Dude you are awesome, this is awesome. Exactly what I was looking for. Inheriting an old fridge and I’ve been wanting a deep freeze but unwilling to splurge lol perfect
My comment is... I Love This Video and your thought process in pulling off this hack. Thanks for allowing us to witness your "outside the box" thinking.
Hey man I saw the mod on Reddit and wanted to check it out. Nice job taking your time and explaining everything well. I hope to see more informative videos coming out of your shop.
Great job! Have you considered figuring out a method to sit it on its back so that the cold air doesn't escape when you open it? Vertical-open freezers hold temperature considerably better than this style.
Thanks for doing this to almost exactly the same unit that I am wanting to convert. Thanks for confirming what brand my fridge is too, it's always been a mystery since it arrived to me with no badging at all. I'd like to point out though, my unit has a wire rack in the top section below the ice maker, so if you'd had that rack you could've made some pretty massive holes in the deck. This is exactly what I was planning to do with mine. Its defrost timer has gone out a long while ago, or iced up inside perhaps. It's constantly freezing all the air passages up and not draining any water into the evaporation pan at all. If I do go forward with this plan, I'll try to remember to post a video of the conversion. One question though that I didn't see for sure during your video, when you made the ventilation holes did you cut them all the way through the aluminum tray that was the ceiling of the bottom part of the unit?
I think a freezer box has a much higher freezing capacity per 24h, like 20kg/24h, while a fridge has like 4 to 10kg/24h. This means that adding lots of room temp food to this fridge would take very long for it to cool to -15C, compared to a freezer box. It may also allow the food that was inside, to get to like 2C, for a few days, until it manages to cool everything back to -15C. That is, temps will vary wildly when adding lots of food.
Been thinking of a low budget ice plunge method for recovery after long runs. I have an old Sanyo Mini-Fridge in my garage that has just been there unplugged for a couple years. It has a small freezer compartment, but I may give this a try to freeze water in the refrigerator space as well and use in some kind of bin or tub for the plunges. Thanks!
I believe we do know that fundamentally the wave-particle duality is not binary, as an exciton can be 'bound' to a photon, and based on how this is done you can tune the resultant quasi-particle to act in a way that is partially wave-like and partially particle-like in different ratios. This has been used to test the properties of different 2D materials especially ones with properties similar to topological insulators.
I'm curious. I don't know for sure, but doesn't a factory-built stand-alone deep freezer have much better insulation than a refrigerator? Wouldn't the compressor also be working harder than designed? Wouldn't this be significantly more expensive to run than a purpose-built freezer?
Is your freezer still making -20F ? I just ran my thermostat thru the sidewall to the outside so it stays on 24/7 [I have a chest freezer 30 years old that I did the same to - holding -30F ! They like to run forever] Knocked out the freezer damper. Didn't drill holes yet, waiting to see what the temps are. GREAT video! think outside the box.
Dont block off the fan blowing into the freezer, instead block the damper going into the fridge drill your two holes slightly bigger and insert fans into them. Solved my problem real quick.
Also, I have a 2nd refrigerator in my garage. It's pretty cold. The stuff in the top of the fridge section freezes readily. Even stuff on the bottom sometimes freezes depending on what it is. It's set pretty cold, but not the coldest. If I just set my fridge (or perhaps any fridge) to the coldest setting, would it act as a giant freezer? Not a "deep freeze" but at least a freezer?
Yes. You'd get rid of the dampening system and instead of installing a new cold control, I'd just route the current one to the front of the freezer, and it *should* help change it to be warmer up top. The BEST solution would be to probably take the fan in the freezer, and mount it to point downward to cycle all the frozen air into the fridge, but then rely on the thermostat to cut off cooling at an acceptable temp for the whole unit.
Thanks for the video. I was wondering about drilling 2 holes like you did in your video at around the 17:15 mark, in a Haier French Door model refrigerator. Do you have any tips on how to avoid wires for a Haier double door fridge? Thanks!
i was wondering how to do the same thing on side by side refri..my tends to freeze the food on the right side and ruins many of the vegies....so i was thinking ...if freeze the right side it will be nice to turn the unit into an upright freezer...
Sorry folks this is nonsense. Even though the temps being discussed are "below freezing" they are in NO WAY what is recommended for true food storage in a freezer 0F is minimum and that really, is for short term storage in a typical kitchen freezer/ fridge. For long term deep freeze the temp should be at least -10F and below down to -20F Before you get on my ass in a previous life I maintained HVAC/R
To be honest, I only displayed the video snippet of where I temped the fridge. I got it much, much lower - closer to -20f in the upper freezer and -10 in the lower. I just didn't manage to get video of it, so I went with what I had.
