Solar Powered Chest Freezer turned into Fridge
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 11 ก.ค. 2024
- I found a free chest freezer from craigslist. I added a solar panel and portable power station to make it self-powered off-grid. Then I added a remote temperature controller to turn the freezer into a fridge.
Thank you to Jay for the Vinyl sign.
To help support the channel please check out: / davidpoz
The portable power station is a Maxoak Bluetti 240. I'll be doing a full review on it in the future, but there is an affiliate link below.
Amazon Affiliate Links:
Bluetti 240: amzn.to/3dKhLNR
Temperature Controller: amzn.to/3eIaIqc
“As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.”
Disclaimer:
My videos are in no way intended to be instructional "how-to" lessons. I am simply documenting my project for informational purposes. Property damage, personal injury, or death may result, even when following manufacturer's instructions. I cannot be held liable for such damage or injury. It is YOUR OBLIGATION to ensure that you are complying with any local and federal laws as well as code and permit requirements. - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
Just hooked up our new deep freezer to the thermostat controller that you recommended. Freaking awesome to be able to control the temp this precisely. Running off the solar panels and inverter/battery bank, so far working great! Thanks for doing all the homework on this diy.
Glad it's working well for you.
If you have the tools you could convert that to r600 and it would use half the power. You can buy new freezer with r600a. You may want to mount the solar panel over the freezer to provide shade.
I got a smaller 3.5 cu ft Kenmore chest freezer and set it up as a fridge at 36 degrees. My kilowatt meter read that over one week, after initial temp cool down, it used 180 watt hours every 24 hours. This is five times less energy than my house fridge. I was amazed. I put many water bottles in the bottom to act as thermal mass, and only opened it a few times to get a drink. Smaller chest freezers are better in my opinion vs the very big one, but it depends on your needs of course.
Wow that's very nice of you!
This just shows how efficient box style freezers are and the flexibility of solar power.
To the Ref Tech - this is not a commercial system. You are mistaken about this conversion. It uses the same exact refrigerant, oil and compressors as used in refrigerators. Depending on the age its probably R134a. And if you understand residential refrigerators, they are refrigerator/freezers and the evaporator runs at freezer temps and then about 10% of that freezer temp air is directed in to the fresh food (refrigerator) compartment. This is on a frost free refrigerator. So evaporators and condensers are running at the same temps on either either refrigerator/freezers or just plain freezers. The biggest difference is this is a chest freezer so it means a few differences with a frost free upright refrigerator/freezer. Mainly the evaporator and condenser are just tubes attached to the inside liner and the outside cabinet. Then foam insulation is injected in the space in between.
Dave - there is one other reason a chest freezer is more efficient than an upright. Believe it or not its the weight of the lid pressing down on the gasket. In an upright a rule of thumb for design was the heat gain into the cabinet was roughly a third each 1, through the cabinet wall, 2 through the door/ lid and 3 through the gasket area. Just the weight of the lid is enough to make a meaningful difference. BTW I used to work designing refrigerators and freezers at a couple of the largest appliance manufacturers in the country.
to address the water collection in the bottom there should be a drain plug you could remove. if you attach a drain trap like you find on the condensate line from an air conditioner this would keep cold air from leaking out the drain, though it is small enough not to matter. On the cycle length as long as it runs for 10 minutes before cutting off that is probably enough not to matter. Also, we used to have units that could be either freezers or refrigerators controlled by the user just by changing the settings. You might even be able to adjust the thermostat to raise the temp it runs at and then you could eliminate the fancy electronic control.
Thanks for these videos - they've been an inspiration to me.
This is really cool and gives me some ideas. One recommendation I have for stable temperature regulation is to tape the probe to a can of soda. It will give you a better measurement of how cold your beverages actually are. That's what I do for my keezer setup and my pour temps are consistently 34-35F.
Thanks for the cool video!
@DavidPoz With the temperature sensor hanging in the air it can experience very sudden shifts in temperature when the freezer opens and closes, causing unnecessary and high-wear short cycles. What you can do is put the temperature probe inside water with around the same volume as the drinks (thin plastic bag around it if it's not rated as waterproof). That water will track much closer in temperature to the actual temperature of the drinks, and will be far more stable with opening and closing the fridge. If you do that, you could also narrow the temp delta on the controller to maybe 33-37f.
