Alright, so I think I’m finally sick of having room temp kegged beer
I have a #5 aluminum co2 tank and a 2.5 gallon keg so I was going to grab something small in terms of a used fridge. I’ve decided that I’d like to keep the CO2 tank on the outside which leads me to my question. How does one go about drilling a hole? My main issues:
-Where on a mini fridge will I most likely avoid coils?
-After I drill a hole do I just feed my gas line through the hole?
-What do you guys do besides putting the tubing through the hole (to make sure it’s airtight)?
Its hard to say where things will be. I suggest going through the outer skin only, using a hole saw with the center drill just barely sticking out past the saw. Then carefully dig out the center insulation core with an exacto knife. If you find vital lines dig enough to move them out of the way before finishing your hole. Good luck.
If the fridge has the coils on the back (looks like a black wire mesh with small tubes, hard to miss), then that is where most of the coils are located. Most, not all!
I would use the hole saw as Jim described, but I’d go through the inside plastic skin. Once you have a hole in the plastic, take a small screw driver and clear away the insulation between the plastic and the outer metal shell. If there are any coils in the area, you’ll be able to see them. Coils are often attached directly to the outer metal skin.
If you have the make and model for the fridge, you can usually find a pretty detailed spec description of the fridge online.
I suggest having a spare CO2 tank. I have a 15# for the freezer and a 5# for travelling. The 5# also is used when the main tank runs out. Which always seems to happen on Saturday afternoon, after the CO2 places have closed for the weekend.
I run my 1/2" line through a 1/2" hole drilled in the door. Nice tight fit, without additional sealing.
Like Mainebrewer says, most likely on a dorm fridge, the coils are not in the walls of the unit. However, sometimes, the tubes to the coils are in the walls. It always pays to carefully look at the compressor, follow the tubes and have a pretty good idea of where the tubes go before cutting.
For extra insurance, run the unit with the door open for 10 minutes, and use a lazer temperature gauge to locate spots that are hot or cold in the wall. (inside and out). If there is a local spot that is hotter than the surrounding area, or colder than the surrouinding area, then you likely have a tube going from the compressor to the coils in that spot.
Once you are pretty sure there is nothing in the spot you want to drill, like Jim says, do a carful first cut, then poke at the insulation with a paperclip or cut it out caefully.
If you have a plastic wall on the inside, some people heat up a paperclip to "red hot"and melt through the plastic to get to the insulation and probe that way. (reduced risk of cutting a line)
As an extra note: on full sized fridges/freezers, it is common to have the hot lines rout to the door opening to prevent condendation and posibly frost… so be extra careful on those!
