Glass Door Commercial Fridge

[reg]

Have just had a score of a commercial single door fridge that was not working.
Had a play and found the thermostat was rooted.
Anyway modified wiring and installed a fridgemate and BOBs your uncle.

Just thinking whether to use it as a fermentation fridge or for a keg set up.
If I use it for a keg set up I need to put taps in the door through the glass.
Has anyone done this or seen a set up of it being done?

Can I use a holesaw or do I need to take it to glazier?
Failing that I could replace the glass with timber but this eliminates part of the appeal of a glass door fridge.

I could fit 6 kegs in my other fridge but could fit 8 in the glass door one..

Also are commercial compressors very hardy and could I run the fridgemate setting at 3 minutes rather than 9?

Any advice wanted, any pics better..

Edit:the compressor setting on fridgemate added

 

[joecast]

firstly, way to go scoring the fridge. they're kind of like fermenters, can never have too many

if you already have a six keg fridge, id leave the new one as a ferment fridge. then you dont have to worry about putting taps through the glass. also allows to you keep an eye on your fermenters without opening the door so easy to tell when they stop bubbling.
but i do see your dilemma, a keg fridge with a glass door is pretty cool
joe

 

[PostModern]

You can't cut glass with a standard holesaw. If the glass is toughened (there should be a small stamp on it somewhere if it is and you'll see either "waves" in the glass from the rollers or pin prints near one edge if it went thru a hanging toughener), then it cannot be cut. As soon as you try to cut to bore thru toughened glass, the whole sheet will shatter into tiny fragment. I don't know the requirement/standard for fridge doors, but I think they could be toughened or laminated. I also assume they are double glazed, so you'd need to get the holes put in exactly in line.

If I remember right from my days in the trade, drilling a hole up to about 10mm through up to 5mm thick glass was about $5. Cutting a larger hole requiring a diamond edged hole saw was about $20-$30, and that was if you bought the glass itself from the factory. The reason it costs so much is because the cutting bits wear very quickly, so you're essentially paying for replacement of the tools and for the risk of broken sheets. We didnt do outside orders for things like that, because who paid for breakages never goes without an argument.

EDIT: now that I think about it, you could just order the sheets with the holes and swap them over rather than trying to cut then refit your existing glass. I'd go 6.38 lamminate x 2

 

[Rex]

If I use it for a keg set up I need to put taps in the door through the glass.
Has anyone done this or seen a set up of it being done?

Can I use a holesaw or do I need to take it to glazier?

I wouldn't recommend messing with the glass door. As they are usually double glass with a vacuum in between. So cutting it will likely cause it to shatter or just fall to bits when you try and mount the taps solidly.

Also the other reason they are double glass vacuum sealed is for better insulation for keeping the cold in. So you'd almost certainly end up with a much bigger power bill than doing this with a normal fridge.

 

[ausdb]

The moment you put a hole through the double glazed doors you will kill whatever insulating properties they have, plus as has been said they are more than likely some sort of safety glass so probably wont liek having holes drilled in them anyway.

 

[TerritoryBrew]

If I use it for a keg set up I need to put taps in the door through the glass.
Has anyone done this or seen a set up of it being done?
Edit:the compressor setting on fridgemate added

I got given a three door Coke fridge last year. The idea I had was not to cut the glass but the put the taps on the side of the fridge, with Blackboard spray paint on the side so I could write the names of the brews above the taps.

Haven't done it yet though.

Cheers,

 

[brendanos]

put the taps on the side of the fridge

Beat me to it!

 

[newguy]

Reg,

I have a single door commercial cooler as well. As others have suggested, put the taps through the side of the cooler, not the door. Pics can be found here.

 

[enoch]

My three door had a broken thermostat which had just been bypssed so it ran permanently by shorting the two wires to the thermostat out. Fridgemate then is then used as you would on a standard fridge with the thermo turned down.
I wouldn't touch the glass - taps on the side or inside the front door at the top as in..

 

[reg]

My three door had a broken thermostat which had just been bypssed so it ran permanently by shorting the two wires to the thermostat out. Fridgemate then is then used as you would on a standard fridge with the thermo turned down.
I wouldn't touch the glass - taps on the side or inside the front door at the top as in..

