Drilling holes in fridge

aero-spaced-out · Dec 14, 2024

I wouldn't condone risking this unless you can be absolutely sure that where you are drilling doesn't contain any of these tubes that are part of the refrigerating system.

Okay so onto the post.

My friends dad had a thermal imaging camera a d I chanced my arm and asked if I could borrow it for the purpose of drilling these holes.
Well he let me and I want to get it done today.
So I get the attached images and looking at the interior I thought that "Happy Days, there is no cooling in the sides, I'll go in there then"
But when I checked the exterior of the fridge, both the sides were giving off a good bit of heat and were actively warm to the touch
So I'm assuming there is some form of heat exchangers in the sides

Any persons who have done this before able to offer up any advice please?
Would rather not dump a load of refrigerant into the room lol.

Rodcx500z · Dec 14, 2024

It would help members if you let them know name and model number of the fridge, for gas lines most people use 3/16th through the drain hole, for inkbird and tube heater wires mine fit between the door seal ', the only holes i drilled were in the door for taps

aero-spaced-out · Dec 14, 2024

Rodcx500z said:
It would help members if you let them know name and model number of the fridge

Good call!
The fridge is a Kenwood KUL55X23.

I'm using a RAPT Temp Controller but the principle is the same, I wouldn't likely be drilling a hole for the probe to go through unless I notice any damage to the probe wire which has its own easy ways to fix it without drilling.

I'm trying to avoid going through the door if I can and because of where the fridge is and where I have my regs wall mounted going through the sides would be cleaner for me.

The rest of this reply below is just me thinking out loud.

Once fermentation is done I'll be using the fridge as a double for keg storage too so lagering and conditioning any brews I do at low temps but while maintaining gas pressure for force carbing.

If I can get it done today then the three kegs I have at the minute have a chance to be ready for Christmas lol

I'll definitely be drilling two holes on one side for gas input, one CO2, one mixed gas.
The CO2 will use a splitter for multiple kegs to run off the same tank and reg.
I'm undecided if i want to drill two more holes that I can use to mount my blowties to so that I can check pressure without opening the fridge and disturbing it.

Clint · Dec 14, 2024

I've seen a method where you just drill the outside casing,then pick away and probe through the insulation with a pointy thing,then punch through the inner skin. For my heater cable I just cut a chunk out of the door seal and the door closes on the temp probe wire without issues. As for pipes inside the walls I wouldn't have thought they'd be in the corners,but you never know!

aero-spaced-out · Dec 14, 2024

So after turning it back on and watching it heat up I came to the conclusion that I'm not likely to have any luck going through the sides of the chamber. There was a very even spread of heat along both sides and even though I could see the direction of the cooling pipes in the back of the fridge, I wasn't prepared to drill through it as it clearly has a plate in it for spreading the chilling (for lack of a better phrase)

I took the top off as I wanted to change the direction of the door anyway and realised that the top was just insulation... so double checked it with the thermal cam and didn't see any heat change (it's insulation I didn't know what I was expecting to be honest)

I went gently poking with a screwdriver and viola, it hit the internal plastic ceiling of the fridge.

So drill on with a 9mm bit to get the initial hole
Then in with a 9.5 to meet the 3/8" gas tubing and here we are.
Time to check the fit with some pushfit elbows and then whittle a couple of tubing holes on the underside of the roof top cover.
This way I'll maintain the top of my fridge for storage purposes and I still have gas feed into my chamber. Happy chap.

Clint · Dec 14, 2024

There's nowt like poking holes in stuff!

aero-spaced-out · Dec 14, 2024

Quick update
Grommets have been added to give a better seal around these holes and also make it look a bit cleaner.
If only I had thought ahead and got myself a handful of 3/8" to 3/8" pushfit elbows and this would be done and dusted tonight with my stout in conditioning under pressure at proper temperature by tomorrow evening

Oh well
There's always tomorrow to go get some!
Final update when I get my 3/8" elbows and have it reassembled properly.

AlBrew · Dec 15, 2024

Glad to hear nothing went wrong.

When I did mine I did some exploratory poking around with a thin but blunt screwdriver. I found that the internal wall plastic was very soft and thin so just pushed that through gently and it came out the back no problem, the back plastic sheeting was a bit tougher but still pokeable. Moved up to a bigger screwdriver that was just shy of 3/8"s and the hole was now big enough for the line to get snugly pushed through.

