What's old is new again

[Tricky Micky]

Kids gave me a new Coopers FV for Chrissy. I already have two. Unfortunately my ferment fridge only has room for two FV's at a time. What to do?

Enter Ye old bung non cooling kegerator, a heat belt and an old inkbird 308.  Voila. I tested the set up on a dummie run and found I could maintain 35 degrees C. inside the chamber......

Kveik Voss brewing here I come. 

[Classic Brewing Co]

3 minutes ago, Mickep said:

Kids gave me a new Coopers FV for Chrissy. I already have two. Unfortunately my ferment fridge only has room for two FV's at a time. What to do?

Enter Ye old bung non cooling kegerator, a heat belt and an old inkbird 308.  Voila. I tested the set up on a dummie run and found I could maintain 35 degrees C. inside the chamber......

Kveik Voss brewing here I come. 

Good one Mick, at least you can put it to work.

[Hoppy81]

6 minutes ago, Mickep said:

Kids gave me a new Coopers FV for Chrissy. I already have two. Unfortunately my ferment fridge only has room for two FV's at a time. What to do?

Enter Ye old bung non cooling kegerator, a heat belt and an old inkbird 308.  Voila. I tested the set up on a dummie run and found I could maintain 35 degrees C. inside the chamber......

Kveik Voss brewing here I come. 

Perfect, could probably put a bucket of ice in there too to bring the temp down slightly if need be 

[Tricky Micky]

1 minute ago, Hoppy81 said:

Perfect, could probably put a bucket of ice in there too to bring the temp down slightly if need be 

Yeah, thanks H. Great idea.

[Tricky Micky]

3 minutes ago, Hoppy81 said:

Perfect, could probably put a bucket of ice in there too to bring the temp down slightly if need be 

It was interesting too H, that when the kegerator kicks in and turns on even though it's not cooling anything as such - the fan is engaged which may also help too.

[Hoppy81]

1 minute ago, Mickep said:

It was interesting too H, that when the kegerator kicks in and turns on even though it's not cooling anything as such - the fan is engaged which may also help too.

Compressor is stuffed or out of gas but yes, the fan will definitely help circulate the cool air from a bucket of ice 

[Tricky Micky]

8 minutes ago, Hoppy81 said:

Compressor is stuffed or out of gas but yes, the fan will definitely help circulate the cool air from a bucket of ice 

I think it ran out of gas mate, although I can't be certain. The compressor still kicks in a bit. There is a yellow slightly oily liquid substance which has leaked down from behind the chill plate at the rear inside the chamber....someone suggested that could be signs of a coolant leak.

[Pickles Jones]

11 minutes ago, Mickep said:

I think it ran out of gas mate, although I can't be certain. The compressor still kicks in a bit. There is a yellow slightly oily liquid substance which has leaked down from behind the chill plate at the rear inside the chamber....someone suggested that could be signs of a coolant leak.

The refrigerant is mixed with oil so the liquid substance is probably the oil leaking out with the refrigerant.

[Tricky Micky]

2 minutes ago, Pickles Jones said:

The refrigerant is mixed with oil so the liquid substance is probably the oil leaking out with the refrigerant.

Thanks PJ, thought as much. Son in law who's a tradie knows a fridge bloke who might take a look at it. But my guess is the repair if it can be done will cost more than a new unit. 

[Uhtred Of Beddanburg]

@Mickep how old was this broken keggerator? I keep hearing they dont last long and mine is just over 2 years old, getting nervous  

[Tricky Micky]

25 minutes ago, Uhtred Of Beddanburg said:

@Mickep how old was this broken keggerator? I keep hearing they dont last long and mine is just over 2 years old, getting nervous  

It wasn't that old, but I got it second hand. Possibly about 6-8 months old. In having said that I know the previous owner would have treated it very well. There seems to be an obvious leak of coolant coming from behind the chill plate. To be fair I laid this unit on its side when I picked it up and transported it so I wonder if that played a part in this. I've heard of a couple of others having cooling issues too but nothing to say that it's a common fault. I have a new KL kegerator, and it hasn't missed a beat so far

[Pickles Jones]

4 minutes ago, Mickep said:

It wasn't that old, but I got it second hand. Possibly about 6-8 months old. In having said that I know the previous owner would have treated it very well. There seems to be an obvious leak of coolant coming from behind the chill plate. To be fair I laid this unit on its side when I picked it up and transported it so I wonder if that played a part in this. I've heard of a couple of others having cooling issues too but nothing to say that it's a common fault. I have a new KL kegerator, and it hasn't missed a beat so far

Transporting fridges on their side is OK providing you leave them in the upright position for not less than 24 hours before starting them. This allows the refrigerant and oil to settle. 

