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refrigeration ? | 12 comments (12 topical, editorial)

Re: refrigeration ? (3.00 / 0) (#4)
by Volvo farmer on Thu Nov 18th, 2004 at 08:34:33 AM MST
(User Info)

All the chest freezers I've seen have a hollow tube that runs from the ouside of the box near the compressor and is adjacent to an evaporater line inside the box. The thermostat capillary tube is fed into this tube to read the temperature. Most of the adjustable controls I've seen have a bulb at the end of the capillary tube that's too big to fit into this tube though. Check out this Danfoss universal. It's what I would get if I were doing such a project. For this type of experiment, you want an adjustable set point AND an adjustable differential.
http://www.rparts.com/Catalog/Major_Components/controls/controls.asp

Instead of drilling a hole, why not just put the skinny part of the cap tube under the door gasket and dangle the bulb in the box? If you wanted to make it perfect, you could file a little groove in the top of the box so that the tube would not distort the gasket at all.

It's a shame you can't find chest freezers with the separate condenser coils anymore. It would make it easy to super-insulate the box. If I had more time for projects, I'd make a super-insulated chest type box, about 8-10CF with 6-8" of insulation on all six sides, then I'd put the guts from one of those dorm-sized friges in it. If a person was careful, he wouldn't even have to break the sealed system, just a little rearranging of the lines would do it.

Volvo Farmer

May you always have success in your quest to irritate those who you despise. -Ben Goode
[ Parent ]

Re: refrigeration ? (3.00 / 0) (#6)
by whatsnext on Thu Nov 18th, 2004 at 10:44:10 AM MST
(User Info)

I'm pretty sure that you can still find freezers with seperate condenser coils. Just look at the bigger ones. The problem with the seperate coils is that no one ever cleans them and sooner or later your compressor runs full time.
John........

[ Parent ]

Re: refrigeration ? (3.00 / 0) (#9)
by Volvo farmer on Thu Nov 18th, 2004 at 06:29:09 PM MST
(User Info)

Next time you're in Home Depot or Sears, try and find one. I repair appliances for a living and haven't seen one made with external coils in about 15 years. I haven't seen everything out there but I'm pretty sure you can't buy one new. If the coils are cooled by convection and sit on the back of the unit, dirt and dust are a non-issue. It's the fan-cooled coils that live under refigerators that get full of stuff and need to be periodically cleaned.

Volvo Farmer

May you always have success in your quest to irritate those who you despise. -Ben Goode
[ Parent ]

refrigeration ? | 12 comments (12 topical, 0 editorial)

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