Homemade bottle carbonation cabinet

The Homebrew Forum

Help Support The Homebrew Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Monkhouse

Regular.
Joined
Nov 3, 2017
Messages
423
Reaction score
134
Location
Carnforth, sleepy old town in the northwest
Hi, got sick and tired of trying to find a decent place in my house with a steady temp of 21c (such a place simply does not exist!) and also having found that my recent imperial stout has barely carbonated after 3 weeks I decided to create a solution!
I had to butcher a fire guard to create shelves for heat to escape upwards and I Hooked up a small tube heater at the very bottom. Using an inkbird I can control the heat output to around 21c.
I don’t think my cellar ever goes above 21c ambient temperature even in mid summer but I may be wrong 🤷‍♂️😅. If I find it does go wildly upwards of 21c I guess I will have to think about some sort of fan.
 

Attachments

  • 384991A4-B68B-41DB-8DA9-F046A43909FB.jpeg
    384991A4-B68B-41DB-8DA9-F046A43909FB.jpeg
    63.7 KB · Views: 57
  • BD577E7A-E879-4E9E-B8FC-B973E7BF7D12.jpeg
    BD577E7A-E879-4E9E-B8FC-B973E7BF7D12.jpeg
    64.5 KB · Views: 56
  • D19E3666-C27A-412A-913C-5813D122E932.jpeg
    D19E3666-C27A-412A-913C-5813D122E932.jpeg
    70 KB · Views: 54
Certainly more elegant than an old fridge.
The electrical engineer in me though is wondering if you've bonded and earthed that foil lining?

A lot of people were electrocuted here in NZ stapling foil lined underfloor insulation in place...
 
Connect the main earth connection on the heater (if it has one) via a wire to the foil, and run flexible connections to each door. Could screw a metal strip to the foil somewhere inconspicuous as a connection point.

Possibly being too nervous in the times of RCD protection, it's just that IF a live wire contacts the foil somehow, there will be no path for a fault current to trip the breaker, until someone touches it.
 
I remember a member making an extension for his fridge similar to the one below (i cannot find the original) the picture is at a bit of an odd angle (think chest freezer) with the fridge in one end door removed.


1652989258419.png
 
Hmm, what if it has no earth? Also the foil is literally just thin kitchen tinfoil- it’s ripped in many places and so in those parts it’s not a whole lining if that makes sense
If the heater is double insulated you're probably fine. Dble insulated appliances normally only have 2 pin plugs and a symbol of a square within a square somewhere.
Bear in mind I'm a long way away and we probably have different wiring rules and regs, so UK experts would be best to comment. I'm sure there's a sparky or two on here... 🙂
 
If the heater is double insulated you're probably fine. Dble insulated appliances normally only have 2 pin plugs and a symbol of a square within a square somewhere.
Bear in mind I'm a long way away and we probably have different wiring rules and regs, so UK experts would be best to comment. I'm sure there's a sparky or two on here... 🙂
If the heater is double insulated you're probably fine. Dble insulated appliances normally only have 2 pin plugs and a symbol of a square within a square somewhere.
Bear in mind I'm a long way away and we probably have different wiring rules and regs, so UK experts would be best to comment. I'm sure there's a sparky or two on here... 🙂

This is the info on the description of the heater
 

Attachments

  • image.jpg
    image.jpg
    38.9 KB · Views: 16
  • 2E2A0640-4710-4002-9E9A-5D96F1E1B3A5.png
    2E2A0640-4710-4002-9E9A-5D96F1E1B3A5.png
    79.3 KB · Views: 16
Yeah we don't have fused plugs here so things are different (have RCD protected circuits). Might just be easier to remove the foil on the base that the heater sits on? If there's no conductive path from the heater there's no issue.
 
Back
Top