I’m thinking about replacing my ancient energy hogging freezer with a new energy efficient one. Old freezer takes up valuable space in my woodshop, there is a convenient space on the house porch. Sun or rain would never come close to the spot but it would be high humidity, hot summers and moderate winters. How would the working parts of a modern freezer like the sheltered outdoors?
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It may seem illogical, but cold weather (below +10F, roughly) can wreck a freezer. Otherwise, there's many a country freezer on many a country back porch. Right next to the beer fridge.
Freezers and old sofas look so good on the front porch though.
Makes sense to me, most elec motors don't like cold.It does get below 10F here some, usually not a lot. On the other hand the current one might not be using 3.5 KWH daily without the woodshop dust.Either way it is a country freezer..
As I understand it, the damage occurs when the temperature inside gets warm enough (due to the case heaters, presumably) that the compressor tries to start up. But the refrigerant is cold and already condensed, and so it won't compress. As a result the compressor stalls and overheats.
A strong nation, like a strong person, can afford to be gentle, firm, thoughtful, and restrained. It can afford to extend a helping hand to others. It's a weak nation, like a weak person, that must behave with bluster and boasting and rashness and other signs of insecurity. --Jimmy Carter
This is getting dangerously close to hvac talk which always makes me a little dizzy. What's a case heater? I had the impression the new freezer I was looking at was not self defrosting just in case that was related..
The manufacturers put a sort of heating tape in the case around the door opening so that frost doesn't freeze the door shut. And in some poorly-insulated models they put heaters just inside the outside skin of the box to keep condensation from forming there.
A strong nation, like a strong person, can afford to be gentle, firm, thoughtful, and restrained. It can afford to extend a helping hand to others. It's a weak nation, like a weak person, that must behave with bluster and boasting and rashness and other signs of insecurity. --Jimmy Carter
Now my head is really spinnin for sure. They add heat instead of more insulation..... I fear my plans to be a giant corp. CEO are going bad.......
I think that minimum temp is +10°C which = +50°Fhttp://www.siemens-home.co.uk/home/customer-services/how-can-we-help-you/faq/refrigeration.htmlBruceT
That's a different issue. For a fridge/freezer combo, if the outside temp is cold enough that the fridge doesn't run (ie, about 40F) then the freezer never gets chilled and the stuff in the freezer melts. Doesn't harm the fridge itself.
A strong nation, like a strong person, can afford to be gentle, firm, thoughtful, and restrained. It can afford to extend a helping hand to others. It's a weak nation, like a weak person, that must behave with bluster and boasting and rashness and other signs of insecurity. --Jimmy Carter
Ah, you're right. I just looked up instructions for my 5-year old GE chest freezer and it specifies no lower than 0°F nor higher than 110°F.BruceT
Here at the ski mountain, the Company has thoughtfully placed soft-drink machines at strategic locations around the parking lots and base village so that thirsty skiers on their way back to the car can buy a frosty-cold Coke or Red Bull (for about twice what it costs elsewhere on site)...even tho the temp might be -30º outside.
Those machines are specially made for this service; they have heaters in them (as well as the standard refrigeration coils) to keep the cans of soda from freezing and exlpoding.
Sort of the HVAC version of soda pop dispensers.
Guess it doesn't get that cold in Arkansas, but were you planning to keep this freezer powered up, or just use it as unpowered cold storage in winter?
Dinosaur
How now, Mighty Sauron, that thou art not brought
low by this? For thine evil pales before that which
foolish men call Justice....
By all means powered up, keeps them venison parts savory for a long, long time..
Assuming your new freezer is the right size, sell the old one. Someone can put it to good use. If you google this topic, I think you will find that it is not good to routinely allow your frig/freezer to operate in ambient extremes. Where you putting the new freezer if the old one took up 'valuable space'?
The shop is unconditioned in the summer now so ambient conditions already apply then. Have not sprung for the new freezer yet, this is research. If it happens the old one will be given away or sold and the plan would be to slide some seldom used but mobile sanding equipment into that space leaving a little more room to assemble paying work. Or maybe pile up some more clutter..
freezer will do fine on your porch - keep in mind that the heat it removes from the interior and the waste in the mechanics are transferred to the immediate environment = hotter porch during the summer - "there's enough for everyone"
Had not taken that into consideration before but think the space is big and breezy enough that it would be a minimal problem..
