Kegerator Outside

[Gerryjo]

Thanks That’s really helpful.

I wonder if you could use an ink bird to protect a fridge by having it turn off when it reaches temperatures so low it can't cope? (if in an outbuilding) if it’s too cold for the fridge to cope it’s probably a good temp for the beer keg anyway.

Just set the min temp and if it dips below it will activate the heat side and just plug a 60w lamp in and this will raise the temp keeping it active.

 

[Bill_g]

Thanks That’s really helpful.

I wonder if you could use an ink bird to protect a fridge by having it turn off when it reaches temperatures so low it can't cope? (if in an outbuilding) if it’s too cold for the fridge to cope it’s probably a good temp for the beer keg anyway.

Depends on your beer type but normal cellar temperature is usually taken to be around +12C. I guess a lager would be served cooler say +6C to +9C. But in the winter an outhouse could be much lower than this during a real cold spell perhaps 0C or lower. The Inkbird is a very simple device, it can either switch on a heater if the temperature is too low or switch on a refridgerator compressor if the temperature is too high. So if your kegerator has no heater then once the temperature in the shed or outhouse falls below your target temperature (i.e. below say +12C for an ale) then you have no control and the temperature inside the kegerator will fall to the temperature of the air in the shed/outhouse. So your beer will get very cold, in the extreme it might even freeze, but with the alcohol etc acting as antifreeze I think that's unlikely. Under these conditions the Inkbird will never switch on the fridge because the temperature will be below your set point.
If you wanted to keep to cellar temperatures then a heater belt in the fridge compartment also controlled by the Inkbird would probably be enough to raise the keg temperature during prolonged cold spells, but I'd be inclined to try without it unless this proves to be a problem.
I don't believe that any fridge would need to be protected from low temperatures, it's just that some fridges have only one thermostat which is in the main body of the fridge, so the fridge ice box only freezes when the fridge is running. This is not a problem if the fridge is used as a kegerator but a bit sad if your ice box is full of fish fingers! (More sophisticated fridges also have a thermostat in the freezer section so will keep running even if the ambient goes below the temperature set for the cool box section, so these types can be used in an outhouse without problems)
Does that explain it ok?