Glass door beverage cooler

[MJScrawny]

I've had this beverage cooler for years and have always just used picnic taps because I can't obviously drill through the door, and I was told not to drill through the walls because of the cooling lines. I'm getting back into brewing after a few years and I love to upgrade the fridge with some tap handles. I've emailed the manufacturer the and have yet to receive a reply. Which is why I'm coming to the group now. Can anyone confirm or deny if it's ok to drop through the walls to install some tap handles.

Make: QBD
Model: DC12HB

 

[TheMadKing]

I would turn that into a gorgeous fermentation chamber myself

You could be able to drill through the walls if you're careful. You can drill a tiny test hold through the outer metal skin and then poke around in the hole with a screwdriver to feel for cooling lines. That's the safest way to do it. Otherwise I would suggest making that a ferm chamber and get a chest freezer for a kegerator.

You also probably want to install some serious fans in there to normalize the temperature. I've seen vertical kegerators with a 20F difference in temp between the top of the keg and the bottom of the keg.

 

[MMX]

If you have access to a thermal imager you'll be able to see where the coils are without a pilot hole.

 

[MJScrawny]

If you have access to a thermal imager you'll be able to see where the coils are without a pilot hole.

Sadly I do not.

 

[tracer bullet]

Good idea on the IR camera. I drilled through the side of my frig, as recommended, tiny hole getting bigger and bigger until I knew for sure I wasn't going to pierce anything at which time I went the rest of the way through.

 

[day_trippr]

Looking at the use and care manual for that unit I would bet everything that needs to be avoided are in (or behind, in the condenser case) the back wall...

Cheers!

 

[yoop89]

Ive got a similar unit about twice as wide and as day_trippr said everything of importance is split between the top unit and beneath where the compressor resides. My refrigerant lines are ran in the sidewall and are accessible by a small panel so easy to see where not do drill.

Looking forward to your build as I am in process of doing the same!

 

[Brewmiester]

I've had this beverage cooler for years and have always just used picnic taps because I can't obviously drill through the door, and I was told not to drill through the walls because of the cooling lines. I'm getting back into brewing after a few years and I love to upgrade the fridge with some tap handles. I've emailed the manufacturer the and have yet to receive a reply. Which is why I'm coming to the group now. Can anyone confirm or deny if it's ok to drop through the walls to install some tap handles.

Make: QBD
Model: DC12HB
View attachment 694680

Deja Vu, what year is this? Pete's Wicked Ale sixers? Any original bottles, if so how did they hold up? My first "gateway" beer into craft, brings back memories...

 

[MJScrawny]

Deja Vu, what year is this? Pete's Wicked Ale sixers? Any original bottles, if so how did they hold up? My first "gateway" beer into craft, brings back memories...

No actual Pete's wicked ale sadly. Just the boxes. Had them for years and they're still good.

 

[MJScrawny]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I found out my brother-in-law actually had an infrared camera adapter for his mobile phone so I'm gonna try that soon.