Does anyone sell super-efficient chest refrigerators

Narz

I heard awhile back about a guy who tricked out his chest freezer to be a chest fridge and run on next to no wattage.

If this is for real why doesn't the guy start selling these fluckers to people (like myself) without the skills or inclination to do such conversions.

Also, while you're here. What do you use for refrigeration?
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Ludi

We recently replaced our 20 year old behemoth with a little new regular fridge.

this one
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dinopello

I've just got a regular (5 year old) Kenmore side by side. Not really that big.

I've toyed with the idea of getting a 12/24V DC / 110 AC Fridge/Freezer for backup. I could do a solar power system with the DC pretty easily.

Engel Fridge/Freezers

It's hard to imagine the grid going down here for any length of time though. Electricity seems still pretty cheap too.

PeakOiler

Sundanzer Freezer

The 5.8 cu.ft. freezer (DC) was $969, the 125W solar panel was $579, the Morningstar charge controller was $69, 30' cable was $34, and a 100 amp-hr battery was $249. Total: $2109.

It has worked extremely well since installation last November.

Shannymara has this model too. Perhaps she could let us know if she's using hers yet.

Keep in mind that a good gasoline or diesel powered electrical generator is loud, stinks, requires a lot more maintenance, and can cost around $500-1000 or more, not counting ongoing fuel costs.
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MadScientist · Heavy Crude Joined: May 19, 2004 Posts: 383

http://mtbest.net/chest_fridge.html

one quick example from a hasty google search. the point is to use a top opening chest FREEZER and convert it to a refrigerator by replacing the thermostat.

for ultimate efficiency, put it in a root cellar with the heat coils on the exterior of your insulated space.
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green_achers

When I was a teenager, I lived a summer in an apartment that had a gas-powered refrig. I was told later it worked on the absorptive heat principle and used a tiny fraction of the energy of a regular refrig. As I recall, the gas burner would only come on for a few minutes a day. I understand you can't buy them anymore, because they use anhydrous ammonia.
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BigTex

kpeavey · Expert Joined: Oct 04, 2004 Posts: 1100

I've got 3 frigs.

The big side by side. Not in use due to a tree falling on my house limiting my electrical capacity to 15 amps. The big thing is nice, fits all kinds of beer, but uses 6 amps.

The camper. About 3 cuft, tiny freezer, runs on 12 volt, 110volt or propane. Its an ammonia evaporation unit, was installed just before a buddy of mine bought the camper, has had limited use when he owned it, excellent shape. I used it when I lived in the camper for a year after a tree fell on my house.

The new fridge. Similar to what Ludi has, Magic Chef, 4 cuft model. This thing uses 1.5 amps, keeps stuff cold quiet, has a big enough freezer to hold enough meat to get me by for about month. The only problem I have with it is the shelves are not adjustable. Making a gallon jug of milk fit required lifting the top shelf by an inch. I had an electrical problem in the camper, cooked the breaker panel, needed a fridge in a hurry.
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WisJim

frankthetank

Just a thought, but a cheap AC chest freezer (5cu/ft) runs a little over a $100... Could u use the difference on an inverter and more batteries and solar panels? I know there is the loss of efficiency...and an inverter would run you a good amount, although i doubt you'd need a very high wattage model.
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WisJim

I think that (based on some intensive refrigerator and freezer shopping in the last couple of years, which is still continuing for the freezer) the inexpensive and smaller sized refrigs and freezers are much less efficient per cubic foot of capacity than the larger sizes are. Our new refrigerator is 17 cu ft and uses less than 100 watts while running--usually 80 watts or so (it is plugged into a Kill-a-watt). It uses about 8/10 of a kw-hr a day, so it runs about 10 hours a day. I would be very interested in seeing actual power usage figures for some of the smaller freezers and refrigerators.

frankthetank

I have 2 refrigerators and a small chest freezer. I'm ordering one of those killawatt devices. I really need to test some stuff. I'd love to know the amount of energy my 230v well pump uses a week, but that would be tough to figure out.
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WisJim · Last edited by WisJim on Mon Jul 14, 2008 9:52 am; edited 1 time in total

I bought a couple more Kill-a-watts on eBay for a good price. Got a regular one plus the newer version that has a memory so it can be unplugged without losing the data. So now we have one that the electric car is plugged into, one that a refrig is hooked to and a spare to loan out or check something as we think of it. I paid less than $60 for both units including shipping.

I recall reading about adapting a Kill-a-watt to make it usable to measure 220 volt circuits, and it may have been on the Otherpower site. Can't find a bookmark now, though.

gnm

I've got a Frigidaire 13.3 CU chest freezer which uses about 350Kwh per year. I should mention that the killowatt is showing very low consumption and I think it will exceed the rating. Typical run load is 30-70 watts. Often it shows 0 even though the power led is on. Thats because the killowatt can't register the miniscule amount of power being used for the led. Easily doable by a 150-200watt single panel - Which is why I think the sundazers are overpriced. Sure they are DC but you can get an efficient AC with a slightly larger solar panel for less. One tiny inverter, a car battery, and you are done.

WisJim, 100lb (25gal yes?) cylinder for cooking and fridge? You might have had a leak at the regulator. My neighbor has a (danby I think) and it used about 7-10gal/month (mid-full size fridge/freezer). That was after he discovered a problem with the dual regulator (failover for two tanks when one is empty) which had been costing him almost 10gal a month by estimate. Well after a couple years he has scrapped that and gone the electric route. More efficent in my opinion and the way I have gone.

A horizontal chest freezer used as a fridge would be fairly easy with a commodity thermal switch (I can get the brand/model you would need if anyone is interested) - should be about $80. Just run an A/C chest freezer as mentioned above and put the thermal switch on the power for it - you could run it through the drain plug with no mods...

-G
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nwildmand · Intermediate Crude Joined: Jul 12, 2006 Posts: 558

here is a temp controller that i use for brewing beer.

Web Page http://www.midwestsupplies.com/products/ProdByID.aspx?ProdID=4230

add extra insulation and your done.