Benny Hill had sort of a freezer joke. He said “my wife is so cold that when she opens her mouth, a little light comes on inside”. I got a chuckle out of it.
Can I convert a new frigidaire fridge/freezer into fridge only? (Or convertible) (I couldnt get a convertible anywhere) I dont really need the freezer compartment but lots of fridge space instead
I’m trying to find a local person to convert our 26 cubic foot side by side fridge into a freezer. It’s a Samsung with computers. I was figuring the computers could be eliminated, holes drilled in and pvc used from fridge to freezer. I am not an appliance person but would love to have this done. It looks like the new upright freezers are around $1,550 for a 21.3 cubic foot with 5 year warranty. Not sure if this is a smart thing to do. The only thing is the computer to fix this thing to keep it as a fridge is very expensive. The computer started glitching at 5 years old. The fridge is currently 9-13 years old. We got it when we bought the house as it came with the house. Any advice? We live in NE, OHio. Thanks!
Why couldn't you just cut a big hole between the fridge and freezer section and put a small fan to circulate air? Is there no thermostat system in the freezer section?
I just made one for ice buckets for Amish works great BUT went to ajust timer Hrs. to 4 and the black ajuster pusheh in can not turn can i open it up and fix thanks
Did that once. The door broke off a fridge and I told a handyman "Just drill a new hole for the door hinge". That was the wrong thing to say. Heard a loud hiss and....
@@bensappliancesandjunk We had the idea that breaking off the whole control box/thermometer might make it better, it didn't. I think it burned out not long after.
I checked the video and I didn't see any syncing issues. However, this video is 2 years old and my audio production has advanced a little bit since then too.
Could you just cut the plastic/styrofoam barrier between the freezer and refrigerator completely off, being careful with lines and leaving front plate with heater? Would that work also? Would you still need to buy new controllers/thermostat if you did this? Thanks and great vid.
If you were very careful, you could probably remove the barrier entirely without cutting it, leaving the front plate and metal Brace. This would leave the thermostat control and wire exposed, requiring it to be mounted elsewhere. Absolutely doable, but i didn't want to get that deep in this project, as then I'd need some sort of shelving to go where the case was unless I could brace that plastic piece or maybw swap with a wire rack. Beyond that, the thermostat is still an issue, because the stock thermostat is designed for a minimum of like 32* or so, because it does rest in the refrigerator cabinet. Youd still need the supco control
Try to find where it is on your model of fridge. They're usually where controller is, but some fridges are different. On some Frigidaires, I've seen them in utterly wacky places like underneath the kickplate at the front/bottom of the fridge, or in the back near compressor.
Its been storing something like 100lb of beef since the day the video was uploaded. I had to cut the shooting short because it was sold before it was finished painting. No complaints from the new owner it seems. Generally, given how sturdy older fridges are, I can't see it having issues anytime soon.
@@bensappliancesandjunk they sell 120v small fans- I'm following your guide & doing some small modifications to a mini fridge trying to see what I can get it to do!
Why not just get a wire rack to put in the top part, and space it off of the bottom by a few inches, and cut two giant holes? Cold air sinks quite well on its own.
It took less than 40 seconds into the video to figure out that I discovered gold
Ex wives😂
To bad double thumbs up is not an option
Dude you are awesome, this is awesome. Exactly what I was looking for. Inheriting an old fridge and I’ve been wanting a deep freeze but unwilling to splurge lol perfect
My comment is... I Love This Video and your thought process in pulling off this hack.
Thanks for allowing us to witness your "outside the box" thinking.
Hey man I saw the mod on Reddit and wanted to check it out. Nice job taking your time and explaining
everything well. I hope to see more informative videos coming out of your shop.
Thanks! I'm hoping to do more videos on some DIY projects like this one
Really slick idea, love not having to buy a new freezer.
Thank you, awesome info!
Great job! Have you considered figuring out a method to sit it on its back so that the cold air doesn't escape when you open it? Vertical-open freezers hold temperature considerably better than this style.
Thanks for doing this to almost exactly the same unit that I am wanting to convert. Thanks for confirming what brand my fridge is too, it's always been a mystery since it arrived to me with no badging at all. I'd like to point out though, my unit has a wire rack in the top section below the ice maker, so if you'd had that rack you could've made some pretty massive holes in the deck.
