Amperage on a Fan for a fridge

[SkiBeagle]

And great evidence it is too, mick02!
Looks like you'll get roughly 50% faster cooling with a fan in the house. No wonder all these stars have an entourage! Chillin'.
What really surprised me wasn't just the speed, it's the temp drop. My little fermenter fridge would not go below 5º on its own, but down to -1 with the fan. I'm seriously impressed by this.
On a separate note, I think old fridges are the cheapest way to cool your beer. I got a huge 8-corny larder fridge off dundeal for €50 and a freebie small larder fridge for nuthin. Be hard to make anything for that cost if you have the space.

[mick02]

Yeah I was pleasantly surprised by the results too. My larder fridge also has troubles getting the beer down below 3C. I'll see what happens now with the fan but it's looking promising so far.

[Leann ull]

Top tips guys don't push your domestic fridge below 3 for prolonged periods you will burn out the compressor

[mick02]

I did not know that. Have changed the settings to preserve the life of the fridge. Thanks for the tip

[Leann ull]

You can drop her down to zero or below for a day or so and that should be enough to crash chill anything, 3 is more than adequate for long term conditioning. 

[SkiBeagle]

Good to know, CH. Thanks for the tip. Getting down to -1 in 24hrs is good enough a cold crash for me. I'll give the poor old fridge a break after that. But it is really is great to be able to get that fast cold crash going on.

[Leann ull]

I also have the fans blowing across the heat or cool source as opposed to just circulating air
That bit probably only makes very small diff tbh I just feel it's more responsive to the probe on the other side of the fridge

[Ed]

In a hotel room, bored - had to do this:
29/12/16 11:04      No fan   
27/12/16 17:40           Degrees    Minutes   Mins/Degree drop
              01:17:24     13.8      2484           180.0
         
25/01/17 12:08      Fan   
24/01/17 23:40           Degrees   Minutes   
              12:28:00   14.1             748            53.0496453900709

I'd say there's a Nobel prize in there somewhere!

FTFY... i did the same thing and missed the full day first time I looked at it


edit: You'd wonder why fridge manufacturers don't include a circulation fan as standard?

[Paul B]

Any tips for wiring fans? Is is ok to cut the wires, twist together + some electrical tape?

[mick02]

That's what I did

[SkiBeagle]

Fine for 12V DC fans. But a bit of a terminal block might be more solid, and perhaps avoid a short.
Don't think I'd recommend twist and tape for mains wiring. But then, I don't think I'd recommend a mains-powered fan for this job in any case. Much safer with low voltage DC in an environment where electricity, beer, condensation and drunkenness all meet!

[Leann ull]

+1 on 240V fan, I have one winking out at me from my project tool box, really not sure humid fridge best place for it, 12V nobody dies

Pob put me onto these things which are rally great and no faffing around with little screws.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/sis.html?_nkw=Wago+Connectors+222+Series+2+%2C+3+%26+5+Port+Lever+Cage+Clamp+Terminal+Blocks&_id=121721102108&&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2658

These are what I use though, saves you having to cut cable on transformer

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/sis.html?_nkw=10Pairs+12v+DC+Male%26Female+Power+Balun+Connector+Adapter+Plug+Jack+For+CCTV+tu&_id=351680837725&&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2658