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i was in your same boat and i took a trip to Radio Shack and solved everything real easy. I did not have a old pc so I bought a cheap (approx. $30) power supply they sold and 4 fans (80mm blue led) and it could not be easier. The hardest part was jumping the power, whihc involved bending some wire I had and foloowing the directions the power supply came with.
As for getting fans inside the keg box, I made sure when I built the supports I left some room above the fridge to sneak the wires and the hoses for the air over the firdge and into the box. Then I just spray foamed my brains out! I have to buiy some extension wires form radio shakc for the fans (additional $10 for 3) to get fans where I wanted but it was easy. I even got a controller for the fans for $30 so I can moderate how fast each fan runs!
Good luck and should you need anythign you can pm me as I was a newbie and thanks to everyone here got it down and almost done staining her.
Thanks for the reply. I am so clueless when it comes to wiring, I don’t even know what you mean by “Jumping the Power”. Are you just using the typical computer power supply with like 4 outlets? That kind of power supply? Honestly, I am a little nervous about starting on this bar because I have no clue how to wire anything. I don’t even know where to start. I can build stuff, I just don’t know how to wire. Thanks in advance!
I bought the 350 watt (overkill but all they had at time) Thermaltake Purepower 1.3 from radio shack along with a 4 pack of blue led fans. the jumping method is expalined very clearly in the troubleshooting section of the power supply to show how you can test the power supply before you put it into a computer. Being in our cases it is never going to be hooked to a motheroard all it takes is a paper clip and then match one end in green slot and other end in any black spot. So unless you are color blind i assure you it is cake. The power supply has all sorts of peripheral connectors but the fans simply plug into the standard 4 prong ones and jhust snap in, again so simple for even we novice computer guys.
like i mentioned you can definitely go with less watts if they have it, I wanted it to make sure I could run some other neat things off it. But tey let me open boxes and make sure everything worked together and when I got it home it was the easiest part of the project!
Thank you so much for your help! I now understand how it works. This whole time I was thinking about a electrical power supply cord. hahaha. I am an idiot. haha. That seems very easy and now I am ready to start building the kegger bar. I have been holding off on building it until I knew I could wire the keg box correctly. I appreciate the help and will post picks once I get going on the bar. Thanks again!
i am very glad that my ramblings helped. it definitley sounds more intimidating until you get out there and actually see what you have to do. I finally got the stain picked out and got the bar stained and now waiting on envirotex to cure…very nervous. Just have to do some final trmi and electric and she is ready to go…
Looking forward to posting pics and seeing yours.
OK, help me out here: Is the fan supposed to blow on (towards) the freezer box? Or, away from it and towards the keg itself? I “believe” the intent is to circulate the air, and it would be best if the “circulation” started right in front of the freezer tray. Is my logic correct?
Thanks!
PaulI have a modified l-shape bar I fought with to keep cold. I installed the 2.7 cu. ft. and a 2.0 cu. ft. to help it. But I just was not happy with the temp. I found on ebay a guy selling cooling systems for soda machines. I think it cost between $200 and $300 with shipping and thermostat. I believe the guy is still selling them. It took me a few months to find someone that was in this price range and could provide the complete solution.
For what it is worth.
Tom Long
stephens wrote:…. I used one of these inside my bar and completely enclosed it – except for two holes. I then put 2 PC fans over the fridge to force air across the compressor, up one side, across the top, and down the other side of the fridge. This works AWESOME and maintained a nice look to the bar by not having exposed refridgerator back.
Whatever refridgerator you use – make sure you have good air flow (or plenty of open air space) on the hot parts of the refridgerator.By any chance, have you published picture about it?, I am really interesting on it as I have the same installation but for me being in northern Mexico this is critical as where I live temperature reached 100°F easily this time of the year.
I have about 2 month or so that I finished my bar, but I haven´t been able to reach out the right temperature for it to avoid foamy beer, now that I am reading especifically this post I found several thing that I may try to get it cooler, one thing that is causing great part of my problem is heat transfer from the back of the fridge as it is getting stock within the cabinet and actually this heat is moving into the planted aquarium that I built in, I have some vents coming to be install however I would like to see what you did to have a better reference if the action I am planning to take will be as affective.