You could just unplug it when it gets much below freezing.
No doubt that would work for someone that unfailingly would remember to plug it back in which excludes me..
You could build a thermostatic switch out of a thermostat and a relay. Set it to cut the power below a certain temp and then it turn it back on when it is warmer. If you didn't feel like building one, I bet they already exist for some other purpose.
NEVER unplug your fridge/freezer because it is cold out, been there done that and it DON'T work. You will have a bloody nasty mess. I have a fridge/freezer in my barn now and I have to turn the temp down as low as it will go so that it will kick on once in a while to keep the freezer stuff frozen. Gotta put the beer in the house during the Winter. And in the spring when you start fishing and you put your box of nightcrawlers in the fridge make sure you turn the temp back up. Crunchie crawlers are hard to get on a hook.
Difference between a fridge and a freezer. A fridge will let stuff in its freezer section thaw if it's too cold outside (whether plugged in or not). The external thermostat should work fine for a freezer.
A strong nation, like a strong person, can afford to be gentle, firm, thoughtful, and restrained. It can afford to extend a helping hand to others. It's a weak nation, like a weak person, that must behave with bluster and boasting and rashness and other signs of insecurity. --Jimmy Carter
Yeah an old fashioned Honeywell controller. They made them for almost any kind of application like that. Had a sensor bulb and controller that would e.g. turn a fan on/off at the temperature you set it at.
Sandalboy and clewless1 have it.Although clewless1 is talking about a 12v thermostat, and that won't work, unless you are going to use it to control some other sort of switch.In the interest of K.I.S.S...Get a wall thermostat, meant for a built in, electric baseboard heater, and/or AC.I got one meant for a 220v baseboard.On the back of my thermostat are four connections. Two for the load, and two for the supply.One of those through-pairs, does not work, if it is used all by itself.But the other one, used all by itself will turn 110v off and on, according to the temperature.What I did was to get a two-gang box.In half of the box, I installed an ordinary outlet.In the other half, I installed the thermostat.I cut a 12ga extension cord off. I used the male end, to wire up my contraption.I ran the white wire directly to the outlet.I ran the ground wire to both the outlet, and the ground on the thermostst.I ran the black wire to the supply side of the thermostat. Then another black wire from the load side of the thermostat, to the outlet.A LOT simpler to do, than to write about.Now, when I plug this in... Then whatever I have plugged into the wired-in outlet, only has power when the temperature goes below whatever temp I set it for.You are going to want a thermostat that does AC, so that it does the opposite. Only gives the outlet, (and therefore, the fridge), power, when the temp is -above- whatever temp you set it for...It's all fun and games, until someone puts an eye out..You are always welcome at Quittintime
The problem is that you need a thermostat that will turn something OFF when it gets cold.
A strong nation, like a strong person, can afford to be gentle, firm, thoughtful, and restrained. It can afford to extend a helping hand to others. It's a weak nation, like a weak person, that must behave with bluster and boasting and rashness and other signs of insecurity. --Jimmy Carter
Read again, my friend.;o)..It's all fun and games, until someone puts an eye out..You are always welcome at Quittintime
I don't think I've ever seen an AC thermostat that has an upper limit below about 70°F.BruceT
Well that puts the kibosh to things dunnit ?;o)..It's all fun and games, until someone puts an eye out..You are always welcome at Quittintime
Other posters have indicated that there is more to it than simply turning the unit off. I'm no refrigeration expert, though.
You are right, line voltage stat ... at least in concept. Problem is, though a stat w/ the range you want it to have. I thought Honewell had some line voltage type controllers w/ bulb sensors (e.g. the bulb sensor simply closed an electro-mech contacts that were line voltage ... but I'm maybe oversimpifying again).
I think there are still other issues, however and it is not as simple as maybe some of us suggested in some of the posts.
I know one thing ... refrigerators are engineered to operate under certain conditions ... tranfer heat from the frig/freezer to the ambient air. The design range of temperatures is not unlimited and while people may get away with having the units in 'less than design conditions', doesn't mean it is OK or that it will last. So it is important to at least know why you don't want to do it before making an informed decision to do it.
