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keep a Refrigerator cold for free
By gameman, Section Homebrewed Electricity Posted on Thu Feb 12, 2004 at 01:37:50 PM MST
keep a Refrigerator cold for free

has anyone ever cut holes in a Refrigerator and put 2 vents ( one for air to come in and one for the warm air to go out )to the outside of your home and when the outside air is below about 40 degs F turn on a fan and pull the colder outside air thru the Refrigerator to keep it cold for free??

keep a Refrigerator cold for free | 10 comments (10 topical)

Re: keep a Refrigerator cold for free (none / 0) (#1)
by Seth on Thu Feb 12, 2004 at 02:07:19 PM MST

does the fan run on the cold air....??
Do mice get in the holes??? cats??
Trying to move my solar pannels is fun.

Re: keep a Refrigerator cold for free (none / 0) (#3)
by gameman on Thu Feb 12, 2004 at 02:16:27 PM MST

the fan can run on solar and you can put a screen over the vents to keep cats ,mice and other things out
gameman

[ Parent ]

Re: keep a Refrigerator cold for free (none / 0) (#2)
by Gordy on Thu Feb 12, 2004 at 02:08:52 PM MST

I have thought about it, it would work if you don't need the freezer part, as it needs to be kept around 0 - 10 F. Now if you could enclose and insulate the coils and have them vented to the outside. You would probably see a marked increase in effency. Like the deep freezer I keep in the sceened porch (for 6 years now), when the temp drops below 10F it does'nt need to run.

Gordy

Re: keep a Refrigerator cold for free (none / 0) (#4)
by RatOmeter on Thu Feb 12, 2004 at 02:21:15 PM MST

To avoid outside contaminants, you'd want to use an air-to-air heat exchanger, which will lessen the efficiency some. An air-to-air heat exchanger is a set of coils w/fins inside and another set outside connected together with some transfer medium in the tubing to move the heat between them. Kind of like the evaporator & condenser coils already in the fridge, but without the phase change chilling/heating of a compressor with refrigerant (and extra energy used).

-RatOmeter

Re: keep a Refrigerator cold for free (none / 0) (#5)
by Gordy on Thu Feb 12, 2004 at 03:54:17 PM MST

You will still need to run a fan or two to move air on both sides of the heat exchanger as well as a thermostat to turn them on and off. You'll probably want to install some sort of automatic doors on the vent holes to close when the frig temp drops to 35F to keep from freezing the contents. You would also want them to close when the frig starts it's normal operation on warm days.

The heat exchanger could be a simple sealed tin box. Say 4' x 4' x 4" with baffels like the solar colector from an ealier post( a couple weeks ago). Mounted out side in the shade of course and ducted inside.

An other 2 cent worth,
Gordy

[ Parent ]

Re: keep a Refrigerator cold for free (none / 0) (#6)
by Parameter on Thu Feb 12, 2004 at 05:21:23 PM MST

What I thing would be nice is to enclose all the exterior parts and vent thoses.
2 computer power supply fans would do the trick at the cost of about 200ma 12v each an with a temp probe it only run once in a while.

Just like putting the freezer out in the shade but without the need for of a lock... Damn racoons and skunks.

Para

[ Parent ]

Re: keep a Refrigerator cold for free (none / 0) (#7)
by Demetri on Thu Feb 12, 2004 at 05:31:16 PM MST

Does anyone use a cold spring or lake as a refridgerator? Possibly a waterproof box or sack weighted down under water? Or pipe the water up to your house for cooling? Just curious.

Demetri
Uncommon sense required.

Re: keep a Refrigerator cold for free (none / 0) (#8)
by Homebrewed12vdc on Thu Feb 12, 2004 at 09:58:06 PM MST

At my old house I used a spring water, the over flow from my well. I built a supper insulated box and lined it on the inside with copper tubing running back and forth for the water to flow through, it worked excelent for a fridge, but wouldnt freeze anyhting. A good way to keep the fridge from running in the winter is to freeze milk jugs of water outside and put them in the fridge to unfaw.

Re: keep a Refrigerator cold for free (none / 0) (#9)
by Parameter on Mon Feb 16, 2004 at 06:08:32 PM MST

This last trick is really neat. ;) Thanks

[ Parent ]

Re: keep a Refrigerator cold for free (none / 0) (#10)
by nothing to lose on Fri Feb 27, 2004 at 07:42:30 PM MST

If you keep it dry and closed, there is alot of advantage to putting the frig and freezer outside somewhere!

I used to have a freezer outside. It seldom runs in the winter because it is much colder outside than in the house, so it normally runs less in a colder enviorment.
In the summer, the freezer running in the out house generates heat in the house. Therfore I either have that much hotter house to sit in or I have to do extra cooler for the whole house. Another advantage to putting the frezer outside. Also the cool breeze even on a hot day should be cooler than the inside of my house, so again the freezer should not run nearly as often.

My trailer house gets over 100F in the summer if I don't use airconditioning. I seldom do except when it is that hot and unbearable. I don't need the extra heat from a freezer!

Beware though, freezers are not water tight! I had one ruin sitting on the porch. I thought it was safe, but in storms I geuss it really got pounded with rain. One day I opened it to find about a foot of ice in the bottom. Ruined all that food!

Next one I get will sit outside also, but this time in a enclosed building with vents at top and bottom of the walls to let cool air in and warm air out and then it will also stop ALL RAIN from getting to the freezer.
.
nothing to lose

Spelin and tpying are my strong points, not electronics.

keep a Refrigerator cold for free | 10 comments (10 topical)

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