Chest freezer as a chest refrigerator

Re: Chest freezer as a chest refrigerator

Update. The chest fridge has now been on the Kill a Watt for just over 96 hours, that's 4 days and 4 nights, continuously, holding an average internal temp of about +1 degree C, (33 F), while operating in a room where the temp ranges from about 70 degrees F, up to 79 Degrees, averaging about 74, and getting used, not just sitting there looking pretty.
During this 4 day period, the Kill A Watt unit has recorded a grand total of just 1.16 KWh used. At the rate we pay here, (12 cents/KWh) that works out to just over $12.00 per YEAR to operate the thing!

This is proof that there IS a better way, we just have to take the plunge.

Wayne

Re: Chest freezer as a chest refrigerator

crewzer wrote: »

Wayne,

Excellent report -- and great performance! Do you have a separate freezer?

Regards,
Jim / crewzer

Thanks, I'm very happy with it. Yes I do have a separate chest freezer and now have a pure sine inverter to run it. Working on getting that going, but may have to wait till the days start lengthening - very little sun here mid Nov, to Jan. Not only do the days get very short, but lots of dark, stormy days too.
The fridge I don't worry about, it only runs 10 minutes out of every 100, so the compressor hardly has time to get the chill off it, even with MSW.

Re: Chest freezer as a chest refrigerator

Forgot to update on this ..

Here is my link to my story of my chest fridge i built and am still happily using today.:D

http://www.shtfmilitia.com/viewtopic.php?p=538#538

Re: Chest freezer as a chest refrigerator

My update and will touch on a couple of issues mentioned in the last 2 posts.
I've been using my converted 5 cu ft chest fridge now for going on 3 years. Am I happy with it? You bet I am! Yes, it's a bit on the small size, but I work with it.
1) re hard starting. Yes, "normal" fridges and freezers are notorious hard starters and needlessly so. With both my fridge and my freezer, I've added a starting capacitor in series with the connection going to the start winding of the compressor. The result - - night and day! They both start now with no problems, even under full back pressure.
No more hummm=click

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hummmm-click any more if the power is cut for a second while they were running. Just another instant start. Such a simple thing.
2) I took care of the dampness very early on, by gluing a V shaped drip catch to the inner wall, about 12 inches down from the top, and did it in such a way that any water that enters it will run to the end, where it drips into a plastic tube, that goes through the lower wall, below any freon tubing, and leads to an evaporation tray outside the fridge. Since almost all condensation takes place in the upper foot of the inner walls, problem cured.
3) Rust. Also took care of that right at the first. Expecting rust to be a problem, I put a bead of Silicone seal over all internal seams and joints. Result? only one small spot of rust where I scratched the painted inside wall, but that's now taken care of too.
4) Bacteria. Not a problem at all. I run it very near the freezing point. I love ice cold milk etc, and I have it Bread will keep for 3 weeks without going moldy. I've NEVER seen that in any other fridge! Probably because they don't run as consistantley cold.
5) Almost forgot, the question of inverter size and compressor failure rate.
IF you install a starting capacitor (I found 200 MFD worked great on the 12 cy ft freezer, but 150MFD worked best with my Chest Fridge) A 1000 watt, or perhaps even a 600 watt inverter should work just fine. I'm actually right now using a PureSine 300 watt inverter, but this is a special case with special starting circuits I designed myself.
Running either compressor for any length of time on MSW will cause overheating and lead to early compressor death. That said, my Chest Fridge only runs about 10 minutes at a time and is them off for 45 minutes, so heating is not a problem. Not so for the freezer, or a normal fridge. But heating aside, the units both use about 20% more watts when running on MSW.
As for the inverter size needed to start a fridge or freezer without a starting capacitor installed, I'll leave that up to someone else, but I would guess probably a 150 watt unit would start them.
By the way, one thing I considered, but didn't need to try, but would likely work if you're short on money for a larger pure sine inverter, have the freezer start on a big, cheap MSW inverter and use a timed relay to click the compressor supply over to a smaller pure sine inverter after a couple of seconds. I know this requires skills many don't have, but if you do have the skills and are short on money, give it a try. When the relay clicks over, it happens so fast that the compressor doesn't have time to slow down before it's reconnected to the pure sine, so all the pure sine inverter has to do is run it, without ever having to start it.
So, to sum up, I've had far fewer problems than I ever expected. I've had far greater satisfaction than I ever expected and still use less than 1/3 kwh per 24 hours. Would I go back to a regular fridge? NO!

So there you have it, my report after almost 3 years.

Cheers
Wayne

Re: Chest freezer as a chest refrigerator

No Bill, I had thought I'd have to, but it proved completely unnecessary. The evaporator (cooling) coils are located in the upper foot or so of the wall, so it's real cold at the top and that cold sinks, making the whole thing A-OK
Awesome!
Wayne

Re: Chest freezer as a chest refrigerator

Just figured i would update my chest fridge as well as it has been working GREAT since november 2007, i am too lazy to repost so here is the detail here

http://www.shtfmilitia.com/viewtopic.php?t=176