# husky mini fridge



## Dirtydozen (Feb 7, 2007)

just got one of these to turn into an incubator, has anyone else used one of these as i need a little advise on how to remove all the refridgeration parts please


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## HadesDragons (Jun 30, 2007)

I've done a couple of fridge conversions (one fairly small, one much bigger) and unless the fridge comes pre-drained I'd just leave the refrigeration unit and the pump and stuff in place - it's not like you're going to be carrying the incubator around all the time and need to make it as light as possible.

Technically it's illegal to vent refrigeration gases into the atmosphere - you're supposed to get someone qualified to do drain it for you. I'm not sure where the law stands on DIY crimping of the pipes then using snips to go through the middle of the crimp - as long as you do it properly and get the pipes properly flattened it should be air tight, then you can just work your way through unbolting and unscrewing the chiller unit. I've never done it myself but I've seen a guy go through and crimp and cut the pipes without anything leaking out.

Unless you desperately need the space that the chiller unit takes up at the back, it's much less hassle to leave it in place, cut out the electrics running to it then just add in your stat and heaters etc. Even the pre-drained fridge I got hold of still took some work to get the chiller and pump out, and you don't even lose much weight for the effort.

Mine's in storage (you'll have to excuse the mess in the photos!) until I need it later this year, but it's basically a near-complete fridge with the electrics snipped and my heating equipment run through the back. I still need to tidy up the thermometer cables a bit but hopefully you get the general idea:


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## reptiles-ink (Nov 4, 2006)

The husky I converted didnt use gas, just unbolt the unit at the back and thats it done.
You can either heat it inside with mats or cable or build a box on the back with a ceramic in and use the original fan to blow the warm air in.


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## HadesDragons (Jun 30, 2007)

Ah sweet - sounds a lot easier than a bar fridge then!


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## Dirtydozen (Feb 7, 2007)

yeah there is a unit on the back but its got pipes going from it into the fridge, would this not mean it uses gas


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## Pythonman14 (Jan 7, 2009)

sounds like it most fridges\freezers tend to use gas


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## Stuart C (Jun 12, 2008)

HadesDragons: do you find that the one heatmat at the bottom gives enough heat to heat the whole unit? I am thinking that because it is all sealed and well insulated that would be the key to it working, or is there another heat source that I missed?

Cheers


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## Pythonman14 (Jan 7, 2009)

well there are the two other ones on the sides so theres three of em but i would also like to know how that incubator works for you???


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## HadesDragons (Jun 30, 2007)

Stuart C said:


> HadesDragons: do you find that the one heatmat at the bottom gives enough heat to heat the whole unit? I am thinking that because it is all sealed and well insulated that would be the key to it working, or is there another heat source that I missed?
> 
> Cheers


As Pythonman spotted there are also heatmats attached to either side - I can't remember the total wattage of the three off the top of my head but it's not a massive amount. The sides are well insulated, the back has a couple of inches of polystyrene and the front is double glazed. Because of all this it only takes an hour or so to warm up from room temperature. I may remove the heatmats before the summer and reattach them with a layer of polystyrene between them and the metal sides to make things even more efficient. Metal is a pretty good conductor of heat, so a lot of what the mats produce is likely to be going straight into the metal rather than heating the air. It's all controlled by a pulse stat which I find keeps things a lot more contant than a mat-stat.

Once at temperature you can open the door, mess around with things etc, then reset the max-min thermometer and in a couple of days it'll only show around a 1c fluctuation, even with the door being opened and closed. I designed it for beardie eggs which will tolerate some degree of fluctuation. If it was for a particularly sensitive species I'd probably be looking to use a much smaller, more controllable incubator. Inside the egg containers it's a little bit more stable because of the restricted air and heat exchange when the doors are open, and the temperature-buffering effect of the water that gets mixed with the incubation medium.


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## 4PY (Mar 13, 2008)

Hiya mate, whats the type of heating your using in yours and where did you get it from? cheers
4PY





HadesDragons said:


> I've done a couple of fridge conversions (one fairly small, one much bigger) and unless the fridge comes pre-drained I'd just leave the refrigeration unit and the pump and stuff in place - it's not like you're going to be carrying the incubator around all the time and need to make it as light as possible.
> 
> Technically it's illegal to vent refrigeration gases into the atmosphere - you're supposed to get someone qualified to do drain it for you. I'm not sure where the law stands on DIY crimping of the pipes then using snips to go through the middle of the crimp - as long as you do it properly and get the pipes properly flattened it should be air tight, then you can just work your way through unbolting and unscrewing the chiller unit. I've never done it myself but I've seen a guy go through and crimp and cut the pipes without anything leaking out.
> 
> ...


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## HadesDragons (Jun 30, 2007)

4PY said:


> Hiya mate, whats the type of heating your using in yours and where did you get it from? cheers
> 4PY


It's three heatmats controlled by a pulse stat - more details here:



HadesDragons said:


> As Pythonman spotted there are also heatmats attached to either side - I can't remember the total wattage of the three off the top of my head but it's not a massive amount. The sides are well insulated, the back has a couple of inches of polystyrene and the front is double glazed. Because of all this it only takes an hour or so to warm up from room temperature. I may remove the heatmats before the summer and reattach them with a layer of polystyrene between them and the metal sides to make things even more efficient. Metal is a pretty good conductor of heat, so a lot of what the mats produce is likely to be going straight into the metal rather than heating the air. It's all controlled by a pulse stat which I find keeps things a lot more contant than a mat-stat.
> 
> Once at temperature you can open the door, mess around with things etc, then reset the max-min thermometer and in a couple of days it'll only show around a 1c fluctuation, even with the door being opened and closed. I designed it for beardie eggs which will tolerate some degree of fluctuation. If it was for a particularly sensitive species I'd probably be looking to use a much smaller, more controllable incubator. Inside the egg containers it's a little bit more stable because of the restricted air and heat exchange when the doors are open, and the temperature-buffering effect of the water that gets mixed with the incubation medium.



The fridge itself came from a bar manager I know - the bar had a couple of them fail and he offered me one before they were scrapped. I was quite lucky to get one in such a nice condition!


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