.

I tried measuring the temp of the tower but the thermometer I have is the one from micromatic that is surrounded by water so it wouldnt really fit in the tower without cutting off return airflow. I took it out of the water and measured and I actually got about 45 degrees in the tower, and in the chest it is around 38-40 degrees. I don't know how accurate the tower measurement was.

I would still think 40 degrees in the tower is cold enough to not produce foam. I have more foam on my first pour than on the following pours, but it is certainly not half of a pint glass. With Budweiser set at 11-12psi, I get about 1 inch of foam for the first pint, the following pours probably have about 1/2 inch of head.

I just don't think you are ever going to get the tower to the exact same temp as the chest, it is just not insulated enough.

Some people have said just installing a PC fan in the chest in addition to the blower has helped circulate the air and create a more unified temperature.

Another suggestion is to use a thermometer to find the coldest spot in your chest, and then place the blower there to ensure you get the coldest air going up to the tower, but unless you have a big temperature differential, this probably won't make a difference.

[lunkhead]

I'd say give the last few suggestions a try, but if none work you may need to use a dc blower. The blower I have only uses about 1.5 watts. Also your tower may sweat when it gets warmer without any isulation.

[Mike5150]

I tried the experiment, and the blower was still warm, but not quite as warm. It didn't solve the problem with the tower temp though, it was still around 40 degrees up there.

The temp is pretty much the same inside the freezer everywhere so moving it around probably wouldn't do much. I've been told that anything over 38 degrees could cause foaming in the line. Not sure if that's true or not though.

Lunkhead...would you be able to steer me in the right direction with a manufacturer, model number and where I might be able to find the dc blower? Hopefully that will work for me.

Thank you all for all of the help and suggestions! I really do appreciate it!
Mike

[lunkhead]

I've got it explained here, Tower Cooling for Danby DKC645 or ??? There are a few .coms mentioned but are not links. Just put the www in your address bar to check the sites. As for an exact model that's going to depend on what you have room for. I use a 30cfm, 24 vdc unit but run it at 7.5 vdc to cut the cfm's down, 30 cfm is too much. 5 to 10 cfm would be plenty, but you could get a unit like mine with a variable output supply and set it up as needed.

[Scott Zuhse]

A lot of great posts on the warm tower issue. Have you focused on the actual PSIG to the keg based on your beer temperature? Most certainly a warm tower will cause gas breakout behind the faucet as will insufficient pressure.