Winter and my keezer

[bigc3031]

I just built a keezer that I will get pics of soon but I just realized a potential problem.

My keezer is in the garage which gets pretty cold in the winter.

The keezer is an 8.8cuft with six kegs so there isn't a ton of extra space, how can I keep the temps in the keezer above freezing?

 

[Catt22]

Use a small heater of some kind and operate it with the temp controller you normally use to operate the freezer. Someone recently suggested using a hair dryer for this which I thought was a neat idea. It will only require a small heat source of some kind. I use a small ceramic element space heater. I like that it never gets hot enough to ignite anything, so it's inherently safer in that respect. Which controller are you using?

 

[Cede]

Same trouble here during winter.
I took what I had on hands, an aquarium heater, an aquarium pump, a small fan and an oil radiator.
With a few lengths of tubing and a gallon, I made a heater
When it gets close to freewing, the fan, the heater and the pump turn on and voilà.
It heats gently and never had trouble.

 

[kegtoe]

Grand Rapids!!!??!?!??! Thats still warm!

I had this problem , had to build a SWMBO indoor dining room freindly keezer

You could buy one of those dual stage ranco controllers that would kick the freezer on and then kick a small heaater on once it got too cold.

 

[bigc3031]

I have a Johnson Controls digital temp controller.

Has anyone tried running a 100 watt light in their keezer to see if that put enough heat out to keep it above freezing?

 

[Catt22]

I have a Johnson Controls digital temp controller.

Has anyone tried running a 100 watt light in their keezer to see if that put enough heat out to keep it above freezing?

The 100 watt bulb should be able to keep it above freezing, but obviously it will depend on how cold your garage gets. I've often thought that using some "heat tape" like that used to protect pipes from freezing might be a good option.
Whatever you use, I would suggest getting an indoor/outdoor wireless thermometer. This would let you check on it from inside the house. Some have an alarm feature which might be useful.

The Johnson digital controller can be used for either heating or cooling. IIRC, for heating you need to open the case and move a jumper clip to change modes. It's easy to do and takes only a couple of minutes. The user's manual explains how to configure it.

 

[wildwest450]

One of these hooked to a ranco, I use these for reptiles and their reliable and long lasting.

http://www.google.com/products/cata...ult&ct=result&resnum=1&sqi=2&ved=0CC8Q8wIwAA#

 

[kgfitz]

What about the heat belts for your frementers when they get to cold. At least you don't haft to worry about a fire