I’ve got an apartment size fridge that I’ve turned into a kegerator. I’ve got one tap on the front and usually just put one keg plus the co2 bottle inside the fridge. I want to add another tap, once I do, two kegs will not allow for the co2 bottle to fit in the fridge, which means I must run the gas lines throught he side…
Does anyone have any tips for doing this, how to drill it, any precautions to take, and the best way to seal it? I’ll be needing to run two lines because my regulator is a dual port.
If you start with a tiny hole (large enough to poke a paper clip through) and go from the inside (through the plastic first) it will be obvious if you hit something other than plastic, like a cooling line. After getting through the plastic, use a paper clip or something else small and pokey to probe through the insulation. If all seems good, make the hole a bit larger and repeat the probing until the hole is large enough for your hose.
If you can find rubber grommets, use them to protect the hose from rubbing on the metal edge. Otherwise, just fill with expanding foam or the putty that is used to seal around holes for wiring to go through an outside wall on your home.
I have never tried it but I have suggested heating a large nail to red (careful it’s hot!) and just push it
through the plastic inside the fridge. No drill bit to accidentaly puncture a fridge line and the preasure
you would need to get through the plastic with a hot nail would not be enough to puncture a line.
Once through fish around and look for a line and avoid. Then drill where clear.
Just a thought.
If you drill through the side of your fridge you will have no problem because there are normally no cooling lines that run through the side, just foam. If you drill the hole to the od of your hose I would gromment the metal side, and leave it be. There really shouldn’t be any need to re-foam your hole if you didn’t go crazy overboard on the size of your hole.
I just finished a kegerator build and ran a gas line through the back wall/ledge of the fridge. Starting with a small hole in the plastic (like riverrat said) was pretty much the way I went.
I’d be careful with just drilling through the side. My kegerator has a line running diagonally from the bottom back to the top front. I found the diagram zip tied under the fridge in the front and it showed the line plain as day. I still went with a small hole on the inside & poked around before I got out the step bit. YMMV…