I noticed my 26 year old GE refrigerator was running very frequently and pulling over 200 watts. I bought a small chest freezer used for $50 and is runs on less than 60 watts.
This is what I got for $50 used and is 3.5 cubic feet. It actually held everything from my old GE double door refrigerator with room for a little more.
So far it seems to use about 15 cents in electricity for 0.5 kwh a day but that will probably change as I get a longer sample time. 56 watts is so low it seems like a good candidate to go off grid.
Then I found a 5 cubic foot chest freezer that is designed to be switched to refrigeration. This one was new open box for $70. I noticed on some off grid forums these have bad air circulation so I added a PC fan to even things out. Still the lowest refrigerator temperature range is barely below 40. If you turn the dial farther it clicks to a new range that is maybe 10 degrees Fahrenheit. The upper end of the refrigerator temperature range is quite high. This sort of chest freezer might be good for storing vegetables in summer with very little energy.
This setup obviously takes up more floor space than a combination freezer refrigerator.
>>2975402doesn't look very practical unless your purpose is to store a dead body
>she saw the off grid refrigerator and hasn't called me back
The biggest savings is the switch to the smaller appliance.My 3 whatever cuft mini fridge uses roughly the same watts running, only difference is it runs a little more often than a chest freezer would.The problem no one brings up is what happens in the summer months when it's 40c the fuckers run all damn day and night nonstop because they are shit.You didn't have to go with the cuckbucket, any modern fridge that DOES NOT use r600a will be about the same efficiency and support higher operating temperatures.
Is there a temperature data logger that doesn't use proprietary software? Like one that just puts out a CSV file?
>>2975410>I noticed on some off grid forums these have bad air circulation so I added a PC fan to even things out.the point of a chest freezer is that when you open the lid the cold air doesn't fall out all over the floorso you adding a fan in to blow all the stagnant freezing cold air at the bottom up and out and replace it with hot room air seems like a pretty fucking retarded thing to have done.>>2975412the best thing for me was when my mum decided to get a chest freezer for her fruit/veg from the garden, the freezer is in the same room as the washer and drier and they dry clothes in there too. so when you opened the door of the larder all the warm wet air would get sucked in and it would frost over in a couple months.doesn't happen with the chest freezer because the air doesn't move when you open the door.
>>2975410Yeah, anon, all that is kind of the point. These old school machines have some drawbacks, meaning you have to circulate the goods every once in awhile by taking stuff from the bottom and putting them on top and vice versa. That's if you want to use it as a freezer. On the other hand, you can just keep things that don't necessarily have to be super cold (butter, etc) and keep it on the top but frozen meat, frozen veggies on the bottom.
So far after running the watt meter for a day it looks like the freezer as a refrigerator uses about 6 cents of electricity a day.
>>2975402Old fridges actually have more efficient coolers. They use older, now banned refrigerants which work better.They are not as efficient overall because the insulation is thinner.If you simply add cheap insulation to an old fridge or freezer, you get the best of both worlds, best cooler efficiency and best insulation and it costs very little.Compressor technology in these hasnt changed in decades in terms of efficiency.
>>2975402>26 year old GE refrigerator was running very frequently and pulling over 200 watts.Of course you checked the defroster. And cleaned the dust bunnies off the condensor coils.
>>2975987right!
>>2975987>cleaned the dust bunnies off the condensor coils.I did that a few times a year. I checked the evaporator coil a few months ago when I first noticed it using more power and there was no frost buildup. Sometimes on startup my fridge would max out my watt meter which makes me think there was high head pressure but maybe that was from frequent cycling. It wouldn't do that every time it started.Anyway I just don't need that big of a refrigerator for one person. I don't think its that efficient of a design anyway. Stuff just goes bad before I can work my way through it. I need a small fridge and a big freezer. The ice maker isn't that well insulated anyway.
My fridge is old and fucked too, it makes me angry to have this inefficient shit in my life >>2975751I want it too
>>2975655>The biggest savings is the switch to the smaller appliance.False. Chest freezers are a much more efficient orientation (cold air is heavier) and don't have defrost cycles, which burn tons of energy.
>>2975760>have a switch on the door to turn the fan off when openWow, that was difficult
>>2977833>defrost cycles, which burn tons of energy.It's really absurd when you think about it how you would have a heating element inside the freezer. At that point it doesn't matter how much insulation you have when you're introducing a 300 watt heater several times a day no matter what level of frost there is. I think defrosting is not necessary very often in certain environments with low humidity.
>>2975751>>2977647Yeah, anything with HASS, or just grab an esp32 and plop a temp sensor on it and have it write data wherever. Some of the easiest shit to /diy/. HASS with Zigbee is the most convenient and cheapest, provided you already have a server.
>>2977834>Checks title>”Extreme energy efficiency autism”>haha, just add a fan and a toggle switch to a 70 year old design that no manufacturer does for chest freezers haha, BIG SAVINGS Are you retarded?
>>2977865Its not being used as a freezer.
>>2975760>you adding a fan in to blow all the stagnant freezing cold air at the bottom up and out and replace it with hot room air seems like a pretty fucking retarded thing to have done.Just add a door switch like on commercial freezers.
>>2977833No, jt isn't much more efficient. It's slightly more efficient.And I have never seen a mini fridge with a defrost.If you don't ever open the door of each, similar capacities only differ a few percent of efficiency. If you are opening them quite often then there is slightly more gain with a vertical fridge.Do whatever lmao, the main problem you are going to face with smaller appliances and especially chest freezers is their condenser is GIGA cucked and will heat soak in hot summer environments and have ass efficiency which results in them running nonstop for like 10 hours a day and cycling normally at night.
These are both 5 cubic foot freezers according to the manufacturer. I sense some fuckery.GLF50CWED01MERCO5C2BAWW
>>2978022They are the capacity, not the external dimensions, homie. The bigger one could have a larger compressor and more insulation, for example.
>>2975971Can you just wrap an old freezer in mineral wool or foam to increase theirs energy efficiency