This is exactly what I was planning to do with mine. Its defrost timer has gone out a long while ago, or iced up inside perhaps. It's constantly freezing all the air passages up and not draining any water into the evaporation pan at all. If I do go forward with this plan, I'll try to remember to post a video of the conversion.
One question though that I didn't see for sure during your video, when you made the ventilation holes did you cut them all the way through the aluminum tray that was the ceiling of the bottom part of the unit?
I think a freezer box has a much higher freezing capacity per 24h, like 20kg/24h, while a fridge has like 4 to 10kg/24h. This means that adding lots of room temp food to this fridge would take very long for it to cool to -15C, compared to a freezer box. It may also allow the food that was inside, to get to like 2C, for a few days, until it manages to cool everything back to -15C. That is, temps will vary wildly when adding lots of food.
Well done!
Been thinking of a low budget ice plunge method for recovery after long runs. I have an old Sanyo Mini-Fridge in my garage that has just been there unplugged for a couple years. It has a small freezer compartment, but I may give this a try to freeze water in the refrigerator space as well and use in some kind of bin or tub for the plunges. Thanks!
I believe we do know that fundamentally the wave-particle duality is not binary, as an exciton can be 'bound' to a photon, and based on how this is done you can tune the resultant quasi-particle to act in a way that is partially wave-like and partially particle-like in different ratios. This has been used to test the properties of different 2D materials especially ones with properties similar to topological insulators.
I'm curious. I don't know for sure, but doesn't a factory-built stand-alone deep freezer have much better insulation than a refrigerator? Wouldn't the compressor also be working harder than designed? Wouldn't this be significantly more expensive to run than a purpose-built freezer?
My thoughts exactly. I thought I would spray foam the door. And add insulation foam to the sides. However That last could create mildew
good man 👨
Is your freezer still making -20F ? I just ran my thermostat thru the sidewall to the outside so it stays on 24/7 [I have a chest freezer 30 years old that I did the same to - holding -30F ! They like to run forever] Knocked out the freezer damper. Didn't drill holes yet, waiting to see what the temps are. GREAT video! think outside the box.
I tried thinking inside the box but it was too cold
Ex wife lol. Good one. U made me spill my drink but all good. Thank you for another great video
Dont block off the fan blowing into the freezer, instead block the damper going into the fridge drill your two holes slightly bigger and insert fans into them. Solved my problem real quick.
Can not do that with a rental
@@becky5937 and you can not turn a rental into a freezer
New Subscriber Cool & Awesome Idea
Also, I have a 2nd refrigerator in my garage. It's pretty cold. The stuff in the top of the fridge section freezes readily. Even stuff on the bottom sometimes freezes depending on what it is. It's set pretty cold, but not the coldest. If I just set my fridge (or perhaps any fridge) to the coldest setting, would it act as a giant freezer? Not a "deep freeze" but at least a freezer?
Great video, did you make a video on how you guys prepare and paint your appliances and the product you use ?
Not yet. Thats one I gotta get my guys to film soon.
Is it possible to this but have the top compartment be a drink cooler?
Yes. You'd get rid of the dampening system and instead of installing a new cold control, I'd just route the current one to the front of the freezer, and it *should* help change it to be warmer up top. The BEST solution would be to probably take the fan in the freezer, and mount it to point downward to cycle all the frozen air into the fridge, but then rely on the thermostat to cut off cooling at an acceptable temp for the whole unit.
ex-wife.... this guy's got the jokes. Lol
Thanks for the video. I was wondering about drilling 2 holes like you did in your video at around the 17:15 mark, in a Haier French Door model refrigerator. Do you have any tips on how to avoid wires for a Haier double door fridge? Thanks!
Great idea! r134 ok for this or it has to be r12?
Doesn't matter. The idea's the same.
Is it possible to convert it ti a chest freezer?
I just wanna make my freezer compartment larger and my fridge compartment smaller.
i was wondering how to do the same thing on side by side refri..my tends to freeze the food on the right side and ruins many of the vegies....so i was thinking ...if freeze the right side it will be nice to turn the unit into an upright freezer...
Just a question. Do you use temperature data loggers in your testing of your appliances?
Yes we do!