That's a great idea, thank you. I'll do it.
Wow, and so simple! Kindness is it's own gift.
I am going to do something similar, I already have the control boards to do two, I'm going to use two, one fro the fridge, one for the freezer! My controllers are way more bare bones, it's a PCB, and uses a SSR, or relay, great video, very COOL thing you are doing, for those out working!
MANY THANKS TO TELLING US THE TEMPERATURE ALSO IN CELSIUS! APPRECIATE A LOT
what a great idea! just fyi, water will probably begin accumulate in the bottom of it due to condensation that you can drain or sop up periodically.
Great stuff, David. My wife has a cooler set up by the front door on hot days for the delivery drivers with Gatorade and water in it. Most of those delivery vans don't have AC!
Very thoughtful David... A huge THUMBS UP...
Based off your power reading of 200W, 2.5 hr run time in 24hrs is great! My cheap ($225 USD) upright fridge runs 21 hrs in 24 to keep things just cold enough. It's new and I rent, I told the landlord and the dealer came and checked it, said it was fine. They bought inexpensive appliances and the energy usage shows it.
That can't possibly be correct for a traditional refrigerator. I suspect either there is a poor seal or the compressor is not running at full speed. New refrigerators will often have multiple speed compressors to increase efficiency. A cheap fridge wouldn't do this unless required to meet energy standards, maybe it just has a tiny compressor because it's cheaper and slightly more efficient (at the expense of longevity)
WTG Great video !
Keep the sunny side up!!
Good idea David!
excellent work mate. There is also a device, the sonoff TH-10/16, that has a port for a temp probe. it's a more work to get up and running but it's option and offers wifi monitoring.
Nice Job. Free Freezer home run.
Good job sir.
crazy brilliant! ..special that thermo controller
Thank you.
That’s killer, I was the pics on Facebook, and very kind! Keep up the good videos. My channel one day will be at this level!
great video. thanks!
Low temp systems are designed differently than med temp (fridge). Different compressors. Different piping and coils. Different refrigerant which circulates with the compressor lubricating oil. When you short cycle a low temp system to "create" a med temp system the oil gets logged in the evaporator and condenser and thus will seize the compressor. Im a refrigeration tech. Been der dun dat.
You NEED longer run times to prevent this and cutting out the compressor to prevent that you are heading for a burn out. Takes time but it will happen.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge on this. I had head that from somewhere else too. That's why I set it for an 8 degree delta on the controller. I figured that would help it run longer between cycles. Do you suggest a different program?
@@DavidPozEnergy Hysteresis for the win! I was going to comment the same thing about adding Hysteresis but you were way ahead of me. It might be good to log the duty cycle and average run time just for grins.
For a fridge, I thought the freezer sent cool air to the fridge. Maybe just the older ones work this way?
I ran a smaller chest freezer as a refrigerator for a year-and-a-half. Water condensation and mold was a big problem. It's okay for an experiment but the new small refrigerators at Best buy and home Depot are very efficient.
I wonder, could you use a common mini-fridge, flip it on its back to use it top-opening, and simply rotate and remount the compressor so that it is still upright?
I did this years ago just changed out and put an external thermostat. it used a similar amount of power.
Subscribed just because you provided the free drinks for the drivers..
Interesting. Thanks.
Awesome
Always interesting vids. 500W/ hr per day is great.
I wonder how much more efficient a setup like this would be if it had inverter tech like many newer heat pumps.
Very effective use of solar the only thing I'd do different is covered it with some car reflective solar cover since it's it's out in the direct sun. Otherwise just a great job 👋
or some attic radiant barrier
Same here!
Can't insulate the base cabinet exterior on this model of chest freezer, as the metal exterior acts as a heat radiator. On older units, the condensor coils are attached to the outside cabinet which acts as a giant heat-sink.
Good job man
Dude that battery back up is 1800 bucks
Yeah, that's why I make my own. It's nice that it has a charge controller, inverter, and battery all inside one package. But still seems like a lot if you have all the tools to build your own.
heya that is nice for al those delivery guys
How cool... did same with a small freezer, but build a esp8266 with a ds18b20 running tasmota for the sensor, homeassistant as controller and a wifiplug as actor. When ordered stuff arrives i‘ll remodel them to a standalone solution with online monitoring/controlling.