I'm sure if I had come into contact with any steel refrigerant pipes at any point it would have been obvious and I could have just tried another spot.

No drill required.

aero-spaced-out · Dec 15, 2024

AlBrew said:
Glad to hear nothing went wrong.

When I did mine I did some exploratory poking around with a thin but blunt screwdriver. I found that the internal wall plastic was very soft and thin so just pushed that through gently and it came out the back no problem, the back plastic sheeting was a bit tougher but still pokeable. Moved up to a bigger screwdriver that was just shy of 3/8"s and the hole was now big enough for the line to get snugly pushed through.

I'm sure if I had come into contact with any steel refrigerant pipes at any point it would have been obvious and I could have just tried another spot.

No drill required.

My heat exchangers are in both sides of my fridge so the size of the holes I needed just wouldn't have allowed that for me but did consider it.
Going through the top keeps it tidy for me too.

Unfortunately after the job was done I realised I bored my holes in the wrong place so taking a trip to get some expanding insulating foam and some aluminium tape to fill in the hole and redrill to a more appropriate place.
Hoping it goes well enough that I haven't just decimated the efficiency of my fridge lol

Will keep you all posted!

MashBag · Dec 15, 2024

Clint said:
I've seen a method where you just drill the outside casing,then pick away and probe through the insulation with a pointy thing,then punch through the inner skin. For my heater cable I just cut a chunk out of the door seal and the door closes on the temp probe wire without issues. As for pipes inside the walls I wouldn't have thought they'd be in the corners,but you never know!

That's the one! Just JUST pierce the skin and then poke about. I managed to install a 50mm port this way.

I have popped one.

Thermal imaging doesn't work.

Assume all fridges have pipes in the sides.

aero-spaced-out · Dec 15, 2024

MashBag said:
Thermal imaging doesn't work.

It gave me enough to show that there was definitely something present in the walls without having to pierce it so that's all I needed
Added confidence that I was going to be going in with no risk

MashBag · Dec 15, 2024

Good point. "Thermal imaging does not guarantee safety" would have been a better way of putting it.

aero-spaced-out · Dec 15, 2024

So I drilled one of the holes in the wrong place so here's a patch repair with some aluminium stick back tape and some expanding insulating foam

Will wait for this to cure and then drill the new hole in the proper place tomorrow after work
Should have my elbow joints by tomorrow or Tuesday and then can finish this off and get running again.
Racing against the clock now for Christmas lol.

Clint · Dec 15, 2024

Being able to bend your arms would be useful.

dlowe1992 · Dec 15, 2024

I’m planning to do something similar this week as I want to hook up a keg to a beer engine.
I know there’s no cooling in the sides of mine as only the back gets cold, but the sides can feel warm.

I’m planning the ‘poke about with something small’ method. My good lady wife said I should know what I’m doing….

MashBag · Dec 15, 2024

That's a bit harsh.

Clint · Dec 15, 2024

Yeah...fridges without side cooling must be dreadful.

aero-spaced-out · Dec 15, 2024

Clint said:
Yeah...fridges without side cooling must be dreadful.

My small fridge has only got cooling in the back, I utilise a small fan to circulate the air inside it.

Whether that helps or not is a different matter entirely lol.
Will probably borrow some equipment from work and test it over the holidays as I can see that it's been discussed in other posts about the usefulness of fans inside the chambers.

aero-spaced-out · Dec 15, 2024

dlowe1992 said:
I’m planning to do something similar this week as I want to hook up a keg to a beer engine.
I know there’s no cooling in the sides of mine as only the back gets cold, but the sides can feel warm.

I’m planning the ‘poke about with something small’ method. My good lady wife said I should know what I’m doing….

Be mindful if the sides feel warm then yours is probably like mine with heat exchangers buried in the sides of the fridge

dlowe1992 · Dec 15, 2024

aero-spaced-out said:
Be mindful if the sides feel warm then yours is probably like mine with heat exchangers buried in the sides of the fridge

Yeah, I think you’re right. Best at least to start with that in mind and proceed with caution…
Which no doubt is a precursor to utter chaos!

Drilling holes in fridge

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