Can I drill through the side?

The Brew Mentor

The Brew Mentor

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My son in law just picked up a used LG refrigerator with top freezer.
The optimal place to drill the holes for the taps would be in the left side.
Does anyone know where I can find out if there are any refrigeration lines there?
The model # plugged into the LG site will only give me the owners manual which doesn't help.
My biggest concern is that in the top left of the freezer, there's an ice maker and I don't see the lines running to it.
Thanks,
Brian
 
IIRC you can make a paste of baking soda and alcohol and apply it to the side when the fridge is plugged in. The areas with refrigerant lines will dry the paste out faster and give you an idea where they are. Definitely double check me on that lol I heard it in an episode of Homebrew Happy Hour podcast, maybe you can find it

I think this is the episode:
https://www.homebrewhappyhour.com/b...s-the-krausen-milling-your-own-grains-ep-232/
 
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most smaller fridges have the coils on the back only, I have a 28" GE fridge and I did a test with a stud finder, no coils on the side but also it was a very weak so hanging a co2 splitter didn't even hold
 
Not the same thing but I did a small one over Christmas and found that there were no pipes running anywhere that I was interested in. The sides and top were just insulating foam, the cooling motor is in the back at the bottom and just seems to feed into the chamber with the foam keeping the cold in.

It's just a foam sandwich construction but that helps with mounting regulators etc. because it stabilises the flimsy walls.

Maybe they're all made like that? Good luck finding out!





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Sunfire96 said:
IIRC you can make a paste of baking soda and alcohol and apply it to the side when the fridge is plugged in. The areas with refrigerant lines will dry the paste out faster and give you an idea where they are. Definitely double check me on that lol I heard it in an episode of Homebrew Happy Hour podcast, maybe you can find it

I think this is the episode:
https://www.homebrewhappyhour.com/b...s-the-krausen-milling-your-own-grains-ep-232/
Click to expand...
The first Keezer I built, I painted it while it was plugger in. Had the same effect as Sunfire suggested. The paint dried different and I could clearly see the coils.
 
Drill a pilot hole from the inside just to puncture the plastic interior then use an icepick to probe to the outside skin. If it's a clean shot, penetrate the skin from the inside with the pilot then take the hole saw to it. I think Steve's got a point and it's kinda logical to put anything that needs service or could fail on the back where everything else is exposed.
 
Ward Chillington said:
Drill a pilot hole from the inside just to puncture the plastic interior then use an icepick to probe to the outside skin. If it's a clean shot, penetrate the skin from the inside with the pilot then take the hole saw to it. I think Steve's got a point and it's kinda logical to put anything that needs service or could fail on the back where everything else is exposed.
Click to expand...
Exactly the right procedure. Taking some of the plastic interior out can be done without penetrating the side at all or maybe just a few millimeters. Then you can probe it with an ice pick or some other thin instrument and you'll know right away if you hit something. You can then gently chip away the foam until you see the exterior and know there's nothing there.

Modern full-size refrigerators don't have anything in the sides except for foam insulation. But it only takes a few minutes and the foam is accessed easily and can be peeled away even with your fingers to expose the outer metal skin.

Make the hole bigger than you think. 3 inches is not a dumb idea.
 
Donoroto said:
Exactly the right procedure. Taking some of the plastic interior out can be done without penetrating the side at all or maybe just a few millimeters. QUOTE]

Thanks Don! Coming from an engineer, that means something! I'm thinking the only thing he might encounter is a rib or something to assist structural integrity.
Click to expand...
 
Most full size refrigerators have a diagonal tube running from just below the freezer at the front, down and to the back.
Yes, I found one the hard way:(.
Best advice I have is to but the taps in the door.
If you do put them in the door, measure twice, drill once!
You want to make sure that the tap handles are low enough that you can open and close the freezer door...
upload_2022-5-4_7-22-46.png
 
Craigerrr said:
Most full size refrigerators have a diagonal tube running from just below the freezer at the front, down and to the back.
Yes, I found one the hard way:(.
Best advice I have is to but the taps in the door.
If you do put them in the door, measure twice, drill once!
You want to make sure that the tap handles are low enough that you can open and close the freezer door...
View attachment 20521
Click to expand...
Thanks craigerrr
 
Donoroto said:
Tell us why, Craig...:p
Click to expand...
Okay laughing boy....
I got lucky, when I went to install the taps I had a hot flash thinking that I drilled the holes too high. The clearance between the top of the tap handles and the bottom of the freezer door was... well it wasn't much...
 
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