So I was moving my CO2 tank outside of the fridge and drilling a hole for the gas hose into the the side of the fridge toward the back and about a foot from the bottom. I drilled a small hole to start and immediately noticed air coming out. It wasn’t incredibly high pressured but definitely considerable. I was able to seal the holes on the inside and the outside sides and have it back up and running. As far as I can tell, it is not cooling although the compressor is running and the holes are sealed.
Did I damage the fridge beyond repair by letting freon out? I was hoping that sealing the holes would have resolved the problem but I know very little about fridges…
Wow dude, that sucks. My guess is the answer to your question is yes, you damaged it beyond repair. But, that’s only a guess. I have no direct experience on this.
It is definitely not cool but I Found one on Craigslist for $40! I will probably be converting it tomorrow if it works well and all goes to plan. I will be consulting you guys on where to drill on the right side to be safe. About a foot higher toward the back seemed to be fine. I drilled for the taps on the same side so thought I was in the clear.
That sucks. The old fridges never had anything in the side wall, but I can’t speak for newer models. Hang in there, I hope you find something affordable and acceptable.
I did the same thing to a fridge around 5 years ago. I was drilling through the side and hit a freon line. DOH! I know how you feel bro. The next one I got, I decided to be safe and drilled through the door. At least both of these were old fridges that I got for free.
I thought I found a decent cheap replacement but it didn’t have enough usable space for 4 kegs…
Thanks for the reassurance. I am so mad at myself. Gonna be moving kegs inside today which is just annoying. I was also going to brew but now I am in no rush.
It seems that drilling through the door for CO2 would make using the door very inconvenient. I am hoping the next fridge I get is a bit newer so that I can find some documentation and drawings.
The trick is to use a hole saw and only cut the thin skin of the fridge first. Then dig out the insulation with a small pick carefully exploring for lines, before completely drilling through. If you find a line you can usually push it out of the way before finishing up.
The copper that I hit was directly against the outer wall and did not push away at all. It seemed almost to be a reservoir not a line but I don’t really know…
That’s what I did too. But I didn’t chime in just for that. The other thing I’d recommend is if there are indents for holding the wire racks, they usually engineer them so that the indents (holes, whatever) are not near anything that can be boogered. I went through one of them and didn’t run into anything - and then there is less insulation to dig through too.
When I drilled the holes in my fridge I found a diagram of the freon lines & electrical stuck under the front of the fridge. Showed me exactly where the lines were routed. Then as an additional precaution I drilled a small hole on the inside and used an ice pick to probe around. Then a little bigger hole, moved the insulation out of the way and took a visual. Then I drilled the final hole with a step bit. I used rubber grommets (inside & out) to protect the CO2 line. Cheers!!!