Agreed...It's all fun and games, until someone puts an eye out..You are always welcome at Quittintime
Ok, not what I would call simple but how about this...Make 3 panels out of 2" foam insulation, and luan plywood.These panels can be pinned together, to cover the sides and top of the fridge. They fit snug, and are also snug to the wall.A few ventilation holes in the backside of the top panel.I'm thinking this may hold enough of the fridge's own discarded heat, in, to keep things operating correctly.Besides having to make them, though... One would also have to install and remove them at the right times. Simpler to just pull the plug, but as has been pointed out, that is probably not a good solution, either...It's all fun and games, until someone puts an eye out..You are always welcome at Quittintime
Of course, you could arrange fans to come on when the temp inside exceeds, say, 45 degrees, but then you need a thermostat that comes on ABOVE a LOW temperature, so you're back where you started.
A strong nation, like a strong person, can afford to be gentle, firm, thoughtful, and restrained. It can afford to extend a helping hand to others. It's a weak nation, like a weak person, that must behave with bluster and boasting and rashness and other signs of insecurity. --Jimmy Carter
I'd still google this topic or look up/call a manufacturer re: acceptable places/temps to put the appliance in. While people put these e.g. in their hot/cold garages all the time doesn't mean it is OK to do it. While you may decide it's OK to do it after you know the ramifications of doing so, you at least have made a more informed decision.
I think that is solid advice and I will probably will check manufacturers recomends. But no doubt they are in cya mode..
Not necessarily as they want to sell you a product, too. If the product isn't right, they will say so. There is science behind why you should not have it in extreme ambient environments, I just can't remember why and how to 'splain it to you.
Live in northern Canada, goes down to -30f in the winter most every year.We had a freezer on the front porch for many years with no problems.
Had the refrigeration guy out for some else and ask "any problem having it out side?"-----Nope was his answer.Since moved it inside and still no problem.
Oh and I`am not the only one, can think of 5 friends that do the same.Go for it, bigger shop is a happy shop.
Fun is Good
When I went out to buy a new freezer this year I was asked if it was going to be in the garage or in the house. The one I was replacing was 15 years old and the compressor was damaged when my daughter hit it with the car. I told them, "In the garage, like the old one." I was told some of the newer models won't work in the garage, because it is too cold, I live in MI. The ones that woild work in a cold area were all labled as being OK for the garage. I went on the internet to check this out, thought maybe I was being had, and sure enough the freezer makers told the same story. Apparently the older models, prior the the energy savings push, had different coolant and bigger compressors.
Had a next-door neighbor who put a brand-new freezer in the garage. Relatively well-sealed garage, so it probably never got below -10F. He lost the freezer and about $400 worth of meat.
A strong nation, like a strong person, can afford to be gentle, firm, thoughtful, and restrained. It can afford to extend a helping hand to others. It's a weak nation, like a weak person, that must behave with bluster and boasting and rashness and other signs of insecurity. --Jimmy Carter
National Electrical Code, section 3300.13.6 (e) 4 i requires that if they are installed on front porches, that there must be within 100 ft at least one non operable vehicle at least 20 years old.
LOL!
BruceT
Also requires that a coon dog sleep under the porch, and that there be nothing resembling a lawn within 200 feet.
A strong nation, like a strong person, can afford to be gentle, firm, thoughtful, and restrained. It can afford to extend a helping hand to others. It's a weak nation, like a weak person, that must behave with bluster and boasting and rashness and other signs of insecurity. --Jimmy Carter
Local code allows it concurring with an nonoperable vehicle within 200' less than 20 yrs. old as long as the seats are removed from said vehicle and installed on the porch or in the yard..
Do you get any credit for an old tractor tire in the front yard, cut open like a flower blossom?
A strong nation, like a strong person, can afford to be gentle, firm, thoughtful, and restrained. It can afford to extend a helping hand to others. It's a weak nation, like a weak person, that must behave with bluster and boasting and rashness and other signs of insecurity. --Jimmy Carter
No, but if your private driveway is 2600' or longer and passes no other residential structures than a sign must be in place at 600' from the final dwelling reading " Caution!You are in range!".
The owners manual with my high efficiency freezer specifically mentioned no cold ambient temperatures, something about the oil in the compressor.
It's looking more and more like that may be the case. Seems like a lot of appliance/hvac energy efficiency gains are achieved with technology that is persnickity....