Another Fridge Rebuild

[RaymondR]

I purchased a kit from Ozyfridge to install in one of the alcoves and since I had all the material required decided to proceed to fabricate the second one myself. The first step was to make a jig to wind the tube around then silver solder on some structural pieces to allow the coil to be suspended in the steam table tray away from the sides.

The image illustrates the first couple of structural bits. These will be trimmed to length and have nylon ends installed to insulate the copper coil from the SS enclosure.

[Bowdrie]

Originally Posted by RaymondR

The first step was to make a jig to wind the tube around

Looks like you got ~50' of 3/8ths tubing in the coil pack?
Looks good.

[RaymondR]

Originally Posted by Bowdrie

Looks like you got ~50' of 3/8ths tubing in the coil pack?
Looks good.

Close on the length but it is 5/16" tube.

[RaymondR]

I have a small lathe and a stock of nylon round bar so machined up some stand-offs to keep the coils fixed in the SS tank and electricily insulated from it.

[RaymondR]

The first image illustrates the tube entry glands and the filler plug. The second the back side of the completed tank ready for installation in the box.

This completes the fabrication phase, finishing the internal coatings comes next then installation of the tanks and hookup then the installation of the rails and tray holders.

[GILow]

That first cold beer is gonna taste pretty darn good.

[RaymondR]

I'm on cider at the moment but either way I'm looking forward to the end of this project.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by RaymondR

I'm on cider at the moment but either way I'm looking forward to the end of this project.

Cold cider is just as good.

[RaymondR]

I've been helping the owner of the river marina I generally spend the summer cyclone season in to modify a machine we built to install 18 m long, 12" dia x 1/2" wall piles which we built during the 2011-12 La Nina floods which damaged his marina to enable the replacement of piles damaged during last years floods and consequently the fridge rebuild has not progressed. However during the last weekend I managed to get a couple of coats of paint onto the lids. A bit of filling and sanding and I will be able to put the final coat on and start installing the eutectic tanks and shelving.

[akopac]

Originally Posted by akopac

I use this and don’t cut the 2 seals apart. Corners can be crazy glued and I the adhesive goes crazy glue it too. Great stuffAttachment 270555Attachment 270556Attachment 270557

These seals are the bomb. I did the same thing and if the sticky starts to fail crazy glue is the definite go to to glue them back in place. You can glue the corner joints with crazy glue too.

[akopac]

Originally Posted by GILow

I’m pretty sure epoxy won’t dissolve the foam too. Unless it’s some kind of super fast cure version maybe, they add some odd stuff to the hardener that might be a problem.

It’s not the problem with epoxy dissolving the foam. It’s if you use a filler and try to fill voids with it. HEAT in a insulated restricted space is not a good combination. Laminating and bonding yes, but not filling. Even a small volume of epoxy with fillers exothermic reaction will melt foam. Styrofoam or polyurethane foam. I found Loctite PL300 foamboard adhesive filled moderate gaps well, but you do have to wait a whie for it to dry. It’s on amazon too.
https://www.loctiteproducts.com/en/p...dadhesive.html

Styrofoam absorbs moisture, and it only R1/inch. Not very good for building boxes. You might get away with it on a lid because it’s the top of the box and heat rises, but I would definitely not use it on sides or bottom.

[akopac]

Originally Posted by GILow

I’m pretty sure epoxy won’t dissolve the foam too. Unless it’s some kind of super fast cure version maybe, they add some odd stuff to the hardener that might be a problem.

It’s not the problem with epoxy dissolving the foam. It’s if you use a filler and try to fill voids with it. HEAT in a insulated insulated restricted space is not a good combination. Laminating and bonding yes, but not filling. Even a small volume of epoxy with fillers exothermic reaction will melt foam. Styrofoam or polyurethane foam. I found Loctite PL300 foamboard adhesive filled moderate gaps well, but you do have to wait a whil for it to dry.
https://www.loctiteproducts.com/en/p...dadhesive.html

Styrofoam absorbs moisture, and it’s only R1/inch. Not very good for building boxes. You might get away with it on a lid because it’s the top of the box and heat rises, but I would definitely not use it on sides or bottom.

[wholybee]

Originally Posted by akopac

It’s not the problem with epoxy dissolving the foam. It’s if you use a filler and try to fill voids with it. HEAT in a insulated insulated restricted space is not a good combination. Laminating and bonding yes, but not filling. Even a small volume of epoxy with fillers exothermic reaction will melt foam. Styrofoam or polyurethane foam. I found Loctite PL300 foamboard adhesive filled moderate gaps well, but you do have to wait a whil for it to dry.
https://www.loctiteproducts.com/en/p...dadhesive.html

Styrofoam absorbs moisture, and it’s only R1/inch. Not very good for building boxes. You might get away with it on a lid because it’s the top of the box and heat rises, but I would definitely not use it on sides or bottom.

I found that in my area my choices were Styrofoam, or Polyisocyanurate. The Polyiso dramatically loses insulating properties at cold temps. Polyethylene is the prefered foam, but I looked and looked, and it has been replaced by polyiso anywhere I can get it from.

What I also learned, however, is that the Styrofoam boards at building centers are skinned, and thus don't absorb water like Styrofoam normally would. I then carefully made sure it was completely sealed with a vapor barrier on all sides.

And, Polystyrene boards are R6 per inch, not R1.

[RaymondR]

I hot wire cut the polystyrene pieces to fit into the spaces in the lids, then double wrapped them in cling wrap and installed them in the lids then epoxied the timber pieces together.

Years ago my wife asked me to device a system for her to manufacture large quantities of craft soap. The requirements were to produce large blocks of soap (about 140 cakes per block) then slice them into the individual cakes.

I used plastic file boxes as the moulds and reduced the internal dimensions to that required by using hot wire cut, mortice edged, pieces of styrofoam which locked into place in the file boxes. We wrapped the styrofoam in cling wrap to protect it from chemical attack and the pieces lasted for years before requiring replacement.

Consequently I am fairly confident that the cling wrap wrapped styrofoam insulation inserts, tightly enclosed in the lids, will remain vapor free.

[akopac]

Originally Posted by wholybee

I found that in my area my choices were Styrofoam, or Polyisocyanurate. The Polyiso dramatically loses insulating properties at cold temps. Polyethylene is the prefered foam, but I looked and looked, and it has been replaced by polyiso anywhere I can get it from.



What I also learned, however, is that the Styrofoam boards at building centers are skinned, and thus don't absorb water like Styrofoam normally would. I then carefully made sure it was completely sealed with a vapor barrier on all sides.



And, Polystyrene boards are R6 per inch, not R1.

Yeah your right about the R value. I was mistaken. Sorry about that. Heard some people use the polystyrene for 1st inner inch or so, then pile isocyanate outside of it too.