My fridges bypass operation.

[keith1664]

I've been looking for a fridge to use for fermenting in for a while now, but I've had no luck.... until yesterday when I was contacted by the owner of one I'd bid for on ebay. The winner had refused to pay for it, did I want it! Well Yeah!
I collected it last night and cancelled todays brew to do some fridge bodging.
When I converted my kegerator I had the foresight to get 2 controllers and 3 tube heaters (should've been 2 but they cocked up) so no waiting for bits.

First thing was to take off the cable cover and have a good look.

The top (white) cable is the mains feed, the bottom cable runs up to the thermostat and light in the fridge, I'm not bothered about having a light in it and also intend to bypass the thermostat, so off comes the connector.

I put a meter across the brown and black wires on the disconnected connector and turn off the thermostat, the meter shows continuity then an open circuit, confirming these are connected to the thermostat. I draw myself a little picture.

The tabs the connector plugs on to are just the right size for spade connectors, there's also quite a few of them
So I can pick off the live and neutral for the controller.

At the controller end the live is connected like this, the first input is the supply for the controller, it's then looped to the inputs for heating and cooling.

Then the neutral is connected, there is no earth on the controller.

I use another bit of cable and connect the blue (cold) to the cooling output (just so I'm less likely to forget what's what). The brown is to the heater. The 2 black are for the sensor.

The blue then goes to the compressor (it's the blue cable next to the supply to the controller) the other 2 cables which have suddenly appeared are the neutral and earth for the heater. The live for the heater is connected together with a "chocolate block" terminal. It's then a case of tidying things up.

The heater, make sure you're not going to drill though anything when making the hole for the cable.

Then to test the heating, cooling and accuracy... phew, it all works! :

It'll hold 2 full fermenters.... or 4 stacked and some "research"

DISCLAIMER.
1) Your fridge might not be the same as mine.
2) If you're not sure what you're doing, DON'T.
3) If a a result of meddling you burn down your house, kill yourself or worse, ruin a brew. It's your fault not mine.

I need a beer now.

 

[anthonyUK]

Nice job.

For anyone else thinking about this it doesn't have to be as complicated.
You could for example just turn the thermostat to its coldest setting and let the controller switch the mains supply to the fridge via the plug.

 

[keith1664]

Indeed you can. Although you still have to put a heater and temperature probe into the fridge somehow and you still have to wire up the controller.... and cut holes in a box to put it all in.

Sorry I jest, whichever method you choose requires a certain amount of ability, the reason I chose to spend the time photographing and writing was this thread, I figured as I was going to do it I may as well document it.

 

[anthonyUK]

Sorry I wasn't taking anything away from what you did which is a really good guide and especially useful if you happen to pick up a fridge on freecycle with a knackered thermostat.

Being lazy I wanted to do the bare minimum so used the drain hole (as my fridges are frost free ones) to route the heater cable in and taped the sensor to the inside top surface

 

[user 2037]

Great write up, this has prompted me to convert our spare fridge, I just hopr SWMBO does not go to put anything in it :shock:

What wattage heater did you go for?

There seems to be 45W or 60W also where did you get it from?

 

[snail59]

Nice Job Keith :thumb: If this had been posted before I made my fermentfridge I would have copied it. Was the research the result of our meeting at B.O.E the other week

 

[jampot]

Great write up, this has prompted me to convert our spare fridge, I just hopr SWMBO does not go to put anything in it :shock:

What wattage heater did you go for?

There seems to be 45W or 60W also where did you get it from?

Try tool station :thumb:

 

[anthonyUK]

Mine is also a 60w one from toolstation. £15 delivered.

 

[keith1664]

Great write up, this has prompted me to convert our spare fridge, I just hopr SWMBO does not go to put anything in it :shock:

What wattage heater did you go for?

There seems to be 45W or 60W also where did you get it from?

It's a 60W "Redring Suntube" heater bought from Palmer Riley electrical distribution on Amazon marketplace.....basically it was the cheapest one I could find at the time

Nice Job Keith :thumb: If this had been posted before I made my fermentfridge I would have copied it. Was the research the result of our meeting at B.O.E the other week

Yes the research is from B.O.E. The fridge now contains 10 gallons of beer crash cooling prior to kegging / bottling :

 

[tazuk]

verry sweet job been looking for some thing like this for a long time :thumb:

 

[Wild Woods]

Good write up :clap:
I have done basically the same with my fridges except I swapped the glass shelves for thick plywood as I was worried about the weight of a full FV.

 

[keith1664]

Good write up :clap:
I have done basically the same with my fridges except I swapped the glass shelves for thick plywood as I was worried about the weight of a full FV.

I have done this, it's just not shown.

 

[Wild Woods]

I have done this, it's just not shown.

Phew, I had visions of spilt beer!!