recommendations for a upright freezer for conversion

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  • Wy_White_Wolf
    Solar Fanatic
    • Oct 2011
    • 1179

    #16
    Originally posted by Leehamrick
    From what I have red an upright freezer converted to a refrigerator is a very efficient way to go. The extra insulation really
    helps and with the door over the top you don't loose the cold air every time you open it.
    They even have a simple easy to use kit to convert them.
    Door over the top is a chest freezer. That is what they have been using to convert to frigerators or in my case a kegorator.

    WWW

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    • paulcheung
      Solar Fanatic
      • Jul 2013
      • 965

      #17
      Originally posted by SunEagle
      This may be true for those models but most Manufacturers will provide efficiency or power usage details based on very specific lab conditions which never come close to real life conditions.

      Unless there is something very special about how they are insulated or the type of compressor being used I would expect the 7 cu ft would use (while maybe not 430kWh) probably closer to 350kWh per year. Less if you kept it filled with food and only opened the door once a week.

      Those Freezer claims are not much different than Car manufactures claiming a certain MPG for city/highway. In real usage people rarely ever get what the Manufacturer claims.
      So when a freezer full of frozen meat is using less current to maintain the temperature and keep the meat frozen compare to half or quarter full of meat? The reason I ask is that I use a timer to shut off the chess freezer most of the night to conserve the battery bank and only turn on 2 one hour period for the night. The meat on top of the freezer is melting when the freezer is not full.

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      • russ
        Solar Fanatic
        • Jul 2009
        • 10360

        #18
        Originally posted by paulcheung
        So when a freezer full of frozen meat is using less current to maintain the temperature and keep the meat frozen compare to half or quarter full of meat? The reason I ask is that I use a timer to shut off the chess freezer most of the night to conserve the battery bank and only turn on 2 one hour period for the night. The meat on top of the freezer is melting when the freezer is not full.
        Fill milk cartons/bottles with water to fill up the empty spaces.
        [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

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        • J.P.M.
          Solar Fanatic
          • Aug 2013
          • 14925

          #19
          Originally posted by russ
          Fill milk cartons/bottles with water to fill up the empty spaces.
          Assuming the door stays closed, refrigeration units with more mass in them will cycle less than units with less mass in them. The heat loss rate will be the same, but the thermal time constant will be greater. That will usually produce a small but perhaps noticeable reduction in electricity use.

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          • SunEagle
            Super Moderator
            • Oct 2012
            • 15125

            #20
            Originally posted by paulcheung
            So when a freezer full of frozen meat is using less current to maintain the temperature and keep the meat frozen compare to half or quarter full of meat? The reason I ask is that I use a timer to shut off the chess freezer most of the night to conserve the battery bank and only turn on 2 one hour period for the night. The meat on top of the freezer is melting when the freezer is not full.
            Something that is frozen will retain the lower temperature better than just air. Especially evey time you open the door the cold air warms quickly but a frozen food does not. So weather you use meat, ice cream, or water bottles that takes up space it will be better than having it only half full.
            Last edited by SunEagle; 08-16-2014, 08:48 PM. Reason: spelling

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            • Sunking
              Solar Fanatic
              • Feb 2010
              • 23301

              #21
              Simple physics, God our Schools really SUK as they do not teach anything useful. So here is something to study. What is the Mass of Water and Air?

              Simple demonstration for US Educated Citizens. Take two like balloons and fill one up with air to 12 inch diameter, and another with water to 12 inch diameter. Place both balloons in a Freezer over night. Next morning place each balloon in 2 identical ice chest with a room temperature 16 ounces drink of your choice, close them up and go about your day. Come back at the end of the day and inspect each drink.

              Where both drinks cold?
              If not, why not and explain why?

              This is 5th grade science when I went to school. Guess today they do not do that experiment until your 7th year of college working on your Home Economics Associate Degree. .
              MSEE, PE

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              • J.P.M.
                Solar Fanatic
                • Aug 2013
                • 14925

                #22
                Originally posted by Sunking
                Simple physics, God our Schools really SUK as they do not teach anything useful. So here is something to study. What is the Mass of Water and Air?

                Simple demonstration for US Educated Citizens. Take two like balloons and fill one up with air to 12 inch diameter, and another with water to 12 inch diameter. Place both balloons in a Freezer over night. Next morning place each balloon in 2 identical ice chest with a room temperature 16 ounces drink of your choice, close them up and go about your day. Come back at the end of the day and inspect each drink.

                Where both drinks cold?
                If not, why not and explain why?

                This is 5th grade science when I went to school. Guess today they do not do that experiment until your 7th year of college working on your Home Economics Associate Degree. .
                A consequence of the great dumbing of America where all the mentally and physically slothful palm zombies are above average and we don't need to learn to think because all the answers are on the net anyway.

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                • paulcheung
                  Solar Fanatic
                  • Jul 2013
                  • 965

                  #23
                  Ok got it gentle men, I will get some plastic bags to form some ice in the basket to keep the meat frozen.

                  Here is one more question for you professionals.
                  I have a Whirlpool freezer/refrigerator in the kitchen, It is two doors side by side about 20~22 cu.ft. When the compressor trip off by the temperature setting, does the fan that blow the cold air from the freezer compartment to the refrigerator compartment continue work or it stop the same time too?

