I Need Help With My Chest Freezer!

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kman

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the worse conceivable thing just happened to me. I was drilling the holes for my gas lines to go from gas bottle to kegs. I did what someone else here surgested (well tried to atleast) drilled a hole throught the sheet metal and feel around for any lines inside.

that worked fine for 2 holes, and then for the 3rd hole (i wanted 3 holes as i want to have 3 mini regs on the outside to control pressure for each keg) i was drilling slowly through the metal went i heard 2 sounds, the first was the sound of gas escaping from the hole, and the second was the sound of my heart droping.

is there a way to fix this that will not cost an arm and a leg, the fridge only cost me $120, so i hope it doesnt cost more then that.

any info please!!!!!

AM I DOOMED TO BOTTLE ALL MY LIFE?????
 
Sorry to tell you this kman , she's like my glass carboy

Stuffed :(
 
say it aint so!!!!!! SAY IT AINT SOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Bummer kman. Three holes was pushing your luck. This is one very good reason people build collars around the top of the freezer. Then you can just go crazy with holes of whatever size/placement you want.

Sorry to hear it. (I don't know if this means it's stuff but I think it is?)

Justin
 
sound very similar to my experience,

the first noise was the gas leaking :angry:
the second noise was me kicking the crap out of it. :D

it doesnt fix the problem but it makes you feel better.
sorry to say stuffed.

cheers
crackers
 
can you re-gas a fridge? i might be grasping here (you would too if you spent the time to make a wonderfully finished top and a rustic frame) but the hole is tiny, like only about 1 or 2mm.

Cant i plug it up and get the fridge re-gassed?

I am so heartbroken, i was nearly fully completed, and was going to easily make my deadline of first pint by end of uni exams.

Now im back to square........ um, no fridge
 
it may be able to be soldered and re-gassed

but it also may need the casing atken off to do so.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

is it worth it?
or can you transplant the lid to another freezer??

cheers
crackers
 
probably could, if i could get one the same size, but i would really prefer not too.
 
kman maybe you can solder the hole yourself - you seem to be pretty handy with the hand tools :unsure:

If you can do that then get it down to your friendly local fridgy and get him to regas it (maybe call first).

Think of the bright side. Not every one can claim they have made the hole in the ozone layer bigger.
 
ive soldered pcb and stuff, but would this need to be solded or welded? what about alittle silly-cone (cant spell so i wont even try)

ill give a fridge place a call on the week end and see what they say.

i hope like buggery i can be fixed, i was on short a regulator and a thermostat from being fully operational, ive also had 2 kegs naturally carbonating for 3 weeks aswell.

why why why

homebrew to this point had been a peachy experience
 
Bad luck kman,
I hope you can get it soldered / fixed.
Good luck.
 
Sorry kman, but silicone will not do the job. It may work for a little while but you will end up losing the gas and having to regas the fridge.
The pipe either needs to be resoldered (and not solder like on electronic circuit boards) or that section of pipe replaced with a new section and soldered in. In a chest freezer this is where it gets difficult as you will need to cut away a section of the casing (more that likely) to get access to the pipes to work on it. You have to be careful doing this so that you don't cut more pipework.

Sorry for the bad news.

Doc
 
Yes you can repair the tubing , brazing not soldering
Problem comes with the regasing , it will have the old type gas with is bad for the ozone layer (your already added to that)
This is being removed from the industry and I think you you find it very difficult to get it regassed

Time to search the papers again
 
ok, ive gone and put down a deposit on a new chest freezer, so if anyone wants this other broken one i have, you can have it for 1/2 dozen beers as long as you come pick it up from geelong.

other wise ill borrow a ute and sadly dump it at the tip.
 
Kman

Use it as an insulated fermenting box....
 
thats a good idea, but i dont have a whole lot of room, so if anyone wants it they can take it, but if not ill search for a place for it maybe
 
Kman

If you have the room I would keep it as GMK suggests.
I have a fermentation fridge which I put 2 bottles full of hot water in to raise the temp to ale fermentation temp. Holds temp surprisingly well. In summer just wack some frozen coke bottles in it.

Hoops
 
a few frozen bottles will keep the temp down? really?

interesting, maybe not a total loss after all
 
kman said:
a few frozen bottles will keep the temp down? really?

interesting, maybe not a total loss after all
Checkout this little project. You already have a very well insulated box. A couple of frozen bottles and computer fan........
 
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