|
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I was really hoping for a nice looking unit that would allow me to store everything inside and not break the bank. I've seen a few homemade kegerators made from old refrigerators or freezers. I don't have the room for anything of that size in my house. And I don't like the look of a CO2 tank hanging off the side of the smaller units like the one pictured below.
The specialized kegerator units on the market are made for commercial kegs but can be modified for use with Corny's. My cost/benefit analysis quickly yielded the sad truth that it was close to twice as much money to buy a commercial unit and modify it to my needs than it would be to build one myself.
 |
So after much research and debate I finally found this unit at
Sears. It's a Kenmore Elite model #95499. I happened to
catch it on sale and took it home for $183 out the door after all was
said and done. They even loaded it into my truck. This is the only unit they had that didn't have a freezer and was tall enough, wide and deep enough inside to house 2 Corny kegs and the CO2 unit. But just barely enough room as you'll see in the succeeding pictures.
|
| Here's the unit as it looks out of the box. It's
actually a nice looking fridge. It has a couple of glass shelves
and a crisper in the main unit. The door has nice storage and even
a can dispenser that looks to hold a six-pack of your favorite beverages.
The coldness temperature control is located on the top right with the interior light bulb just behind. This is perfect as my faucet tower will be in the middle of the fridge top relieving me of having to deal with any issues associated with this controller. |
 |
 |
Here I've just removed the shelves to get a better look at the unit. You can see the main cooling element hangs on the back wall which works out well as the little ledge in the bottom back which houses the compressor will keep the Corny's from hitting it. |
| The top of the unit has a nice little black plastic
recessed cover that will be great for containing any spills that may
happen.
I taped down some paper to use as my template for the placement of the dual-faucet tower. The top is ~20 inches deep, so I decided to place the tower directly in the center. This turns out to be the perfect placement as this unit has a compressor coil that runs up one side, over the top and back down the other side at ~7 inches from the rear of the fridge. Were one to cut a hole in the unit at this precise location, one would hear a loud hissing noise as all the compressor charge would escape and render the unit useless. DAMHIKT!!!!!!!!! |
 |
 |
If I can offer any assistance with cutting a hole in this fridge,
here it is: Beg, borrow, buy or steal a 2 1/2 inch hole saw blade that fits onto your hand drill. I'll post a picture of the one I purchased below. Drill from the inside of the fridge first through the white plastic interior just enough to score the plastic with the bits teeth. Then remove the twist bit from the hole saw bit and use just the hole saw bit to finish this cut. I say this because the twist bit extends 1 inch proud of the hole saw teeth and the distance between the white plastic and the compressor coils is close to 2 inches. So in the interest of conservatism and not puncturing these coils, I highly recommend going slowly and spending the extra time finishing up this cut with care. |
 |
Here's a look at the 2 1/2 inch hole saw cutter. You can see
the twist bit protruding out the top. This should be removed once
the hole is started enough to finish up without it. Make sure this bit is rated to cut metal. They sell cheapo's that are made for wood and plastic and whatnot. But you'll have a tough time getting through the metal shell of the fridge without a metal cutting bit. Once you have the white plastic removed, then use your fingers to carefully pull away all the insulation in this hole. That way you will feel the coil if you happen to have made your hole where it lies as it's taped to the underside of the metal siding. If so, you can easily re-locate your hole without marring the top of the unit. |
| Once the insulation is removed and you're confident that
the coils are nowhere near your hole, put the twist bit back into the
hole saw bit and continue drilling your hole from the inside out through
the top.
Here's a picture of the completed 2 1/2 inch hole. You can also see the nice sunken top that will be excellent for containing spills should they happen. And you just know they're going to happen. |
 |
 |
I made sure to clean out some extra insulation a little deeper into
the fridge where my 4 post holes would hit. I wanted to be sure
that none of these 4 holes would hit the coil either.
Turns out I was about an inch away from the coil on the back 2 holes. After pulling some additional insulation I could see the coil running along the inside of the unit. |
| This is a picture taken from the inside of the fridge. Once all the holes were drilled I took some black duct tape and made sure to cover the insulation and overlap on the top and bottom. This will help to keep the unit leak-proof and provide a nice entrance for the cold air to make it's way up the insulated dual-faucet tower. |
 |
 |
A picture taken from the top.
The duct tape will be covered by a circular gasket that came with the faucet tower and additionally by the tower itself. |
| Here's how the unit looks after installing the dual-faucet tower. |
 |
 |
Another view. You can see the beverage lines terminate with commercial keg adapters. These will be cut off and replaced with ball-lock adapters for Corny kegs later. |
| Now it's onto the door. As it turns out, the door
shuts perfectly with 2 Corny's inside and would be great additional
storage space if you do choose to mount the CO2 tank on the outside. I, however have chosen to forgo the space and mount my CO2 tank to the inside of the door. So off comes the plastic door panel after removing approximately 1000 little screws. (slight exaggeration) |
 |
 |
After some measuring and re-measuring I figured out that my 5lb CO2
tanks diameter was just slightly too large to fit onto the door. It hit
the Corny's and kept the door from closing by such a small margin, but
enough that I'd have to modify it somehow. I decided to cut a little bit out of the door itself to fit the CO2 tank. This worked out well because the tank now sits on the bottom of the door cutout as well as the little metal L-bracket that I installed for it to sit on. Now there is less weight on the bracket itself as it's dispersed across both the bracket and the door. The tank will be secured by large velcro straps. You can see the marking to the right and left of the cutout where I'll cut and fit the straps. |
| I had to cut a hole for the PSI regulator gauge as well. Because I have dual gas lines coming from the regulator I had to tip it back a bit so that the lines would stand proud of the tank. |
 |
 |
Here's the new door with the magnetic weather stripping attached.
I've completed the cutouts for the velcro straps as well. |
| This is a tough picture to make out, but it's a side
view showing just how little of the tank protrudes out the back of the
door. The black in the foreground is the side of the magnetic weather stripping. The metal and screws below are reinforcing that I used on the back of the door to hold the L-bracket that's on the front. |
 |
 |
Here's a better view of the back of the door.
This one shows the back of the PSI regulator gauge on the top and the tank with one velcro strap attached. |
| I had to make one final modification before attaching
the new door panel. This required hollowing out a little
bit of the door insulation to accommodate the tank and PSI gauge that
protrude through the back of the door. I placed the tank in the middle of the door as it fits perfectly between the 2 Corny's when the door is closed. I also screwed one of the door shelves below the tank. This is a great place to put my faucet wrench, spare O-rings and whatnot. |
 |
 |
The regulator adjustment knob fits perfectly in that space just over the Corny's and just
under the refrigerator top when the door's closed. The refrigerator floor has two speed bumps on either side. I placed a scrap piece of the 1/4" medite from the door panel between the speed bumps to make a flat surface for the Corny's to sit upon. Oh yeah, don't forget to unscrew and remove the light bulb. It will stay on permanently when you close the door unless you modify the door with something to push in the button to the right of the temperature controller. I chose to just unscrew and remove it. You really don't need light in there anyway.
|
|
So as you can see there are tight tolerances with this setup but all in all I satisfied all of my wants and desires in a home kegerator system with little room to spare. I'm very happy with this setup. It looks great from the outside and works like a charm.
|
 |
