A Catastophic Failure

Rsquared · 2026-03-22T05:36:24Z

So I went stumbling through the door of my local..........................................................

WAIT!
STRIKE THAT!
WRONG STORY. to be told at another time.

So I had a catastrophic failure at HQ. My beer fridge suffered an unauthorized death. I arrived at the aforementioned HQ, only to be surprised as I reached into the (supposed) chilled micro environment, and pulled out a European style room-temperature adult beverage. That, here in the states, is known as an ABSOLUTE No-Go. I mean, that's completely unacceptable. So me, being the inquisitive young (relatively) lad that I am, proceeded to tear the thing apart in a (just less than) unmitigated fury. I mean, come on.............warm beer just isn't an option.

So, using the troubleshooting skills that I've honed over a couple years of learning how things turn on and off in this world. My investigation led me to a faulty thermostat as the culprit to this horrific finding. I can't imagine why a beer fridge that's 25 years old would have it's thermostat go tit's up. I may just have to author a nasty memo to the manufacture as a result of this.

Anyway. I ordered a replacement stat from an online source that I've used for parts throughout the years. Only to have the replacement stat be of the wrong variety. It's like it had a completely different temperature range that it would try and maintain. Ain't it a bitch when a 20 dollar part doesn't work properly? So me being the controls nerd that some of you know me to be, (remember me re-wiring my washer/dryer combo), I threw my hands in the air in frustration and declared that I'd "Take Care Of It". Which I have.

I don't need no stinking mechanical thermostat to keep my beer fridge cool. I've upgraded the whole thing. I snatched one of the many controllers that I use off of the work truck, a simple relay and a CT (to monitor compressor status of course), a temperature probe, and a little bit of Panduit (wire trough) to keep it somewhat clean looking. Hell, after some baseline thermostat type of programming , I even put in some temperature tracking just so I could watch the highs and lows.

And yes. I've attached it to my home network. So now I can pull up the beer fridge from any computer in the house. This is what technology was made for!

Here endith the sermon.

Now.........LET THE BEER BE SERVED!