Fridge conversion safety

[BobB]

A word of warning!
I converted a single door fridge recently, the kind that has an oval metal freezer unit at the top separated from the lower usually by a plastic door and some form of plastic drip tray immediately beneath. Both of which I removed to enable better circulation of cold air to the fermenter below.
When you convert your fridge to maintain a set temperature, once the desired temperature is attained, you induce a constant "de-frosting" cycle within. Until the temperature has dropped to the point where the thermostat again fires up the compressor, there is a continuous dripping going on and/or moisture running down the walls of the fridge.
A small inconvenience I dealt with using an old towel and periodic mopping up. However, over time unbeknown to myself moisture was finding its way into the internal control box (located top right in the fridge section on the door hinge side), in which I had installed my "Tobin's" replacement thermostat. Eventually a pool of water accumulated inside this box sufficient to short out the wires for the internal light, which also lived in the same box!
Fortunately the appliance was connected to a circuit breaker and we simply lost power to half of the house. The wife and kids were not impressed.
I had to eliminate all electrical items on that circuit one by one to find the offender before power could be restored. Once the beer fermenting fridge was proven the guilty party (something I tried to hide from the wife, needless to say), I then had to start pulling things apart to find out what was going on. As I removed the housing from the inside of the fridge a quantity of water cascaded down, and closer inspection revealed the full story.
Once every thing was dried off I solved the problem by removing the light socket and door switch, and insulating the brown & blue wires attached, wrapping them in a small plastic bag and taping the whole. This bag was then fixed securely to the top of the box. I also drilled several drain holes in the bottom of that box to avoid any further build up of water and applied silicon around the joint to the side of the fridge. Luckily the Tobin's thermostat had been located high on the unit and suffered no ill effects. Once plugged back in all started up again and worked just fine.
It just goes to show you cannot be too careful when it comes to electricity and water. I know many of you out there would have performed a similar conversion to mine and now might want to take the time to investigate to ensure the same is not going on behind your closed door.
Such a short could have been fatal and with young kids around.....
Take time to have a good look and perform preventive measures if necessary.
Be safe.
Cheers.
PS. Most importantly, I saved the brew!

[thehipone]

I just picked up a gro-warm thermostat from my homebrew shop that has an external thermocouple that you put in the fridge and you plug the fridge into the thermostat. It regulates the temp anywhere from ambient to 0C. It does set you back $100 or so, but there's no worrying about re-wiring your fridge or taking any guts out. ANd it sits outside the fridge so it cant get flooded.

[Dogger Dan]

I am sure there was a reason why I bought a fridge, no freezer......



Dogger

[Evo]

One word gentlemen, CHEST FREEZER. There's a reason why your Grandma had one. Good prehistoric design.

That's all I'm going to say.

(I almost sound like someone's Grandma the way I go on about my beloved chest freezer).

[Dogger Dan]

Evo,

I would like to point out that you can't keep calling it a freezer if you have broken the thing to not freeze anything. It be a fridge. It is all about Standards of Identity



Dogger

[r.magnay]

Yep! it's a "chest fridge"

[grabman]

I hope he can find a nice chest to put in it then

[Dogger Dan]

This thread is suddenly giving me images of Hannibel Lecter



Do you need a nice Chianti with that?

Dogger

[tyrone]

not chianti you fool;Shiraz is far better with long-pig(pigeon for people)