conversion of freezer to refrigerator

[jan siepelstad]

I converted a freezer to a refrigerator which has a very low energy
consumption.
see: http://www.olino.org/us/

Best regards,
Zwerius Kriegsman

 

[John,A]

Not hard to do, was it.

~ BG

I would like to convert my refrigerator to a freezer.
I guess the main problem would be to increase the insulation on the
fridge side.

 

[daestrom]

The problem actually is that fridges and freezers have different
refrigerant gases in them. Different "boiling points". Ergo, unless
you change the gas in the sytem it will never work well. Hardly seem
s worth it.

Most household units only have one gas and one compressor. The freezer
compartment is the only part actively chilled by the heat pump, the
refridgerator section is cooled simply by letting some air flow between it
and the freezer, or by having the freezer compartment wall that faces the
refrigerator section un-insulated.

Opening up the air circulation between the two will help freeze the
refrigerator section.

But be wary of adding insulation to the refrigerator section if the outside
coil is not visible. Many units place this heat-rejection coil just under
the outer surface. Adding insulation over it (i.e. on the outside of the
unit) would simply raise the coil's temperature and make the unit have to
run longer / more often to keep the same temperature. Of course adding to
the inside is okay except it reduces the volume for storing ice cream

daestrom

 

[Maximust]

I converted a freezer to a refrigerator which has a very low energy
consumption.
see: http://www.olino.org/us/

Best regards,
Zwerius Kriegsman

You would use less energy if you converted a chest freezer rather than an
upright. Everytime you open that door on your upright, all that cold air falls
out. If you have a chest freezer, you open the door and the air stays put. By
the way, this freezer conversion is used a lot by people living off the grid
and is better than a propane gas refrigerator.

 

[danny burstein]

You would use less energy if you converted a chest freezer rather than an
upright. Everytime you open that door on your upright, all that cold air falls
out. If you have a chest freezer, you open the door and the air stays put. By
the way, this freezer conversion is used a lot by people living off the grid
and is better than a propane gas refrigerator

Also... make sure to use a "manual defrost" unit. An automatic one
will kick in some pretty power hungry heaters (the one on my
refrigerator/freezer pulls 400 watts) for some pre-defined time,
and that number is fixed at the factory. You might only ""need",
so to speak, 2 minutes of defrost every 48 hours, but it had
to be designe for the worst case scenario.

(It's only in the past few years that we've started to see
some intelligence/feedback on defrosters).

 

[Mauried]

You would use less energy if you converted a chest freezer rather than an
upright. Everytime you open that door on your upright, all that cold air falls
out. If you have a chest freezer, you open the door and the air stays put. By
the way, this freezer conversion is used a lot by people living off the grid
and is better than a propane gas refrigerator

Also... make sure to use a "manual defrost" unit. An automatic one
will kick in some pretty power hungry heaters (the one on my
refrigerator/freezer pulls 400 watts) for some pre-defined time,
and that number is fixed at the factory. You might only ""need",
so to speak, 2 minutes of defrost every 48 hours, but it had
to be designe for the worst case scenario.

(It's only in the past few years that we've started to see
some intelligence/feedback on defrosters).

--
_____________________________________________________
Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
[email protected]
[to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]

Your fridge must be either poorly designed or its got a faulty defrost
thermostat.
Most self defrosting fridges these days will only defrost for as long
as it takes to pull the evaporator up to around 2-4C, ie until all the
ice is melted, they dont work on time.

 

[danny burstein]

Your fridge must be either poorly designed or its got a faulty defrost
thermostat.
Most self defrosting fridges these days will only defrost for as long
as it takes to pull the evaporator up to around 2-4C, ie until all the
ice is melted, they dont work on time.

Your Australian units are a couple of years ahead of the US...

 

[Mauried]

Your fridge must be either poorly designed or its got a faulty defrost
thermostat.
Most self defrosting fridges these days will only defrost for as long
as it takes to pull the evaporator up to around 2-4C, ie until all the
ice is melted, they dont work on time.

Your Australian units are a couple of years ahead of the US...


--
_____________________________________________________
Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
[email protected]
[to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]

My fridge is made in China and its a cheap nasty one but its got a
defrost thermostat.
I know as Ive had to replace it twice now.
You may be able to install one in youir fridge to save the defrost
heater running when its not needed.
They only cost a few dollars.