Admin (Steve), I think you should extend a little bit the detail for the kegger bar plan as it seems most of the member have doubts about it. It could be a great idea to have a page or two showing how to install the fan, position recommended for them and so of this solutions in these post for trouble shooting in heat transfer for the system.
Most of the talk on this site refers to the bar being in the basement, well I’m in Texas and we don’t have basements. I am looking at putting the bar outside on a patio but where the ambient temperature in the summer can average 102F. Any suggestions as to what refrigerator would work best under these conditions?
I would say, go with a freezer instead. There are some small meat freazer that you can use to hold 2 Kegs, with a fridge is hard to get cold even inside (I’m in Monterrey, Mexico and I know what you’re talking about)
I wonder if anyone has some thoughts on my keg box. Its roughly 40″ x 40″ x 20″ with a 2.7 cu ft Haier mounted so most of the fridge is outside the keg box. I have a couple fans inside the box, one ceiling mounted to circulate air and one in the fridge blowing on the freezer box. I can cool the box to 44 with a simple cooler of ice, but as soon as I turn on the fridge the temperature goes up. Not quickly, but at the the rate of about a degree an hour. I have double insulation in the ceiling, floor, and on all walls, and then foil tape around all the seams. I also have frost on the freezer box when I do run the fridge, so I know its still cooling. Any thoughts on what I might be doing wrong? I’m at a loss. Thanks!
I am hearing/seeing two different suggestions on how to place the fan over the freezer plate. Should the air be blowing over the frezzer plate or should it be blowing into the box?? MY issue is I can get the temperature in the box down to 29 degrees but the refrigerator will not shut off and it runs 24/7. I have tried everything I can think of to correct the problem. Any ideas??Thanks
@ned – first a few questions
1. what is your ambient (room) temp?
2. Did you insulate UNDER the floor panel? ( many forget about that )
3. Is your keg box tight? all corners foamed?
4. How thick is your insulation? You can usually add another layer from the inside to reduce space and decrease heat infiltration.
5. Door fully insulated and sealed with a foam gasket?
6. Does your fridge have a rear “exposed” heat exchanger coil? If is has a rear coil, throw another fan on it.
7. IMPORTANT QUESTION: Does any frost whatsoever build up on the freezer plate…does it even HAVE an exposed freezer plate?
(if frost forms…then your fridge is OK)
8. some have used TWO fans inside, see: https://www.barplan.com/gallery/displayi … play_mediaRemember, this is a heat game.
Refrigeration is based on getting rid of heat – not making something cold. The cold is just a consequence of the process.
Any infiltration of air and you’re losing the game.Also, patience is a must!
These little fridges, and ANY fridge for that matter will take a while to cool down 7 or 15 gallons of liquid.
The big commercial fridges use medium to small compressors, but also use good insulation and air circulation.
Open one up and you’ll hear those fans blazing!Store bought kegerators use the same size compressor, but they are well insulated and take a considerable amount of time to cool down.
My fridge unit works great. One fan blowing IN, one fan on the back of the unit. If I turn off the fans, it does not work so well.
Takes mine about 2 or three days to get the beer nice and cold.
That’s typical.NOTE: I just went down to check my keg box and the fans had shut off, probably due to a power glitch.
The temp was 46.8 on the digital thermometer. Yikes!
The door has not been opened in weeks and the box only the contains one half empty corny keg.
I turned the fans on and within a few minutes the temp was in the low 40’s and still dropping.One other trick I used to use was to fill up the empty spaces with gallon jugs of water, they take a while to cool down, but act kind of like storage batteries.
They also reduce airspace.Ok, I’m getting frustrated. I’ve insulated under the keg box,all sides, have two fans blowing in to my freezer tray. I do not have exposed coils on the back, but have installed two additional fans. One is drawing air out from the heat exchanger at the bottom. The other is forcing air into the cavity around the sides and out the bottom (where the fan is drawing air out). I have sealed the cavity around the fridge to ensure that air is flowing. Abient temp is probably 95. I can’t get the box lower than 48 on the coldest setting. I’ve tested around the box and can’t get more than 3 degrees variance in exterior temp…what am I missing?????
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