There seems to be a non-trivial loss in efficiency since the inverter is always generating AC power despite the freezer only needing this power occasionally. Even if the inverter had some sort of load-sensing mode, the external thermostat demands constant power. Say the inverter consumes 8 watts from the batteries with zero load on the AC side; that's a baseline loss of 192 watt-hours per day (~40% addition to what was measured with a Kill-A-Watt). That is added cost in both solar panel and batteries. If a mechanical (or DC powered) thermostat could gate the inverter on and off, there would be the opportunity to expend less energy.
Good idea..will try
I have done this with upright residential and commercial freezers for many years. Usually changing the internal thermostat with a commercial thermostat that had a range from -25 to 90 degrees. This would make it easily changed back and forth. Especially nice if having a big party. Upright freezers hold a lot of drinks. Also a lot of groceries. Only problem is some new freezers are digital and are not easy to hack.
Good idea. If it's not too much trouble, could you please help me with a link to a thermostat like that?
DavidPoz Never any trouble at all, I sent you a message!
I bought a chest freeze for beer early this month great minds!
Nice
excellent idea. my fridge inside the house needs 1.5KWh / day. so a bigger battery and panel is needed ;)
Neat! You could almost power an inverter directly from the solar panel with no battery and just let it cool only while it is sunny. The thermal mass and insulation would keep the drinks cold through the night. Would need a way to prevent the compressor from starting until there was sufficient sunlight. Perhaps a voltage sensitive relay...
starting a motor uses many times more power than running it. it might peek at 1kw for a split second while it gets spinning. once its spinning it's easy to keep spinning.
The battery helps with this inrush.
Even an inverter has a same issue because when it powers up it must fill its capacitors and there is a large inrush.
You could design a system with a very large capacitor to replace the battery but at that point your better off just using an old car battery because its cheap.
@@KillaBitz I think one could design a system with a custom variable frequency drive to eliminate the startup surge. A few companies sell a similar device intended for water pumps which might be adaptable to a refrigerator.
Of course, it's still just easier to use an inverter+battery combo or a fridge with a DC compressor.
I live about an hour away from Las Vegas, I've wanted to put my battery into something like this to keep it at the ideal 25C.
That would be great.
That's a neat and very easy solution. I thought you were going to be modifying the built-in thermostat somehow lol.
Actually, I was going to do that. But I went this route so that I can add a little heater pad on the same controller (different plug) and keep the drinks from freezing in winter.
I just love it how he says battery pack . and the thing is a blue yeti battery that's $1,000 in the battery sitting out side
Blue Yeti? Or Bluetti?
@@carsontait7338 blue yetti from Rudolph the red nosed reindeer
They must looove you. Stand up job man!
They seem to appreciate it. I have a long driveway and I want to keep them happy so they don't leave packages at the road (theft potential).
@@DavidPozEnergy I need an aim inverter could share the link?
I have a upright freezer already, I'm going to make plexiglass doors to go inside the door, to keep in some of the cold, when the door is open, the thing is soo big , it would not fit through my doors! Even with the door removed, I was going to convert it, I may still, but the extra doors should help, I'll see how's it goes!
My grandparents had an old fridge or freezer that wouldn't fit through the doors. Once it broke they used it as a DIY safe.
When you talk about converting your upright freezer, do you mean into a refrigerator or into a chest freezer? Refrigeration systems don't work if they're not upright, so you would probably need extensive modifications to convert an upright freezer to a chest freezer.
cool a lot of Alaskans will use this
Make a good worm cooler for the fish camp lol
Nice. So you can change it back into a freezer if you wanted.
Keep it a secret from your neighbor's kids or you'll be installing an electric fence and razor wire to keep them out of it!
Hi Dave.
Your informative UTubies are very well done. A while ago you set up a Solar Panel to heat water soooz the next thought that i hope you may explore has to do with capturing the heat off the back of that panel which will help with the efficiency and gain heated water that will improve the total btu content. It would be very interesting 'me thinks'! Thanks.
There have been many companies experimenting with this since the 70's. There always seems to be some problem. In the end I believe in simplicity. Having the solar panels on a ground mount where air can circulate freely behind them is simple.
