Kenmore Keezer build, 8.8 cu.ft.

[JLeuck64]

Hey there fellow home brewers!
I've recently started kegging and am in the process of building a keezer. I picked up an 8.8 cu. ft. chest freezer during a President's Sale at Sears. Then I started scouring the DIY forums for build ideas and settled in on a clean build design. I've already hard wired in a STC-1000 temp controller and it's working just fine. Going to give it a trial run for a few days and if all is good I will tidy up the install by cutting a rectangular hole for the STC-1000. Many thanks to the members who've done this before and a shout out to @day_trippr for replying to those builds. His replies helped me to hard wire an STC-1000 perfectly on the first try.

I would like to ask the collective wisdom on this forum if they think I would be OK drilling a hole through the compressor hump to route the temp sensor for the STC-1000. As I look inside the compressor area it appears the refrigeration lines enter and exit from one side only and don't enter the compressor shelf area at all? Goal is to have zero wires that need to be routed through the collar so if it is safe to drill a hole in the compressor hump that would be my preference. Thanks in advance.

 

[brew703]

Did you build a collar or you just used as is? Kinda hard to tell from the photo. I routed all my wires and fittings through the collar. Unless you have a schematic for your freezer I would be leary drilling through the compressor hump.

 

[JLeuck64]

Did you build a collar or you just used as is? Kinda hard to tell from the photo. I routed all my wires and fittings through the collar. Unless you have a schematic for your freezer I would be leary drilling through the compressor hump.

I have not built the collar yet. I am leary about drilling through the compressor hump too! That's why I am asking the collective wisdom on this forum... LOL ( ; I will be building a collar soon, but would like to avoid passing wires through it if possible. Thanks for your reply.

 

[grampamark]

Google the make and model number of your freezer and include "parts" or "repairs" in the search string. That should lead you to a parts breakdown which, usually, includes exploded views of the freezer and its components.

 

[brew703]

I would just route everything through the collar.
My temp wire and bulkheads for my gas are routed through the back side of the collar.

 

[JLeuck64]

I appreciate everyone's comments. I think I've found a solution to my original question though. Noticed this morning that I should be able to route my temp sensor through the drain hole in the floor of my chest freezer.

 

[PADave]

Another vote for back of collar. Out of sight and simple.

 

[JLeuck64]

My Keezer will not be pushed up against a wall, more out in the open and all four sides will be visible so my requirements are a little bit beyond the norm. I have pets and people in the area and I don't want anything getting knocked out of whack. If I can have just one power cord stretching towards the wall and nothing on the outside I will be a happy camper. Any way I took a peek under the chest freezer and was not too optimistic about routing a wire along there and through the drain. Just don't want to route a wire that close to the floor. So I went back to looking at the compressor hump and noticed there were a couple of holes used for adding insulating foam? With some careful probing I was able to determine there are indeed some refrigeration coils in the compressor hump. I was also able to determine where the interior covering was. That interior covering material is very thin and soft, the insulation foam is very soft as well. I was able to use a very long 5/16th inch drill bit I had as a probe. There is easily about four inches of foam insulation layer on the compressor shelf and a regular sized drill bit was not long enough. I used the long drill bit to work my way up to the interior by hand. Once I determined where the interior shelf was all I did was tap on the drill bit with a hammer to punch through the interior skin. Man was I relieved to see the drill bit pushed through where it did. I was hoping the angle I was guessing at from below would be correct. Guess I got a little bit lucky huh?! Then I grabbed a rat tail file to carefully finish rounding out the hole I started. No sense in trying to drill a hole in thin gauge sheet metal with a twist drill... it will just tear a hole instead of cutting one. Also managed to find a grommet laying around that fit the hole perfectly, have the system up and running again with no problems... thankfully ( :

Guess it's time to shift gears a little bit, cut the rectangular hole for the temp controller... order dispensing hardware... build the collar... brew more beer ( ;

Hope this is helpful to someone, I've seen some requests for help in sorting this topic of punching holes through a chest freezer before. This procedure I used worked well for me but I make no guarantees you will have the same success. Use caution and above all common sense!

 

[JLeuck64]

Was able to tidy up the install of the temp controller today. Think I will focus on building the collar soon, need to save up for the hardware. Those taps and all the goodies are expensive!