Advice on DIY refrigerated cabinet please?

[431neb]

Yeah seems that way. It's sitting on 5.5 degrees so I'd say that I've done enough now to prove that this was a misguided idea. The compressor in the bar fridge is too small even though the increase in volume is only a moderate (I thought) 200% and the increase in the insulation was significant.

I'll battle on and see how long this little fridge can last once the box is sealed and the kegs are in there. At worst I'll stick with my current setup and I've picked up a chamber for lagers.

 

[Dips Me Lid]

Worth a shot mate, I've seen some compressors last for a long time under stressful conditions, a circulation fan in there, shitloads of sealant and good airflow across the condenser coil, it might hold on.

 

[TheWiggman]

There's hope yet, you just need to mount the fridge correctly. You said it was the outside of the fridge that acted as the condenser so if you're getting 5.5°C and it's covered, then changing your mounting may be good enough.
Any part of the refrigeration circuit that acts as the condenser needs to be exposed to ambient air or have good cirulation with cool air to function properly. Otherwise all you're doing is pumping energy into the insulation rather than removing it from the cooling space, and in fact are probably putting some of this energy into the cooled space as heat.

Considering the size it'll take a longer time to cool the space, but if your insulation is top notch the fridge should be able to handle it.

 

[Dips Me Lid]

Excellent points, the insulation between the space you're cooling and where the condenser is rejecting heat is important, as Wiggman stated you don't want rejected heat migrating back into the cooled area.

It's difficult to tell from the photos but if as you say the fridge is rejecting heat from the side panels then removing that insulation from the sides and building a panel that separates the cooled area from the rest of the fridge would be worth a shot.

Foam tape could provide a decent seal around the door and sealant around all the edges and corners will help to stop ingress of heat as well.

 

[431neb]

The best it's done is 3.3 degrees.

I'm actually wondering if the fridge is faulty because I went out the other day to check and it was reading 12 degrees so I unplugged it and threw my hands in the air. The bloke I got it from said it had a tendency to ice up. I paid no heed because I didn't imagine it would run so much and would therefore defrost between cycles.

I know that I introduced a poorly sealed segment when I removed the offending foam on the side of the fridge so there is still plenty of room for me having simply fu@%#d this up. I just don't have time to have a proper crack at it. Next move will be to get the Sikaflex out and seal her up properly and get a better fan to extract heat away from the evaporator(?) condensor(?) ..bugger it .. the hot part…...

 

[431neb]

Update on the build. Well it's more of an "unbuild" now. The jury is still out on the health of the fridge but I wasn't gonna spring for another one to test the theory. Plus if the fridge was OK then it seems like it was gonna be a hard get to make this work so I gave up. I know ! I'm a determined bugger aren't I?

You can't put sprinkles on a turd and call it a donut can you? Time for plan Z.