Can a walk-in freezer be used as a cooler ?

[hilltop]

I have a customer in the bar business and he picked up a walk-in freezer 4'x6' Norlake Model KLF46-CL-26 The Compressor is a Copelametic KAN2-005-1AA. He wants to use it as a refrigeration unit for keg storage at around 36-38 degrees F. I was going to hook it up to a Ranco type controller and set it at 37 F with a 3 degree difference. would this work and if not how can it be done. I am an appliance tech (19 yrs) dealing with only the household side and not commercial but he is a regular customer of mine. Thanks for the input

[chemi-cool]

your compressor have a maximum working evaporating temp of 55F. If you run the unit at around 30F evaporating temp, it should be OK. check that the condenser is large enough to get rid of the heat.
Set the defrost to one defrost every 12 hours, orifice in the TXV will need to be changed to a larger one.

[jgroberson]

We don't know all the particulars about that freezer unit but as we say here in Kansas USA
I don't think she will fly Newt (from one mechanic to another)
Copeland manual says that is an R-502 LT or R-12 HT and so assuming it has mineral oil and no oil pump
and running on R-502 you might get by using MP-39 with expansion valve change as the original probably was an MOP valve or it has a CPR valve that will not allow operating at med temp pressures.
Oil pumps were added on to newer small Copeland semi-hermetics for POE oil applications (R-134a 404a etc.) as they found POE does not mist or vaporize to wet the crankcase and lower cylinder areas
The next concern is how many btu's will the coil produce at +25 compared to -25F
Copeland capacity chart on a KAN2-0050 states 1030 btu @-25 and 5860 btu @ +45 that's 5 times more heat for the condensor to get rid of which chemi-cool voiced concerns about also
Hot beer is not good on your reputation and the history of retro-fitting old units is full of horror stories
Sell him a matching medium temp coil and condensing and or call a Norlake application engineer for help
Mfgs are usually eager to help as it protects their reputation too as their logo is on the door

[install monkey]

normally we disable the defrost heaters-link the fans to run continuously for off cycle defrost- then fit a digistat to give better control of the temp- also drain heater not req either- set 4 defrosts every 24 hrs of only 20mins

[hilltop]

ok Thanks for the responses, so long story short, I am unfamiliar with the terms in the answers, except for install Monkey's. Like I stated I work on residential appliances ( washers dryers refrigerators and stoves) I thought it could be plugged into a Ranco ETC and it would all turn on when it reached 41 degrees and all shut off when it cooled down to 35 degrees. I was hoping the inside temp would hold pretty steady seeing that it really wasnt going to be opened but every few days.

[jgroberson]

hilltop I have had people ask me about raising the temperature on chest freezers in an attempt to operate at refrigerator temperatures on solar or wind power by installing a higher temp thermostat as they found that every time they open the doors on a refrigerator their batteries run down while trying to recover
Although I agree that a chest type box is more effeciant as the cold air doesn't fall on the floor but I warned them that operating a -20f freezer compressor at +25f temperatures causes constant overloading.

You being in the appliance business I'm sure you have heard how a household freezer moans and
growns when you first plug it in. It's overloading and if you raise the temperaure to allow this to be
a permanent condition you are in for compressor failures, overheated wiring and klixon overload failures
without changing the other required items in the system to run at higher temp applications

I know some will disagree with me on this and say it has worked for them but if I'm forced to belly up
to the bar and discuss it with them I would like my beer to be at 29F and in a frosted mug please
and tell those big guys at table 5 that beer can pyramids are not allowed here

[dinhhung]

I have a customer in the bar business and he picked up a walk-in freezer 4'x6' Norlake Model KLF46-CL-26 The Compressor is a Copelametic KAN2-005-1AA. He wants to use it as a refrigeration unit for keg storage at around 36-38 degrees F. I was going to hook it up to a Ranco type controller and set it at 37 F with a 3 degree difference. would this work and if not how can it be done. I am an appliance tech (19 yrs) dealing with only the household side and not commercial but he is a regular customer of mine. Thanks for the input

I have two identical walk-in freezer installed at my Church. We use one as cooler and one as freezer. We did this just in case one freezer is down we have another to store the valuable frozen goods.

They are running for 12 years. No problem.

I guess, since it is Church ground and all, it may have some strange miracles.