Drilling A Hole In The Side Of A Fridge?

[Mitcho89]

Hi guys, Has anyone had any experience with putting a hole in the side for the gas line? Are there any Fridge lines in the insulation on the sides of the fridge? It's a reasonably oldish Admiral fridge if that helps. If not I'll go ahead and drill but I'd hate to render my fantastic 50 dollar fridge useless...

Thanks brewers,

Mitch

 

[MarkBastard]

Yes there is probably lines in the side of your fridge. This has been covered to death.

1 - If it's frost free there may already be a hole in your fridge you can run it out. Have a look.
2 - Do you really need to have your gas bottle outside the fridge?
3 - You can very carefully drill through the plastic only then scrape out the insulation and take a look where the lines are and manually find a way through. This is safer than just drilling.

 

[mkstalen]

I drilled a hole in the side of mine and didn't have a problem. But I know someone else on here did the same and hit a pipe & stuffed it. All depend on the type of fridge and where it's got the coils...

 

[Mitcho89]

Sorry mate, I didn't mean to kick up a slogged topic. I had a search but I couldn't find much at all. I'll have a good look and see what I can do.

Cheers Mark

 

[MarkBastard]

No need to say sorry, just saying that if you don't get heaps of replies it may be because it's been done to death. Also if you search harder you may find something. I'm pretty sure there was one in the last week or so.

 

[stux]

Hi guys, Has anyone had any experience with putting a hole in the side for the gas line? Are there any Fridge lines in the insulation on the sides of the fridge? It's a reasonably oldish Admiral fridge if that helps. If not I'll go ahead and drill but I'd hate to render my fantastic 50 dollar fridge useless...

Thanks brewers,

Mitch

Worked out a little trick recently.

I used a pair of airlock grommets to line either side of the hole on the fridge. If you use the right diameter, this will allow your gas line through with a snug fit and protect the line from damage from the rough metal

Then John Guest has you covered

 

[Bubba]

Hi guys, Has anyone had any experience with putting a hole in the side for the gas line? Are there any Fridge lines in the insulation on the sides of the fridge? It's a reasonably oldish Admiral fridge if that helps. If not I'll go ahead and drill but I'd hate to render my fantastic 50 dollar fridge useless...

Thanks brewers,

Mitch

Mate, depends on your fridge.
Mine didn't have anything in the sides, all the coils and bits and bobs were at the back, but previous advice is good...drill through the outer layer first then scrape away the insulation to see if anything is there. They are pretty thin so it will take you no time at all, and better safe than sorry!

 

[Pat Casey]

Newer fridges will have refrigerant lines in the side, and sometimes wiring. You can use a stud finder to locate the refrigerant lines. Otherwise, drill a very small pilot hole from the inside and gradually enlarge it.

Pat
Absolute Homebrew, St Marys
Casey's Beer

 

[argon]

3 - You can very carefully drill through the plastic only then scrape out the insulation and take a look where the lines are and manually find a way through. This is safer than just drilling.

+1 for this.. exactly what i did.. safest way IMO. I had no problems in mine and there was no lines.. but better to be safe than sorry. I started with the smallest bit i could find... drilled a little bit until i could see what was in there. When it was all clear drilled a pilot hole through the outside steel from the inside. Drilled again to the appropriate size and was all done.

 

[Mitcho89]

Fantastic advice everyone. Thanks a million, much appreciated. Seems like it's all coming together. Got my fridge, kegs, gas bottle, fridgemate, a huge esky, digital cooking probes to go through the lid of my esky for the Mash and a digital scale for my hop/grain.

Can't wait until she's all properly going!

 

[Beer Ninja]

Just finished sucessfully drilling a hole in the side of my fridge for a heat belt and Elitech STC 1000 sensor!

I was going to use the cornflower and rubbing alcohol (or methylated spirits) trick to locate potential gas lines but I noticed when I turned the fridge on that day the side got unusually warm trying to heat the fridge up in the garage that day, presumably because it was 30c+ and it was working hard.....

I pressed my hand against the warm fridge side, each time I found a warm part I put a black dot using a non permanent marker. I did this all over the fridge side, then looked at the resulting chaos and went off for a coffee.

When I went back I now saw that the dots clearly marked out a gas line (I 'joined up the dots' with the pen so you can see in the picture below)

Having decided were to drill the hole, I heated up a pallette knife at the end on using the gas stove (a blow lamp would be better....) and carefully pressed it into the plastic side wall of the fridge. I went in just as far the thickness of the plastic, you can tell when it's enough as the resistance to the knife lessens.

I did this fout times to make a square hole and pulled off the surface plastic to reveal the inner foam of the fridge wall.

Having done this I took out the foam from behind the hole (carefully) with a screwdriver - when I hit the inside fridge wall I knew I was home and dry. All that was left to do was dill the hole. This went OK but I had to use the drill bit to elongate the hole to allow for the thickness of the heating belt, resulting in a jagged hole that needed cleaning up.

All I need to do now is fill the hole with expanding foam or plug it with a 35mm bit of thick polystyrene. We'll see, I don't think I can bring myself to buy a can of foam for a 35mm hole!

Now I've got a temperature controlled fermenting fridge I'm definiley looking forward to making more drinkable brews! :chug:

 

[Beerisyummy]

You could always try contacting the manufacturer. I recently did this for my Bromic glass front fridge.

Or try this......Pretty easy to miss the pipes! :lol:

 

[Edak]

You guys revived a 3.5 year old thread! Nevertheless, i put a tiny hole from the inside then pushed through a paperclip to feel around before drilling a 10mm hole. Needless to say i didnt make a hole large enough for a plug, i put the cable through then put the AC plug on.

 

[Beer Ninja]

You could always try contacting the manufacturer. I recently did this for my Bromic glass front fridge.

Or try this......Pretty easy to miss the pipes! :lol:

20140208_204703.jpg

Class :super:

 

[Beerisyummy]

You guys revived a 3.5 year old thread! Nevertheless, i put a tiny hole from the inside then pushed through a paperclip to feel around before drilling a 10mm hole. Needless to say i didnt make a hole large enough for a plug, i put the cable through then put the AC plug on.

Whoops! I didn't see the date on the OP.

 

[APT]

You could always try contacting the manufacturer. I recently did this for my Bromic glass front fridge.

Or try this......Pretty easy to miss the pipes! :lol:
View attachment 68610

Hi mate
I know this is going back a while, but how is the glass front fridge going with your keg set up? Would you recommend with a glass front bar fridge? I have a beef eater 2 door that I'm considering putting a hole in the top of. Would you recommend it?
Cheers

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Hi mate
I know this is going back a while, but how is the glass front fridge going with your keg set up? Would you recommend with a glass front bar fridge? I have a beef eater 2 door that I'm considering putting a hole in the top of. Would you recommend it?
Cheers

If you want to drill a hole in the top and miss the coolant lines make a paste with corn flour and ethanol, paint the paste over the top of the fridge while it is running and it will dry quicker over the coolant lines mapping their position.

 

[theredone]

does the gas bottle not fit inside? or is there a preference to keep it out?

even if it didnt you could always just grab a small bottle to keep your kegs topped up, and do your initial forced carb through your main bottle. you can even grab filling attachments for the small sodastream bottle so you can refill from your main bottle whenever you want. just a thought.

 

[pietv81]

Guys hi.I want to drill a whole in my single toploader fridge to fit a lock to it to lock its lid to its body