[Uhtred Of Beddanburg]

@Mickep as PJ said even still with modern technology they should be lasting longer. I dont understand much about them but is the coolant to do with compressor? heard that's common problem with them. If knew the right person for right price could always get better compressor put in.

Also mine gets hot along the sides and considering the cooling plate is directly at the back I can't figure it out.

Just a guess but it's spreading out the heat from the compressor through the rest of the unit?

Edited January 6, 2023 by Uhtred Of Beddanburg

[Tricky Micky]

1 hour ago, Pickles Jones said:

Transporting fridges on their side is OK providing you leave them in the upright position for not less than 24 hours before starting them. This allows the refrigerant and oil to settle. 

Thanks PJ, yeah did that.

[Pickles Jones]

6 hours ago, Uhtred Of Beddanburg said:

@Mickep as PJ said even still with modern technology they should be lasting longer. I dont understand much about them but is the coolant to do with compressor? heard that's common problem with them. If knew the right person for right price could always get better compressor put in.

Also mine gets hot along the sides and considering the cooling plate is directly at the back I can't figure it out.

Just a guess but it's spreading out the heat from the compressor through the rest of the unit?

The heat extracted from the inside of the fridge by the refrigerant is pumped through coils usually in the sides of the fridge for its cooling then sent back to the compressor for reuse.  Older fridges had cooling coils mounted at the back of the fridge and were black.  Fridges these days are built very much to a price point and their compressors work very hard. It would not be worth the expense of getting a better compressor as the whole circuit would need to be upgraded to gain any advantage. And I think it would be difficult to find one that is suitable.

[Malter White]

On 1/6/2023 at 2:05 PM, Mickep said:

Kids gave me a new Coopers FV for Chrissy. I already have two. Unfortunately my ferment fridge only has room for two FV's at a time. What to do?

Enter Ye old bung non cooling kegerator, a heat belt and an old inkbird 308.  Voila. I tested the set up on a dummie run and found I could maintain 35 degrees C. inside the chamber......

Kveik Voss brewing here I come. 

Howdy Mick.

My fermenting fridge stopped working also. I've been using a couple of 2 litre bottles a as icebricks to maintain a cool temperature. We've had some high 30s temps in Adelaide and I've been able to maintain temps of 21-22C. This in a fridge outside under the verandah.

[Tricky Micky]

3 hours ago, Malter White said:

Howdy Mick.

My fermenting fridge stopped working also. I've been using a couple of 2 litre bottles a as icebricks to maintain a cool temperature. We've had some high 30s temps in Adelaide and I've been able to maintain temps of 21-22C. This in a fridge outside under the verandah.

That's fantastic to know mate, many thanks.

[Cult Of One]

5 hours ago, Malter White said:

Howdy Mick.

My fermenting fridge stopped working also. I've been using a couple of 2 litre bottles a as icebricks to maintain a cool temperature. We've had some high 30s temps in Adelaide and I've been able to maintain temps of 21-22C. This in a fridge outside under the verandah.

You MacGyverd that. Nice work

[Malter White]

22 minutes ago, Cult Of One said:

You MacGyverd that. Nice work

Necessity is the mother of all invention. I was too tight to buy another fridge at this point in time.

[Tricky Micky]

1 hour ago, Cult Of One said:

You MacGyverd that.

[Malter White]

@Mickep This is how I've set up the ice blocks and the reading of my inkbird. It's 32C in Adelaide at the moment. So it works pretty good. I'd much rather have my fridge working but this will do until I get a replacement.

[Tricky Micky]

1 minute ago, Malter White said:

@Mickep This is how I've set up the ice blocks and the reading of my inkbird. It's 32C in Adelaide at the moment. So it works pretty good. I'd much rather have my fridge working but this will do until I get a replacement.

Thanks Malter mate, that's superb. I can do both the Kveik and the normal strains as well. Thanks for the heads up, appreciate it muchly. 

[Malter White]

9 minutes ago, Mickep said:

Thanks Malter mate, that's superb. I can do both the Kveik and the normal strains as well. Thanks for the heads up, appreciate it muchly. 

It's a bit of a chore but I take the bricks out at night and put them in the freezer and then put them back in with the brews before I leave for work in the morning.
The only thing you can't do is lagers, I guess....or if you used the "new and improved" European Lager you could do a lager. Hahaha.
 

[Classic Brewing Co]

4 hours ago, Malter White said:

Necessity is the mother of all invention. I was too tight to buy another fridge at this point in time.

Malter as the director of MW Enterprises are you suggesting that the Company can't find it in their budget to authorise a new fridge or are you really too tight 

[Malter White]

32 minutes ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

Malter as the director of MW Enterprises are you suggesting that the Company can't find it in their budget to authorise a new fridge or are you really too tight 

I'm too tight!

That combined with the problem of getting rid of more hard waste. I've got more junk than Ron Jeremy at my place.