Skinning a Chest Freezer Kegerator

[mRandolph]

Hi All,

In the spirit of LoveStrong I've reached a compromise with SWMBO. We need more counter space in the kitchen and I'd like a chest freezer. Has anyone had any luck skinning a chest freezer with wood? I'm thinking of a butcher block or some properly oiled and waxed wood mounted on top, and stained or painted ply on the sides. I'm unsure how to mount either of them. I've toyed with the idea of epoxy, using corner brackets or actually drilling through/into the freezer (I'd rather not do the latter). Any ideas or similar projects out there?

[Stewbacca]

Check this thread out http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/keezer-project-31221

[Bugeater]

The key to keeping this project from turning into a disaster is this quote from the article referenced by Stewbacca:

In the base, there will be a cooling fan that draws air down over the sides of the freezer to draw away heat generated by the compressor. I was not aware when I first started looking into this that todays freezers use the exterior skin to shed heat, and that placing wood directly against it would seriously shorten the life-span of the compressor. Luckily, some sage advice was given on HBT, and a cooling fan was designed in! It will be wired in with the compressor to the Ranco, so whenever the compressor kicks in, so does the cooling fan.

You definitely don't want the compressor to overheat and burn up. That said, I would avoid using screws to fasten the skin and go with some kind of adhesive.

Wayne

[mRandolph]

Thanks for the info. I'm thinking I'll just put a skin/board on the top and leave the sides as they are (or painted, as I can't imagine paint has much insulation property). Hopefully that won't fry the compressor, while I'm sure most of the heat from *inside* the freezer would escape from the top; I'd imagine that the compressor coils and heat exchangers are build into the sides. Does that make sense?

[Stewbacca]

The other option is to basically build a cabinet that the freezer would slide into which would keep you from having to attach anything to the actual freezer. This is what im thinking of doing..