Newbie Needs Help!!

[houstonhog]

Ready to start my first freezer conversion, but need a few questions answered first.
Before I ask the questions let me explain my setup.
I have a 7.0 Cubic foot chest freezer. I have the converstion kit from Micromatic plus the thermostat control. I have everything I need except for the keg, which I will purchase once my project is complete.

1) Living in the Dallas area, is it okay to leave my chest freezer in the garage or will the high temperatures cause problems?

2) I plan on drilling in only 2 places. One on the top door for the tower, and the other hole will be for the E26 temperature contoller. Any advice on where to drill the hole for the temperature controller?

3) What do I use to insulate the areas in which I drill the holes? Do I need some sort of plug, silicone, etc.??

In case you haven't figured it out, I am a little mechanically challenged, but am ready to take on this project...

Thanks for any help you can give me.

[joepizi]

Ready to start my first freezer conversion, but need a few questions answered first.
Before I ask the questions let me explain my setup.
I have a 7.0 Cubic foot chest freezer. I have the converstion kit from Micromatic plus the thermostat control. I have everything I need except for the keg, which I will purchase once my project is complete.

1) Living in the Dallas area, is it okay to leave my chest freezer in the garage or will the high temperatures cause problems?

2) I plan on drilling in only 2 places. One on the top door for the tower, and the other hole will be for the E26 temperature contoller. Any advice on where to drill the hole for the temperature controller?

3) What do I use to insulate the areas in which I drill the holes? Do I need some sort of plug, silicone, etc.??

In case you haven't figured it out, I am a little mechanically challenged, but am ready to take on this project...

Thanks for any help you can give me.

1) The chest freezer will probably be fine maintaining the appropriate temperature in the heat. I think the units that have problems in the heat are the prebuilt units that were only designed to get down to 32-38F, whereas a chest freezer was designed to go well below this temperature. One problem you will have is your tower will get warmer due to the outside temperature so you need to make sure you have a good blower setup with plenty of airflow to cool the tower. The warm air will be returning back into the freezer so your compressor will be working harder than if it were not in a hot environment, but I still think it will be fine.

2) You don't need to drill a hole for the temp controller. You can keep the controller itself on the outside and just lay the wire for the temp probe between the lid and the freezer. If you do not like the way this looks, some people have removed some of the insulation on the lid and drilled through the back wall of the lid. Avoid drilling anywhere but on the lid as there are cooling lines all over the place in the walls of the freezers and if you drill into one you will be in the market for a new freezer.

3) When installing the tower on the freezer lid, I think the kit comes with a rubber grommet that goes between the tower and the top of the lid and that is all you need to seal that. Any other holes to run wires, etc. yes you can seal up with silicone.

[houstonhog]

Thanks!

I appreciate the input. I will let you know how it goes!

[Hendu]

Just finished my conversion of a Frigidaire 7.2 cu ft freezer and I just ran the temp probe cable and the power cable for my blower between the gasket on the lid. The only hole I drilled was for the tower. I also used velcro to fasten the blower box and the thermostat to the freezer. I didn't want any holes except in the lid. I'll post pics soon. Thanks to Jibmeister for his pics and idea.

[houstonhog]

What kind of Blower?

What kind of blower did you buy for your tower?

Thanks!

[Hendu]

I just used the blower box instructions to make my blower unit. It's just a 12v computer fan w/ a cell phone charger. I have 1" OSD(outside diameter) PVC piping and a flex hose running it up the tower.

I have pics and will post them soon.

[Hendu]

Here's how the cables from the thermostat and blower run. Just between the base and lid.



Here's a few more in no particular order:

Underside of lid showing the support plank I glued to hold the mounting bolts:


Inside w/ everything(except CO2 and keg) hooked up.


Finished (black and gold since it's in our Saints room):

[bard]

I would probably mount the faucet inside the freezer. Sure it won't look as cool as a tower sticking up, but you won't have to worry about cooling the faucet/tower, fruit flies or banging the tower/faucet against the wall while replacing kegs.

[mark_ksz]

I would probably mount the faucet inside the freezer. Sure it won't look as cool as a tower sticking up, but you won't have to worry about cooling the faucet/tower, fruit flies or banging the tower/faucet against the wall while replacing kegs.

Why would he do that??? He already has the blower set up and if he wanted to do what you suggested I am sure he would have just done a regular refridgerator conversion and save money on the tower.

Came out looking good man.

[bard]

Because I was referring to houstonhog that's looking to build one, not Hendu who replied with pics. Looks good btw. Indoor unit, tower. Garage unit in Dallas (I'm up the road in Frisco), no tower. Just my opinion.

[Hendu]

One of the reasons for a tower, was the boss(wife) thought it looked better being a themed unit(eventually)

We're here in Shreveport, LA and outside unit would be a booger to cool. My blower set up keeps the tower VERY chilly. I'm atually worried that I may get some condensation build up and have to manually turn it on and off.

As of now, I have it and the freezer plugged into the thermostat so that they come on at the same time. I may have to change that since the tower will be a bit warmer than the base, but we'll see.

Keg goes in tomorrow just in time for the weekend.

[40percentrobot]

Houstonhog-

I'm in Fort Worth, and last week my brother (Geoffrey_pop) & I converted a 7.0 cu ft freezer. It's in his garage, and with the fake "brewer's edge" clone temperature controller we wired up, it's working just fine and holding a nice, steady temp.

As others have mentioned, the tower cooling is a bit of an issue, but we're still in the preliminary design phases...(BTW, we might have to steal Hendu's design )

The only mod we had to make to the freezer itself (besides the hole for the tower) was a section of relief cut out of the interior of the lid to accommodate the height of the coupler and beer line.

Good luck!

[Hendu]

I actually robbed Jibmeister for the design. I just opted not to use the wooded top although we may install that at a later date.

If you have any questions, just ask and rob away, no patents here.