refrigerator as air exchanger?

morpho · September 2011

Does anybody know if this will work?

I have designed the kitchen so the refrigerator (electric) will back into the utility room. Lots of breathing room for the coils and the opportunity to insulate the sides and top.

What I was thinking of doing was boxing in the back of the unit coils and running an air intake from the outside into the box.

My "thinking" is that I need a fresh air intake anyway, And the fridge needs to stay cool, those coils get pretty warm...so why not heat a little incoming air and cool the fridge at the same time?

Thoughts?

thanks

waynefromnscanada · September 2011

Re: refrigerator as air exchanger?

My thought is, it sounds reasonable, so it's worth a try, perhaps a temporary settup just to give it a try, prove it one way or the other, then go from there. You could well be on to something, but won't know for sure till you try it.

BB. · September 2011

Re: refrigerator as air exchanger?

You are talking about ~100 to 200 watts (average) of heating effect.

You have to decide if it is worth it too you... On the other hand, if you have heavy Air Conditioning loads, then dumping waste heat outside might be a help (although, the power usage of the fridge may go up some depending on inlet air temperature (outside vs cooled inside air).

-Bill

morpho · September 2011

Re: refrigerator as air exchanger?

HAHAHA....air con?...there is ZERO chance I will need A/C where I live.

Sorry BB, when you say 100-200 watts heating effect, do you mean it would be the same as a 100-200 watt incandescent light-bulb heating a box?

Thanks

BB. · September 2011

Re: refrigerator as air exchanger?

Basically, yes.... The refrigerator (typically) draw around 100-120 watts for the compressor, plus it draws another 100-200 watts or so from inside the fridge... Assuming that the fridge compressor runs at 50% duty cycle, you are probably looking at an average of 100-200 watts of average heating effect.

I think an average resting adult will "heat the room" at a ~100 watt rate.

-Bill

TheBackRoads · September 2011

Re: refrigerator as air exchanger?

Wow your way "up" there Morpho!! Is it snowing yet?

techntrek · September 2011

Re: refrigerator as air exchanger?

If you are in an area that doesn't need A/C then I expect heating is a big load for you. The last thing I would want to do is dump a "free" 100-200 watts of heat outside when it could be helping to heat the house.

morpho · September 2011

Re: refrigerator as air exchanger?

BB,
Thanks...thats not a tonne of heat but, some anyway.

Backroads,
You know what?...it's a bit of a freak show at the moment...it was somewhere around 80 today...way above average...heck thats way above average for a good summer day around here....END OF DAYS!!!

Techntrek,
Heating is not too much of a problem. I have insulated this place beyond what any reasonable person would do. I have positioned the south face to the sun and done the math regarding glazing to thermal mass capacity etc. etc. etc.
It can be -30 and if the sun is shining it's nice and cozy in here with no heat on at all.
So keeping warm is not the issue. Fresh air is.
I'm pretty sealed up, so a fresh air exchange would be great. Would just like to mitigate how cold it is when it comes into the structure.

Okay, so nobody thinks I'll blow up my fridge or create some mysto toxic reaction, or freeze my carrots in the crisper droor!!!!

refrigerator as air exchanger?

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