Beer Forum

So my wife and I just bought a house with a spare fridge that will be my new kegerator. I can fit 5 kegs upright on the trays as the level they currently rest. I can fit a C02 bottle under them where the crisper would normally be if I lay it on it's side. My concern with this is that will the bottle on the side be detrimental? I don't know if the bottle needs to be upright in order to maintain good pressure. If I need to arrange the bottle upright and sharing space it'll take the place of one of the kegs.

You must definitely AVOID putting the CO2 tank on it's side. Under pressure the majority of the CO2 is in liquid state. If the liquid CO2 gets into the regulator, as it would do in a horizontal position, the liquid will turn to gas inside the regulator body. This will be accompanied by a tremendous increase in pressure and possibly destroy the regulator.

If you don't want to lose the keg space, you can route your CO2 line through the drain hole in the fridge and keep the tank outside the fridge. If you consider drilling through the wall of the fridge, I would advise against it. There are many oversize paperweights sitting around that are a result of folks accidently drilling through a coolant line. It can be done, but is risky. Drilling the door, though unsightly, is a safe place to drill.

Wayne

Thanks Bug ^^

I had a feeling it would be an issue which is one reason I didn't want to buy all the fittings until I knew for sure.

I have drilled through the side of my upright fridge so that I could keep the CO2 outside. There's some info out there on the internet that tells you how to use some kind of spray on concoction (made of water, baking soda, marshmallow, and some other stuff) to try to locate any cooling lines that might be in the fridge walls. Personally, I just took my chances. That's the kind of guy I am. It worked fine. But definitely don't lay a CO2 tank on it's side and open the valve.