Enoch what setting do you have the compressor (F1) set to?
It recommends 9 minutes for a fridge but the default is 3 minutes.
I was thinking of 3 minutes.

 

[reg]

Enoch does the insulating foil help much?

 

[enoch]

Enoch what setting do you have the compressor (F1) set to?
It recommends 9 minutes for a fridge but the default is 3 minutes.
I was thinking of 3 minutes.

It is set to the default setting which I think is 9 minutes (its longer than 3)
With a minimum of 3 x 45 litre kegs plus wine and stuff there is a fair amount of thermal mass.

Enoch does the insulating foil help much?

That was first step. Subsequently it has a layer of blue foam on the inside and a layer of masonite pop rivetted to the door frame to hold another layer of blue foam to the outside.
Runs about a $1 on a hot day and 30c to 50c on more normal days.

 

[J.T]

Also are commercial compressors very hardy and could I run the fridgemate setting at 3 minutes rather than 9?

Is that 3mins on 3mins off?

As with any compressor, the more they cut in and out - the shorter their life will be. Especially cutting in soon after it has stopped. A short off time doesnt allow the high pressure side to equalise, meaning the compressor has increased load at start up.

 

[bigfridge]

My three door had a broken thermostat which had just been bypssed so it ran permanently by shorting the two wires to the thermostat out. Fridgemate then is then used as you would on a standard fridge with the thermo turned down.

Guys,

You need to be a bit careful here. Commercial fridges have huge cooling power so the control systems are a little different - they need to go through a de-icing stage. I have seen 2 ways that this is done:

- The temperature controller has a fixed maximum temperature and lower temps are achieved by setting a wider range. The max temp might be set at 4 degrees and to get a 0 deg minimum the range is set to 4 degrees meaning that the compressor runs until 0 is hit and then the power is cut allowing it to warm up to 4 deg before the power comes on again. This allows any ice that formed on the evaporator to melt.

- There is a defrost timer that cuts the power a few times a day for 30 minutes that allows the temperature to drift up and melt any ice.

While you can put an external controller in the circuit unless you allow any ice to melt away you will cause yourself big problems.

Dave

 

[dr K]

Failing that I could replace the glass with timber but this eliminates part of the appeal of a glass door fridge.

For those who have seen inside my fridge (and lived to tell the story) will assure you that glass fronts are not always appealing (thus mine is not !!)

K

 

[Doogiechap]

Aspro has a lovely example of a commercial glass door fridge setup with side mounted taps here
Cheers
Doug
PS Looking at it in the flesh I found it very asthetically pleasing (or maybe it was because he had just poured me a nice beer from it

 

[Barramundi]

you could always remove one of the peices of glass and substitute a peice of stainless steel to allow you to cut it and do whatever you please with it ....

 

[enoch]

You need to be a bit careful here. Commercial fridges have huge cooling power so the control systems are a little different - they need to go through a de-icing stage. I have seen 2 ways that this is done:
- The temperature controller has a fixed maximum temperature and lower temps are achieved by setting a wider range. The max temp might be set at 4 degrees and to get a 0 deg minimum the range is set to 4 degrees meaning that the compressor runs until 0 is hit and then the power is cut allowing it to warm up to 4 deg before the power comes on again. This allows any ice that formed on the evaporator to melt.
- There is a defrost timer that cuts the power a few times a day for 30 minutes that allows the temperature to drift up and melt any ice.
While you can put an external controller in the circuit unless you allow any ice to melt away you will cause yourself big problems.
Dave

My experience confirms this - the evap iced up over time and the efficiency went to @#%. I didn't see it because it is tucked away behind the white foam bit which stops all the cold air tumbling out when you open the fridge. I think it was a compounding thing were a little ice built up, the unit ran a bit longer so more ice built up which meant it ran a bit longer....

Solution was to put an always on computer fan in front of the evap to ensure there is always some air flow through it, also has made the temp in the cabinet uniform which alleviated some issues I had with carbonation breakout in the lines near the top of the cabinet. No issues now the unit comes on for a short while every hour or two to maintain th 6-8C its set at.