@@DavidPozEnergy I'm just planting the seed but i believe it is doable ... by your great works. An idea becomes great when it becomes the receivers idea. I place your videos along side of Will Prowse's great works.
Thanks!
robert in Concord, NH.
Wow first!
And a awesome video to boot...
Thanks, for the comment, and being so fast!
Do you know if this would be efficient for event set ups, or is it simpler to use generator and regular Fridge?
Sounds like a great idea. After checking the price of the Bluetti, $1700, maybe not so great. Plus solar panel ($300), plus controller ($40). Good thing the fridge was free.
@Al McGee yea but think of a power outage situation
@The Prepping Chicken Guy More like, he's finding something to do with that expensive Bluetti and panel so he doesn't feel totally ripped off while waiting for SHTF!
I'd be worried about someone stealing your solar panel and your $1800 Bluetti. But it's a good setup for a long term grid down situation.
It’s easy, but there’s nothing to de-humidify the inside. (I do this to brew lagers). It’s fine for brewing as the co2 production maintains positive pressure inside the fermenting vessel but due to mold build up I’d not use is for anything not sealed/washable.
Thx. #116
sick!!! I did this with a 12v thermal electric cooler to save power cause those things run non stop at around 50w, but with the 12v thermal controlled relay it really cut down on the usage by around 30%
For a cooling mass like this you need a lot of tec to cool em down and keep it cool, and their way not so efficient like a conventional compressor system.
cool
Hi David! This video is cool. So there were not modifications on the freezer side?
Correct, no modification on the freezer
Will this work on a top freezer and still keep the bottom refrigerator cool?
I was thinking about Pantries the other day and realized I don't own and I don't have space. Lol okay and I decided to think ahead of time for a better place to live at. I thought this is good for storing food instead of a fridge itself. I want to know how can I search for them.
How long have you had the EB240 power station? You like it and any problems with the unit?
I've had one problem with it. I left it out in the sun and the sun cooked the screen. Now the screen doesn't show up 100%. I ordered a replacement screen which is on it's way. But the unit itself works just fine. Before using it for this fridge I used it for 2 weeks powering my pool pump (small one). I've been testing out different uses trying to do thorough testing before making my video. It hasn't died on me, over a month 24/7 use. Not as much fun as making your own though, LOL.
Great Vids mate. . . I'm thinking of turning a chest freezer into an Air conditioning unit. . .chilled water thru a heat exchanger. Glycol water mixture chilled to minus 10 Dec C and circulate the water . . Any thoughts ?
I have been playing with the numbers this summer thinking of doing the same thing. The downside I see, the chest freezer is only cooling about 2000 BTU. The smallest window AC is 5000 BTU. So I'm guessing that the freezer by itself won't offer much in the way of cooling capacity. I'm going to take an old window AC and remove the cover, and make a glycol chiller with that. Should be more powerful.
What are the specs on your chest freezer? Looking to buy big chest freeze and want to know what power station or how many watts it’ll probably use per day
Many chest freezer thermostats are capable of maintaining a 36 degree setting on their own.
I did try that with this one, it froze everything. LOL
My 2002 GE 7 cu ft. freezer in the garage is showing on watt meter as using 1000 watts a day. The watt use seems very high and it is set a the suggested level of 4. I have a couple questions: I am wanting an off grid refrig and was not sure if being the watts are so high on this freezer, if worth doing on this freezer? Also, if use as a refrig in an emergency can it be reversed back to a freezer when emergency over?
If use as a refrig in an emergency can it be reversed back to a freezer when emergency over ???
Are there any issues with the compressor being exposed to the elements or just being outside when it gets really cold like winter?
I don't think it'd be a problem, but I don't know 100%. I did lift it up off the ground with some blocks of wood so that no water will sit up against the underside.
I have seen freezers outside at little stores and fish camps for 30 years. Some are so rusted you would think they would fall apart and they keep on going. In the winter you may have to put a small heater inside to keep it above freezing.
Where can I get that solar panel and would it be wise to put a child proof latch on the cooler?
