Chest Freezer Without A Collar?

[Snow]

Folks,

through misfortune (or fortune, depending which way you look at it), this year's floods in Brisbane wrecked my chest freezer kegerator and the insurance company have come good on their word and are in the process of procuring me a 500L brand new chesty! As a part of the general renovations following flood damage, we have decided to re-build the bar so it can accommodate said chest freezer.

However, what I was hoping to do is set up my font/s on top of the bar and have the beer lines running from the chesty in some way. I was hoping to avoid using a collar and I don't want to drill into the freezer if I can avoid it. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how this can be done without voiding the warranty? Or, at a stretch, can I drill through the magnetic sealing strip in the lid (which may not void warranty?)?

Sorry the freezer hasn't arrived yet so no picks, but it's a 500L Westinghouse.

Cheers - Snow

 

[Darren]

Hey Snow,

Good fortune there 8)

Simply run the lines under the lid at the back of the freezer. I have a set-up like that I have been using for years without a problem.

The seal will eventually "mould" around the lines.

cheers

Darren

 

[Sammus]

could probably just run the lines under the seal. If your not using a collar then you don't really need a fan (although apparently they still have their advantages) so you wouldn't loose a lot to the outside.

I think Darren does it that way, or used to or something... (Edit: haha, well there you go..he beat me to it)

Also it is important to insulate your lines, or you'll waste a lot of beer, everything that has warmed up in the lines between the freezer and bar will come out as foam otherwise. gl with it! it's something I've always wanted to do.

 

[crundle]

Hi Snow,

hard to say without seeing pics of the freezer, but if you don't want to do any modifications, then you may have to put the lines where the sealing strip is and fudge the gaps a bit with silicon. This should do what you want it to do without any modification to the actual body of the freezer.

Is the sealing strip a traditional one, like on most fridges/freezers, or is it something different altogether? A 'normal' sealign strip is about 10mm in width, so a line could be passed through without damaging the freezer itself with a bit of effort. In my opinion, messing with the sealing strip, as long as it is done in a way that does not impinge on the operation of the freezer (such as leaving a gaping hole that makes the compressor need to work much harder than normal), should not void your warranty, but if you are worried, then contact Westinghouse and ask them.

When you are able to, post up some pics of the sealing strip for some more feedback.

cheers,

Crundle

 

[Snow]

Hey thanks guys - that's exactly what I'll do! Sammus, I certainly do intend to insulate the lines - I hate wasting beer!

Cheers - Snow.

 

[Snow]

Hi Snow,

hard to say without seeing pics of the freezer, but if you don't want to do any modifications, then you may have to put the lines where the sealing strip is and fudge the gaps a bit with silicon. This should do what you want it to do without any modification to the actual body of the freezer.

Is the sealing strip a traditional one, like on most fridges/freezers, or is it something different altogether? A 'normal' sealign strip is about 10mm in width, so a line could be passed through without damaging the freezer itself with a bit of effort. In my opinion, messing with the sealing strip, as long as it is done in a way that does not impinge on the operation of the freezer (such as leaving a gaping hole that makes the compressor need to work much harder than normal), should not void your warranty, but if you are worried, then contact Westinghouse and ask them.

When you are able to, post up some pics of the sealing strip for some more feedback.

cheers,

Crundle

Thanks Crundle - good advice. I assume it's a standard strip (haven't seen it yet), but I'll post some photos when it arrives.

Cheers - Snow.

 

[Darren]

Snow,

If you are worried about letting warm air in under the seal between the lines, a small blob of Blutak around the gaps will fix it in a jiffy.

cheers

Darren

 

[floppinab]

Wouldn't be too afraid to hack into to freezer Snow, after my ancient freebe gave up the ghost I got a $200 F&P from grays and cut about a 10cm piece of the plastic the seal sits on, carefully scraped out the insultation, located the cooling & return lines and drilled/jigsawed up the holes for the insulator that holds the beer and flood lines to slot into. Sealed it back up with some spray foam.

Looks tidy and seals up very well. Didn't take all that long and works a lot better in terms keeping your lines completely enclosed inside the insulator into the freezer. Do a google search there were some pics in a forum I took my lead from.

 

[T.D.]

Yep, bluetak is a keg fridge's best friend!

 

[Frag_Dog]

I was thinking about getting a new, or different lid for the freezer and that way you could knock holes, add fans whatever. This way you could mount taps on top. But I ended up building a collar.

I think having fans is a good idea. They are not that hard to buy (any shop that sells computer components) and get running (I used an old Nokia Charger). Saves a bit of hassle (My fan unplugged over a weekend and I froze all my beer. So I had to take all the kegs out and de-gas and re-gas them. Bit of a PITA).