                  Thank you.

                  Comment

                  • inetdog
                    Super Moderator
                    • May 2012
                    • 9909

                    #24
                    Originally posted by paulcheung
                    So when a freezer full of frozen meat is using less current to maintain the temperature and keep the meat frozen compare to half or quarter full of meat? The reason I ask is that I use a timer to shut off the chess freezer most of the night to conserve the battery bank and only turn on 2 one hour period for the night. The meat on top of the freezer is melting when the freezer is not full.
                    The amount of heat leaking into the closed freezer is essentially independent of the amount of food inside. But the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of everything inside (or at least the top layer) from the set temperature to the freezing point is much higher when the freezer is full. Hence the amount of watts that you use during the day to get the whole thing to the set point will not change, but the high temperature excursion during the night will change.
                    At first glance it appears that the full freezer somehow requires less refrigeration, but that is an illusion.
                    Well, to the extent that cooling down the outside air and freezing out the moisture that came in with it after opening the door or lid requires energy, you do use a small amount more energy for a near empty freezer that is regularly opened than for a full freezer opened the same number of times, you do use more energy for an empty unit.
                    Also, FWIW, a near empty freezer will cycle the cooling on and off more frequently for shorter times, and that is harder on the compressor motor and your inverter.
                    SunnyBoy 3000 US, 18 BP Solar 175B panels.

                    Comment

                    • inetdog
                      Super Moderator
                      • May 2012
                      • 9909

                      #25
                      Originally posted by Sunking
                      What is the Mass of Water and Air?
                      We can go all the way back to the ancient Greek philosophers, who before Archimedes preferred to think about things instead of performing experiments, thought that all substances had two properties called gravity and levity.
                      Something with more gravity fell faster and was harder to pick up. Something with more levity (not just absence of gravity) would float in water. Archimedes straightened them out about that one!
                      Last edited by inetdog; 08-17-2014, 01:29 AM. Reason: speling
                      SunnyBoy 3000 US, 18 BP Solar 175B panels.

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                      • Sunking
                        Solar Fanatic
                        • Feb 2010
                        • 23301

                        #26
                        Originally posted by inetdog
                        We can go all the way back to the ancient Greek philosophers, who before Archimedes preferred to think about things instead of performing experiments, though that all substances had two properties called gravity and levity.
                        Something with more gravity fell faster and was harder to pick up. Something with more levity (not just absence of gravity) would float in water. Archimedes straightened them out about that one!
                        This reminded me of a 3rd grade Science Class Experiment demonstrating Rate of Acceleration is equal on all objects of Matter. Teacher did the usual experiment using a golf ball and soccer ball. What the teacher did not know is I had already read about it and proved her wrong. with a text book and sheet of paper.
                        MSEE, PE

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                        • inetdog
                          Super Moderator
                          • May 2012
                          • 9909

                          #27
                          Reminds me of a fifth grade math teacher (public school in CA so recalibrate your expectations) who asserted that ".333" was a better (more accurate) representation of one third than "1/3" because it had more decimal places. And no, she was not thinking of significant digits that time and was not trying to distinguish between accuracy and precision.
                          SunnyBoy 3000 US, 18 BP Solar 175B panels.

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                          • russ
                            Solar Fanatic
                            • Jul 2009
                            • 10360

                            #28
                            Originally posted by SunEagle
                            Something that is frozen will retain the lower temperature better than just air. Especially evey time you open the door the cold air warms quickly but a frozen food does not. So weather you use meat, ice cream, or water bottles that takes up space it will be better than having it only half full.
                            I believe my Mom used empty boxes with the tops closed - prevented the air from rushing out the freezer door when opened.
                            [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

                            Comment

                            • inetdog
                              Super Moderator
                              • May 2012
                              • 9909

                              #29
                              Originally posted by russ
                              I believe my Mom used empty boxes with the tops closed - prevented the air from rushing out the freezer door when opened.
                              That helps with the door opening problem, and may actually be significant if the door is opened a lot of times (do the math, one opening does not amount to much unless the power is out.)
                              But the empty boxes will not help when the issue is shutting down the freezer at night when the panels are not producing.
                              SunnyBoy 3000 US, 18 BP Solar 175B panels.

                              Comment

                              • SunEagle
                                Super Moderator
                                • Oct 2012
                                • 15125

                                #30
                                Originally posted by paulcheung
                                Ok got it gentle men, I will get some plastic bags to form some ice in the basket to keep the meat frozen.

                                Here is one more question for you professionals.
                                I have a Whirlpool freezer/refrigerator in the kitchen, It is two doors side by side about 20~22 cu.ft. When the compressor trip off by the temperature setting, does the fan that blow the cold air from the freezer compartment to the refrigerator compartment continue work or it stop the same time too?

                                Thank you.
                                The function of the fan depends on how controls were designed for your Whirlpool. I have a side by side and believe the fan stops when the compressor stops but that may not be the same for all refrigerators.

                                Also the fan may have dual function besides moving the air around the food. It could be used during the defrost cycle as well. Maybe talking to someone that works on Whirlpool refrigerators may be able to give you an answer.

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