I suggest Alt-E for solar panels. www.altestore.com/store/solar-panels-c541/?sort=price_watt
How is your bms working for the lg 48v 6kw battery bank? Does that balance the cells? I was reading specs of the bms and they seem a little high. Over volt protection 4.25v and power balance detection 4.18v. Also the over discharge protection says 2.7v. Battery hookup states 4.2v as high cut off and 3v low cut off. What are you charging to and discharging to? Does the bank get balanced by the bms? Do all the cells have to reach 4.18v before they start to balance? Thanks
On the LG battery I used a 200 amp BMS from Daly. It is working fine, no problems. I have tested over-voltage and it does turn off. There is balancing built in, but it is very weak balancing current. The LG packs are perfect right now, so they probably won't need balancing for many years. I personally charge/discharge Li-NMC to 3.0-4.05 volts per cell. yes, it's fairly common for a BMS to turn off at 4.25v. You can order it to turn off at any voltage you want.
Ok. Thanks for the reply.
This set up will produce very little condensate, but it produce some over time. How does your set up address the condensate issue? Thank you.
There is a drain plug in the floor and I can manually drain it. I see a little puddle forming.
what are the interior dimensions of the freezer?
What are your thoughts on turning the hot water battery back into electricity?
How does the portable power station and fridge freezer hold up in cold/rain/snow?
The power station is not waterproof and needs to be protected from direct rain. Mine has had some rain water splash off the driveway and hit it with no noticeable problems. The Freezer doesn't care at all.
What device are you using to set the temp?
👍🇰🇷👍응원합니다
Did you need to ground the connection between the Bluetti and the freezer?
I didn't.
Where can I buy all of them inverter and compression.
Anytime you have small children around get a locking plug cover as little children love to unplug things our did it twice the first time lost a fully freezer the second he touched the prongs and got sapped he was fine just scared we had it on the landing over the stair so we thought that since it was quite hard for for me to get to it it was safe but kids will climb and both him and his sister did
How much cube feet is this freezer?
Thats kinda cool David but my only issue is its not a cheap exercise if you need a $2k power plant to run your free freezer :)
It's all about the learning for me. The experimenting, trying, etc. This proves the concept. Now I can work on making a similar spec, cheap power plant.
Agree...its about expererminenting..
Great idea! Have the delivery drivers actually taken any of the drinks?
On 90°F days, yes they do. At first they didn't, but after a couple weeks of offering they finally believed me. Ha. It's usually the same 2 or 3 drivers I recognize, so they know it's available now.
Cool! I’ll bet they’re appreciative.
Very thoughtful of you.
So I know this is from a few years ago but I was wondering if you’re still using this this way and or if you’ve changed it up? Is it still working?
I'm still using the freezer as a fridge.
Since this is just for beverages, I would want to set it to freeze with the early morning sun for 4 hours, then turn off for 4 hours (thermal mass should keep it cold by now), then repeat that cycle. A third cycle to complete a 24h period I’d set to 4 hours fridge temp and 4 hours off. The bluetti would do little more than regulate power in/output
Can that temperature sensor be programmed like this?
The temperature sensor I'm using doesn't have a timer function.
@@DavidPozEnergy Working great the way it is now. 500Wh a day when it draws 200W is only 2.5 hrs of runtime a day anyway. You would loose more energy trying freezing stuff to let it thaw than leaving it as is. That box is super insulated and doing a great job at keeping the cold in.
how do you keep the humidity down inside the unit ?
Personally, I have a towel I keep next to it. About once every couple weeks in the summer I wipe the inside walls
Can you do this without solar , just plugged into 110 v
The MAXOAK Power Station is kind of pricey. It will take me a while to breakeven.Do you have another product recommend?
Sure. I'd prefer building my own setup and customizing it to your needs. I suggest buying batteries from batteryhookup.com/ (10% off with code DAVIDPOZ) Then I would go with a Victron inverter and Victron charge controller. It would end up costing more in the end, but you could get more power.
Dave I have an unrelated question for you. I need to charge a 16s 48volt LiFePO4 headway 38120 battery pack but now I'm stuck because I don't know what to charge it with. Can you help me please.
