What To Consider When Choosing A Refrigerator To Convert To A Kegerator

What To Consider When Choosing A Refrigerator To Convert To A Kegerator

Not every refrigerator will work for a kegerator conversion. You need the refrigerator interior to be large enough along with a compressor large enough to handle the load.

Keep the following in mind when selecting your donor refrigerator:

1. Many older refrigerators were “cold wall” designs, meaning that the refrigeration lines ran throughout the case of the upright. These refrigerators aren’t suitable for conversion to keg dispensing, since holes will need to be drilled through the case and could puncture the refrigeration lines.
2. 1/5 HP Refrigerator compressor is needed to sufficiently cool the beer keg.
3. The refrigerator must have enough space for the keg, the coupler on top of the key and beer lines. 28 inches is considered the bare minimum for interior height requirement. Dorm Size Refrigerators generally do not have enough room for even a pony keg and also do not have the cooling power to keep a keg sufficiently cold. The compressor will need to be ⅕ HP. If you do find a tall dorm refrigerator with enough compressor, remember that along with the height of the pony keg, you also will need to accommodate the height of the coupler. Measure everything twice!
4. When it comes to choosing side by side or Freezer on top, first consider where your faucet will be and and the height of your faucet tap handle. This is important as you do not want your tap handle to prevent you from accessing your freezer compartment. 48 inches up from the floor is supposedly the ideal comfortable pouring height. Tap handles rise up 4.5-10 inches.You will want access to the freezer for frosty mugs, and you don’t want the tap handles to prevent you from opening he freezer. You will either need to choose a side by side refrigerator or, make certain your tap handle is not too tall.