Kegerator Rebuild

[Sketch]

I have done some searching on this but can't seem to find any results that help me.

I am currently in the process rebuilding my kegerator with a new fridge. My previous system was an old side by side fridge, it fit a 1/2 barrel perfectly, however it was very inefficient to run. I have now replaced my kitchen fridge, making my old kitchen unit my kegerator, and am swapping all the parts out of the old side by side - as well as adding the components to run a second keg - a luxury the side by side wouldn't allow for. The new kegerator fridge is a standard design fridge on bottom, freezer on top. All the designs of this I have seen entail mounting the faucet right near the top of the fridge door, leaving the tap handle in perfect placement for the freezer door to open into.

I have thought about simply screwing the doors together so they have to open together, but this is less than ideal, in my opinion. I have seen somewhere a design where someone put a hole in the dividing ceiling/floor between the fridge and freezer, then ran the beer lines up into the freezer, and out from there. I can't seem to find any information on if this is a good idea or not. Obviously the beer can freeze if the freezer is too cold, but a bigger concern for me is drilling into anything.

I know most of you will simply tell me not to do it, or to consult the manufacturers specs on the product - which I will do once I get home this evening. I am more looking to hear from people that have physically tried this and the results they achieved. This is something I am not going to attempt unless I am 100% certain of the outcome. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thank You

[TomK]

Obviously the beer can freeze if the freezer is too cold,

Isn't that a show stopper? In order to get the fridge compartment cold enough for the beer, won't the freezer compartment be guaranteed to freeze it?

[cubby_swans]

If you can't control the freezer temp, you're going to freeze the beer at the faucet/shank.

How often do you need to open up the fridge?

If you don't want to screw the doors together, you could lower the tap handles.

[Sketch]

The freezer compartment has a separate temp control knob, so I can turn it down - I can also potentially insulate the lines once it they hit the freezer, with another option being drill the holes fairly large and attempt to blow the fridge temperature air in and seal them off from the colder air from the freezer.

All this is theory in my mind.

I don't open the fridge very often, nor the freezer - and lowering the handles isn't really an option unless I want to bend over to hold the glass.

[miller lite man]

I have the tap at 41 inches from the floor because of it being a little smaller from other refridgerators. it seemed low at first but it was the only one i had .Wife wanted the larger one .But after the conversion it doesnt look very bad at all, and I dont seem to have to really bend over so much ,but i dont know how tall you are i am 5-10 if that helps .And i also had a litte cooling issues but that was i kept opening the fridge every hour to check the temp . but when left closed overnight seemed to do very well and acually had to raise my dial to a higher temp at avery slow pace to hit 38-39 degree temp the way i personally enjoy my beer . My fridge if i let cool down if i wanted to could get to 31 beer temp if i keep the door closed for seveal hours before taking a reading. But once again from all the info we get from this forum we can see that the fridge needs time to cool and ajustments need to be made after .hope this helped a little.

[miller lite man]

Oh yah i forgot to mention alittle bending is a whole lot better than to cold or frozen beer in my opinion ,and the hassle of all the drilling that might not even work out well for you.

[panthermark]

I used a "medium sized" fridge for my conversion, and I too thought the faucets would be too low, but in the end.....the faucet is fine where it is at.

You really don't even notice it....

[Gordy]

How about extra short tap handles??? At any hardware store you can find knobs with the 3/8" x 16tpi insert which are all of 1-1/2" above the faucet. Also, you could raise the fridge. I put mine on casters raising it up about 6" and making it easy to move out of the way when needed.

[psychodad]

All the designs of this I have seen entail mounting the faucet right near the top of the fridge door, leaving the tap handle in perfect placement for the freezer door to open into.

I'd wager most of these you've seen were mistakes where someone drilled the door for the shanks and then went "DOH!!!!!" afterwards.

About the only thing that is going to seem odd to you is the faucets are just not going to be as high as they were with your old setup. You'll get used to it.

[THE ICEMAN]

I have done some searching on this but can't seem to find any results that help me.

I am currently in the process rebuilding my kegerator with a new fridge. My previous system was an old side by side fridge, it fit a 1/2 barrel perfectly, however it was very inefficient to run. I have now replaced my kitchen fridge, making my old kitchen unit my kegerator, and am swapping all the parts out of the old side by side - as well as adding the components to run a second keg - a luxury the side by side wouldn't allow for. The new kegerator fridge is a standard design fridge on bottom, freezer on top. All the designs of this I have seen entail mounting the faucet right near the top of the fridge door, leaving the tap handle in perfect placement for the freezer door to open into.

I have thought about simply screwing the doors together so they have to open together, but this is less than ideal, in my opinion. I have seen somewhere a design where someone put a hole in the dividing ceiling/floor between the fridge and freezer, then ran the beer lines up into the freezer, and out from there. I can't seem to find any information on if this is a good idea or not. Obviously the beer can freeze if the freezer is too cold, but a bigger concern for me is drilling into anything.

I know most of you will simply tell me not to do it, or to consult the manufacturers specs on the product - which I will do once I get home this evening. I am more looking to hear from people that have physically tried this and the results they achieved. This is something I am not going to attempt unless I am 100% certain of the outcome. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thank You

First of all, you do not have a refrigerator/freezer, you have a freezer/refrigerator. This means that all of your cooling comes from the freezer section.

I've not heard of anyone successfully running their lines into the freezer section. The lines WILL freeze.

As far as placement of the faucet, check the link to my build in my signature. I set my faucet at about 10 1/2 inches from the top of the cooler door. This will not allow you to use real tall handles but will still allow many. You just need to keep that in mind when you purchase handles. And that height is still very comfortable to pour.


THE ICEMAN

[panthermark]

Click on my photo album. My faucet is just low enough that I can open the freezer door without hitting the top of the handle...but I was just lucky. I didn't think about the actual handle part when I drilled my shank hole. But even if it were higher....I never open the freezer anyway....so what difference does it really make? It isn't like you will be going into the freezer all that often.

[GRENCH]

I agree that you will get used to the lower height. I use the MM 4" BOD handles and print my own labels or use bottle labels. Mine are as high as I could get them and still open the freezer door.
http://www.micromatic.com/draft-keg-...id-C100-4.html