LiFePO4 charges to 3.65 volts per cell, or 58.4v for the 16s pack. I personally use my solar panels and solar charge controller to charge my LiFePO4. But you can also look for a wall charger like this: amzn.to/3iocHCl
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@@DavidPozEnergy Thank you so much David for your reply once again. Thank you for the link. I asked that question because I am going to use the Headway battery for an Ebike. Not sure if its the best idea but ya lol I already have money into it. I like all the different projects you come up with.
Headways are fine for an E-bike. They really pack a punch. But they are not super energy dense for the weight. They will work great for short trips, but long rides will probably do better with something else. The wall charger I linked to works for 16s LFP, but you still will want a BMS on the battery to monitor the charging and prevent over-charging one of the cells.
@@DavidPozEnergy Ya I just bought a 16s Li-ion Lifepo4 LTO Battery Active Equalizer BMS 1.2A Balancer. Hopefully it will work well. But ya David if you have a better 48 volt battery build for an ebike let me know. I could always use the headways for solar instead and go with something else for the ebike. What I like about the headways is the terminals with the screws. It makes it so easy. Now I just need a bunch of assorted terminal wires with connectors and I should be set.
Wondering How much battery is needed for off solar hours.
It will depend on your load. This chest freezer seems to be pretty energy efficient over-night. Nobody opens it at night, and the air is cooler. So it only uses about 300-400Wh overnight.
@@DavidPozEnergy thank you for the tip. I figured the formula out for hypotheticals. It’s amazing I can power this with recycled laptop batteries. With sufficient voltage and parallel batteries for Load and run time.
I live in another country my wall 220 electric wall my freezer 220 you think they work
Let me see if I have this dumb idea correct....... All $'s approx.: $2050 Bluetti w/tax + $48 temp controller + $400??? solar panel = $2498 divided by a realistic $25.00 a normal month (or less) for 120vac supply = 99.92 months to break even..... So, I'm to invest $2500 to run a freezer instead of plugging in to vac.??? Just plug into 120vac & turn the thermostat down to a less than freezing temp & Bob's your rich uncle...!!!
He claims the freezer is "super efficient" yet it draws 200w. My new Samsung fridge freezer draws 30w. Since when do old appliances run efficiently?
90deg cel?????
I'm contemplating rerouting the freon in my tiny little apartment fridge that somebody gave to me for free to do the same thing but literally turn the entire box into a freezer. I lived for 2 years without a refrigerator or freezer and then when somebody gave one to me it's causing more problems than I had before I owned one. No,, I have no idea why I keep it or keep trying to use it...The only thing I use it for pretty much is to keep water cold...🤦♂️😂
just a quick comment. the fridge was drawing about 11 cents a day to run.. That was not running solar.. I just put it on a kill o watt to figure out how much.. remember the chest freezer is efficient so it is not cycling on very much.
why not just change the compressor to a danfoss 12v compressor then it will run as a fridge and freezer and add a hybrid controller so in the day time you can run it with solar and at night time you can run with wind turbine
In the US you need to be licensed in order to modify refrigerant loops.
A bit late to this video but did you happen to measure the energy usage before the conversion? And about how old is it / what refrigerant? I'm asking because it helps to compare different setups. If I want to set up my own efficient refrigerator I would like to know more about where the gains are coming from.
Whatever you do, please keep us posted about your projects. It's great seeing these videos from a real down-to-Earth person.
Sorry, I did not test the unit before the conversion. I don't know the details on it. But the sticker says Electrolux, model GLFC2027FW6 I hope that helps.
@@DavidPozEnergy That looks like a 20 ft3 unit from 2006 or 2007, originally rated for 480kWh/year (equivalent to 1300 Wh/day.) It seems like you cut energy consumption by more than half with your conversion. I would not have expected that much savings.
www.frigidaire.com/Owner-Center/Product-Support--Manuals/?ProductCode=GLFC2027FW
600 w/h is 6/10 of a kilowatt. One kilowatt is .13 cents on average. Thats like 7.8 cents a day!!
i whant one for my pizza place
You know,,, I’ve seen 7.8kw generator’s for 600 dollars.... you can run off a 3/4 115 v electric motor,, that runs of its self.... and throw all that other stuff in the 🗑 all you have to do is figure it out. But Save the battery’s at least (4)100 amp,, and a good controller.. life is good..😎
Dam you talk and talk ,Just show us how to hook it u0