I have a kenmore mini frige that I want to convert into a kegerator. I have to remove the freezer to do this. The freezer seems to be a tray that has refrigerant running through it. Has anyone ever done this? Can I remove the tray without losing all of the refrigerant? I can fit 2 corny's in it if I can do this.

No, you cannot remove that shelf. It is actually the evaporator coil and provides all of the cooling for the fridge. If you break a line to it, the fridge is a boat anchor, at best.

I didn't realize that it cooled the entire frige, but now that you mention it, it makes sense. I'm going to bring it to the hvac shop at the local voc school where I sub sometimes. I bet those guys can move the tray so it still works, but is out of the way. It would be best if the wife didn't see any new equipment bigger than a brewpot showing up. Will keep you posted. Thanks brewboy.

You're welcome.

Yeah, if you can get it moved or just swung out of the way, you'd be good to go, but I think that may be very difficult without breaking a line. Of course HVAC techs could possibly repair the break and recharge it

Good luck.

The mini frige lives! We had to remove the freezer tray and start all over. we made a refrigeration coil out of copper, and had to re size and design the capillary tube. It took a lot of brazing, and the expert know how of a seventeen year old hvac student at the local voctional school. (I told him that as soon as he turns 21 he has a bucket of homebrew waiting for him) Certainly a little beyond the skills of the average home brewer, but do-able with the proper tools and know how. I now have a free kegerator, and a nice little frige for lagering.

Were the coils all copper? I thought they used aluminum in there. What size/length of copper did it take?

We used about 6 feet of 1/4 inch copper for the coil inside the frige, and 39 inches of capillary tube, based upon the compressor being 1/5 horsepower. That was just to replace the freezer tray. All the other coils were left intact inside the frige case.

Where are the other coils at? I thought the freezer tray was the only one, but I've never looked that close.

I was told that the rest of the coils are on the left side of the frige, inside the wall. The freezer tray is the cold side of the coil, and as the refrigerant boils off, it draws heat from the inside of the frige. The rest of the coil is the high pressure side, and gets a little hot, so it's insulated and buried inside the side wall. I'm a plumber, not an hvac guy, so my understanding of how this works may be a little off, that's why I had to get a kid to help me with it.

OK, now I understand, They used to put the hot coils on the back, exposed. I thought the freezer coil was the only cold coil in there. \

Glad it worked out for you. While the kid that helped you is probably looking forward to some free beer some day, I have to imagine that he had a good time doing this.