Six cent refrigerator

[ChainsawGrandpa]

Ok, it's really an ice box, but the energy needed to operate it for a year comes to about six cents at five cents per Kwh. Most information came from the book; Sunshine to Dollars. Unable to post it here, but if you e-mail me I can send you a copyright free, single page Word file with photos. A slick little low cost unit. -Rick

[ponyboy]

Is it like this one?

http://www.mtbest.net/chest_fridge.html

[shawnis]

I find lots of people don't like chest fridges/freezers. Not sure why. I guess they just hate rummaging around.

Me, I love digging through piles. Then again I'm not what you'd call a highly organized person.

I'd have both the chest freezer and a chest fridge in a heartbeat.

[donjuedo]

Ok, it's really an ice box, but the energy needed to operate it for a year comes to about six cents at five cents per Kwh. Most information came from the book; Sunshine to Dollars. Unable to post it here, but if you e-mail me I can send you a copyright free, single page Word file with photos. A slick little low cost unit. -Rick


This might be a dumb question, but I looked around and don't see the answer. Where is your email address? I am interested in the single page, copyright-free Word file for the six cent fridge.


Peter

[ChainsawGrandpa]

Well...it's been a while. I know I have that page, but I'm not sure which drive it's on. I can keeping looking but in the mean while, here's about how it works:

How to make ice is detailed in the book; "Sunshine to dollars. Get a dorm-sized fridge, tear it apart, and the condensor (evaporator?) goes in a pool of water. The other end, the evaporator (condenser?) goes in an ice chest. The water in the ice chest is then frozen. The process takes about thirty minutes to produce about 28 lbs of ice.

My wife has a WW l vintage cedar chest. I was thinking of duplicating that chest, but insulating it with several inches of poly-iso. A galvanized tub would hold the ice, and the food. A 28 lb block of ice might last a week if:
*the outside air temperature isn't too extreme.
*the chest is top loading, and not a front door.
*you don't have teenagers who keep grazing and
keeping the lid open.

I also had a plan for an air conditioner.

A 12V fan blows room air over stainless steel 1/8" tubing. Two water tight boxes are mounted, one above the other, and about 18" apart, and connected by the rows of 1/8" tubing. Ice water drains form the top box to the lower box via the tubing. When the top box is drained, rotate the unit like an hour glass and the unit will again drain water through the tubing to the lower box.

I'm full of ideas, but short on time.

Right now I'm trying to get the super sized, and super inslated solar oven up and operational by the start of the building season. Probably a dozen hours to go before it is finished.

G'pa

[rreidnauer]

I have the file but I don't want to post my email in the public forums.

[donjuedo]

I have the file but I don't want to post my email in the public forums.

If you're willing to email the file to me, please do. My email address is obscured a little bit below, for the sake of "web crawlers":

peter
dot
lawton
at
mac
dot
com

Thanks, Rod.


Peter

[greenthumb]

Rod, I'd like a copy of the file as well. (and the A/C plan too if you run across it, G'Pa)

john_galt27 AT yahoo DOT com

Thanks!

[Longhare]

Here is a link (http://mtbest.net/chest_fridge.html)to a web page about converting a chest style freezer to a high efficiency fridge. It is from down under, so I'm sure there are modifications that would be necessary to run it here. (I do have the PDF version of the article mentioned above and will try to email it to those that have listed their email addresses.)

Louanne

[rreidnauer]

Yes Louanne. I'm fairly certain that .pdf file is the same file the ChainsawGrandpa emailed me in .doc format. I'll check when I get home. (whenever that may be. It's snowin' like like we're headed for the next ice age right now, so I may not be able to check until tomorrow night)

Dang global warming.

[ChainsawGrandpa]

Here's a link to the ref'r.
http://www.ush2.com/02082010.htm

Scroll half way down the page to the video of "Sunshine to Dollars free solar panels..." and then advance the timer to 47 seconds. There's a photo of the 6 cent ice maker!

There is also (somewhere on the 'web) an Australian made, converted chest freezer, and here's a link to the incredible solar 365 day ice box:

http://fourmileisland.com/IceBox.htm

BTW...the solar icebox can be left unattended in the worst of the Winter and it becomes; "The Incredible Solar Freezer".

Grand'Pa

[ChainsawGrandpa]

"Get a dorm-sized fridge, tear it apart, and the "CONDENSER" goes in a pool of water. The other end, the "EVAPORATOR" goes in an ice chest."

G'pa

[millermax10]

You certainly can't beat that price for a <a href="http://home-and-garden.become.com/mini-fridge">mini fridge</a>. I still prefer a more conventional refigerating unit, but I certainly see the appeal in this!

[rreidnauer]

BTW, about that Aussie deep-freezer to refrig conversion, they talk about a custom thermostat that you can build or buy complete from them. It's expensive and unneccesary to go their route. A cheaper option that will do the same task would be either <a href="http://www.mcmaster.com/#1760k77" target="_blank">this electronic/digital unit</a> or if you're really worried about energy consumption, use <a href="http://www.mcmaster.com/#1846k26" target="_blank">this analog thermostat</a>.