Fridge Surgery - Should It Be Done?

[pdilley]

I have a fridge finally!

Unfortunately still tied to my trailer under the 4 bay parking shed as I had to then meet the pig farmer down the road to go to a poultry auction in Colac... scored a breeding pair of Australorps for $22 oh yeah!

But a fridge! Now I can start getting off my duff and brewing again! oh yeah!

Ok with the fridge. The thermostat is shot as the previous owner reported milk being cold and sometimes warm.

I can see the seal on the top freezer is a bit iffy on one corner. I need to inspect it in more detail next time to see if its a solid seal or not.

Because I wanted a fridge only or freezer only for space to put at least two fermenters in, one on top of the other I am debating in my mind if I should cut the bottom of the freezer and top of the refrigerator out to make one large area inside and then use the existing shelving or build a wooden interior shelving to handle two fermenters.

My question is what should I expect in that common shared surface between the freezer and fridge. Wires?

and what should be the best tool to use. I have of course my large contractors angle grinder with long life cutting wheel that will do the job in a few seconds, but if someone has done surgery like this before I am all for having a listen to any advice.


Cheers,
Brewer Pete

 

[leiothrix]

i'd suggest doing any surgery with hand tools. It means you can feel what you're doing and hopefully not cut any gas lines.

there are a few videos on youtube for locating gas lines. they use a paste made of isopropanol and flour. spread this all over the surface your looking to modify and turn the fridge on. if there are gas lines nearby you will (err, should) see the lines appear in the flour paste.

 

[MHB]

Think this might be like the perennial wiring questions, if you have to ask you probably shouldnt be doing it!
MHB

 

[Wolfy]

My question is what should I expect in that common shared surface between the freezer and fridge. Wires?

and what should be the best tool to use. I have of course my large contractors angle grinder with long life cutting wheel that will do the job in a few seconds, but if someone has done surgery like this before I am all for having a listen to any advice.

I'd expect you found loops, or rows of cooling coil (that's how it is with our 3 fridges).

If you only have 1 fridge and you don't want to risk breaking it, I'd not use any tools, just leave it as it is (even after working out where the coils were I still put the drill through one of the loops).
However if you do want to remove the shelf/surface between the fridge and freezer, use only hand tools, and even then there is still a risk of putting something through the coil.
Most often you'll find that the top/inside of the fridge is plastic so cutting into that first (after you have identified the rough location of where the cooling coil is) is a good place to start.
Then you have to remove all the insulation/foam/stuff and that should allow you to expose where the cooling coil is and remove the top part of the shelf with less risk, however you may also find that the cooling coils are glued or stuck to the surface which makes your job harder again.

 

[ChrisECarpenter]

Take it from my personal experience - don't drill or cut the sides walls of your fridge lightly!
Last week, despite my best efforts to locate the cooling coils, I hole-sawed the gas coil in the side of my large upright fridge.
Since it's not worth repairing, I now have a well insulated tall box for ferments (and making soft cheese!).

I would suggest that you put everything you can through the door- at least this won't have gas coils or wiring in it.
You could even feed your gas line through the door seal on the hinge-side of the door, and re-seal around it with some silicone.

Whatever you do, take it very slowly!
C

 

[[email protected]]

Have you considered using willow cubes to ferment in? few fridges wont fit 2 of this in them. Also with my fridge freezer I use the freezer for lagering, it stays around 1-2 C when the main fridge is at 18-20. Just have to transfer the beer into 2 10l jerry cans and I can ferment several ales while I cook a lager for 6 weeks in the same fridge. If you can find a way of not having to cut out this partition I would take it as stated above, many things can go wrong. Take some measurements, goto bunnings and see what containers you can fit 2 in your fridge. You may need to mix and match and use some tetris skills.