Beer Forum

I was wondering if it is possible to just take a household thermostat (digital?) and install it in a fridge in place of the one in it, that way you are able control it better. Its just an idea I had this afternoon and thought I would look for some feed back.

I imagine you could, but you would need to bypass the fridges primary stat and jumper your digital stat into that. Pending on your knowledge of controls it can be done, but isnt easy. Brewing sites sell digital stats with outlets on them. so the temp you set is held by switching power on and off to the fridge.

http://morebeer.com/view_product/16663/ ... Controller

Its an analog stat but works pretty well.

I think the Home Thremostats are 24V AC, and absolutey can not handle the current of an interrupt style controller. I would assume that this will work using a simple relay to handle the current of the refer motor.

This is not a bad idea though..........I need to work on this some more as I am shopping for one now to control the fermentation fridge....

OK... lets do some math. Justin, look away...

Household digital thermostat - $20
24v transformer - $10
Relay - $5
Outlet, Box, Cover, misc. Wire - $15

So, not counting your time - you are into this "solution" for $50 - and you still don't have a probe to measure beer temp. You have a thermo to measure ambient.

Go on ebay and get yourself a digital ranco for $50. You will still need to wire it (using an extension cord - $8), but you will own a better suited piece of equipment, and you will have a cleaner solution. Simply crack the existing thermostat, and plug the fridge into the ranco's extension cord.



Mylo