How hard to remove guts from mini fridge?

[sparkshooter]

I'm looking to improve my temp control (currently bottles of ice and a very insulating duvet comforter) system, and my goal is to turn a piece of antique furniture into a fermentation chamber.

I'm not concerned about actually insulating the piece of furniture/mounting the compressor/condenser. However, I am concerned about my ability to effectively remove the mini-fridge guts from the mini fridge body. I've been scouring craigslist/kijiji/freecycle, and free mini fridges just don't pop up - $30 is about the best you can do. Now, I'm more than willing to pay $30 if I'll be able to get the guts out successfully - I've just seen tons of posts where people have f-ed up.

So my question is this - how hard is it to remove the condenser and compressor from a mini fridge? Is there something I should specifically look for in the mini fridge I select? What tools are absolutely essential to extraction?

TIA!

 

[DSorenson]

Subscribing! I just recently mounted the whole mini refrigerator so the mouth breaths into an insulated wooden box I constructed. It's working well so far.

 

[davygoat2]

The cooling coils are typically spray-foamed in the shellwith the inner liner set in place, the foam sticks to everything like urethane glue.
I've tried before and it's a pita. the coils are so thin they break looking at them.
The $30 fridges from college are probably low on freon as well, they only last so long, The Disposable Economy hard at work.

 

[sparkshooter]

My understanding was that most cooling coils, at least in a fridge with a freezer portion, were attached to the metal freezer shelf, not in the fridge body itself.

 

[raouliii]

My understanding was that most cooling coils, at least in a fridge with a freezer portion, were attached to the metal freezer shelf, not in the fridge body itself.

Two coils are required for refrigeration. One for heat absorption and one for heat dissipation. The evaporator coil will be in the interior, but the condensor coil will be on the exterior, quite often, spread out under the sheetmetal and foamed in place.

 

[sparkshooter]

Of course condenser and evaporator coils are required. I don't understand though why you think the condenser coil would be foamed in place - the whole point is for it to get hot and exchange heat with the outside. From the pics I've seen, the doesn't look like people have been scraping foam off the condenser coil (or maybe they are using a solvent to make it look so clean??)

 

[G-Hog]

I used a mini fridge that had the coils on the outside of the fridge. I just had to be careful cutting the freezer coil out. I would look around and see if you can find one like that.


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[raouliii]

.........I don't understand though why you think the condenser coil would be foamed in place - the whole point is for it to get hot and exchange heat with the outside......

If you can't see the condenser coil then it's safe to assume it's under the sheet metal. If it's under the sheet metal, it's very likely foamed in. Will there be some kind of barrier membrane between coil and foam? Maybe, but I wouldn't bet the farm on it.

The coil in contact with the sheet metal is a fairly efficient heat dissipation design. The foam isolates the coil from the interior. Maybe you should look for a fridge with an external coil.

 

[sparkshooter]

Well apparently as soon as I post something on HBT, the winds change and I act fast.

A small office was selling an old, crazy weird mini fridge for $5. I snapped that up and pulled it apart last night with relative ease. Haven't uploaded the picture yet, but it relied on a large copper tube that went from the back into the actual refrigerator to provide the cooling. Because of the set up, it was easy to unscrew a few things from the back and then pull the entire cooling apparatus out from behind without having to saw or cut anything.

It's currently sitting in my bathroom right side up until this evening so that all the fluids can drain into the correct place before I start it up to make sure I didn't break it.

Any things I should think about before plugging her in?

 

[broadbill]

My advice would be to somehow prototype the final design so you don't end up wasting time pulling apart a mini-fridge, or ruining an antique piece of furniture.

What evidence do you have that this minifridge can efficiently cool the volume of space you have? How about it can efficiently control the temperature of an actively fermenting carboy? How about multiple fermenting carboys (if you go that route).

Lets be honest; they minifridges are built for places like Kmart, Walmart, Target etc. for the lowest bid. The Chinese factory that build that fridge most likely did not over-spec that compressor; there is no reason to think it can to cool a larger volume than for what it was intended. In fact, if you've ever loaded up a minifridge sometimes you find that it can't even handle the volume of the fridge itself!

Just my $0.02....I know plenty of people do these types of builds and I'm still waiting to hear of a report that they've been successful doing this. I've started to cringe when I see pictures of a tiny little minifridge being pulled apart to cool a HUGE fermentation cabinet.

Also, for the cost of the of materials then end up pouring into it (fans, plywood, foam insulation , etc); they could have scored an old fridge/freezer of of CL and had been done with it.

Again, my 0.02

 

[sparkshooter]

Well my issue is floorspace. I live in an apartment with out a basement. This thing has to be in my living room. I've already stuffed a keezer in the corner, I don't want my whole apartment to look like it is filled with fridges.

Perhaps you are offering your basement for my fermentation fridge?

The fridge I pulled apart is older, made in the maritimes by a Canadian company. I'm only looking to cool 1 or 2 carboys to keep them in the 60's. I don't see why a fridge that can keep a few cubic feet at 30-40 F should have issue keeping double that space at 60-65F.

Obviously I could be wrong, but since my other option is continuing to use frozen water bottles forever, I'm willing to spend the effort.

 

[sparkshooter]

So, the refrigerator guts are out and are confirmed working. I simplified the wiring so that when it is plugged in, it always runs (ie: removed it's internal thermostat).

I also figured out why the "guts" looked different from everyone else's - for reasons that surpass understanding, the mini fridge was an absorption cooling model. This explains why it was so easy to remove and why it is literally silent when plugged in/working. I'll need to add a fan for efficient cooling, but I'm excited to be at the point where I can start looking for something to attach the guts to.

 

[broadbill]

Well my issue is floorspace. I live in an apartment with out a basement. This thing has to be in my living room. I've already stuffed a keezer in the corner, I don't want my whole apartment to look like it is filled with fridges.

Perhaps you are offering your basement for my fermentation fridge?

The fridge I pulled apart is older, made in the maritimes by a Canadian company. I'm only looking to cool 1 or 2 carboys to keep them in the 60's. I don't see why a fridge that can keep a few cubic feet at 30-40 F should have issue keeping double that space at 60-65F.

Obviously I could be wrong, but since my other option is continuing to use frozen water bottles forever, I'm willing to spend the effort.

hmmmm....another fridge in the living room, or some hacked apart piece of furniture with the guts of a mini-fridge hanging out of it. Tough choice from a style standpoint....

 

[sparkshooter]

hmmmm....another fridge in the living room, or some hacked apart piece of furniture with the guts of a mini-fridge hanging out of it. Tough choice from a style standpoint....

To each their own, obviously, but I've only gotta cut a 1.5 inch diameter hole for the cooling and put some insulation on the inside of a nice buffet or credenza. The "fridge" portion will be up against a wall hidden from view, just like the back of my TV.