Sorry folks this is nonsense. Even though the temps being discussed are "below freezing" they are in NO WAY what is recommended for true food storage in a freezer 0F is minimum and that really, is for short term storage in a typical kitchen freezer/ fridge. For long term deep freeze the temp should be at least -10F and below down to -20F
Before you get on my ass in a previous life I maintained HVAC/R
To be honest, I only displayed the video snippet of where I temped the fridge. I got it much, much lower - closer to -20f in the upper freezer and -10 in the lower. I just didn't manage to get video of it, so I went with what I had.
Is it possible to conert an upright chiller into a fridge. I mean other eay round.
Nice job Ben. How much time did you have in it?
Two sides to that answer: I shot the video over like 3 weeks due to a lot of other stuff going on with the business. The actual amount of work was
Bens Appliances and Junk
It’s called the description box or show notes
Cool 😎 🥶
Freezing!
Cant you just cut a big hole out of the solid that separates the two? In case you dont know how to change out the theromostats
hahah I see what you did there... Ex-wives
Hope you liked the joke!
Benny Hill had sort of a freezer joke. He said “my wife is so cold that when she opens her mouth, a little light comes on inside”. I got a chuckle out of it.
Appreciated 🤣
With a total straight face, haha. Perfect! 😂
why not put a fan on the return to freezer
Can I convert a new frigidaire fridge/freezer into fridge only? (Or convertible)
(I couldnt get a convertible anywhere)
I dont really need the freezer compartment but lots of fridge space instead
Will this method work on a mini fridge?
It seems this should be okay with the standard defrost timer - what do you think? Save a lot of trouble, no? Thanks
I did it..
I’m trying to find a local person to convert our 26 cubic foot side by side fridge into a freezer. It’s a Samsung with computers. I was figuring the computers could be eliminated, holes drilled in and pvc used from fridge to freezer. I am not an appliance person but would love to have this done. It looks like the new upright freezers are around $1,550 for a 21.3 cubic foot with 5 year warranty. Not sure if this is a smart thing to do. The only thing is the computer to fix this thing to keep it as a fridge is very expensive. The computer started glitching at 5 years old. The fridge is currently 9-13 years old. We got it when we bought the house as it came with the house. Any advice? We live in NE, OHio. Thanks!
Why couldn't you just cut a big hole between the fridge and freezer section and put a small fan to circulate air? Is there no thermostat system in the freezer section?
I just made one for ice buckets for Amish works great BUT went to ajust timer Hrs. to 4 and the black ajuster pusheh in can not turn can i open it up and fix thanks
Should be able to yes
What would happen if I "break" the part that divides the freezer from the refrigerator? Could the temperature be more UNIFORM?
He cut holes in it, being VERY careful to avoid cutting the wires that run through that section.
@@newoneinblack thanks man!
I think we had a fridge break and started freezing everything. We eventually broke it trying to "fix" it... like cavemen with hammers and stuff.
Did that once. The door broke off a fridge and I told a handyman "Just drill a new hole for the door hinge". That was the wrong thing to say. Heard a loud hiss and....
@@bensappliancesandjunk We had the idea that breaking off the whole control box/thermometer might make it better, it didn't. I think it burned out not long after.
Very thorough explanation, however the audio and video don't seem to sync very well.
I checked the video and I didn't see any syncing issues. However, this video is 2 years old and my audio production has advanced a little bit since then too.
Keep in mind this design will not work to keep frozen juices or Ice cream frozen (anything high sugar) they need sub zero temps.
Could you just cut the plastic/styrofoam barrier between the freezer and refrigerator completely off, being careful with lines and leaving front plate with heater? Would that work also? Would you still need to buy new controllers/thermostat if you did this? Thanks and great vid.
If you were very careful, you could probably remove the barrier entirely without cutting it, leaving the front plate and metal Brace. This would leave the thermostat control and wire exposed, requiring it to be mounted elsewhere. Absolutely doable, but i didn't want to get that deep in this project, as then I'd need some sort of shelving to go where the case was unless I could brace that plastic piece or maybw swap with a wire rack.
Beyond that, the thermostat is still an issue, because the stock thermostat is designed for a minimum of like 32* or so, because it does rest in the refrigerator cabinet. Youd still need the supco control
how to do this with those office mini fridges?
I just remove the thermostat or drill a hole and put it outside. Let it run 24/7
I removed the panel from my fridge that I plan to convert, but it only has the controller and not the defrost timer. How do I proceed in that case...?
Try to find where it is on your model of fridge. They're usually where controller is, but some fridges are different. On some Frigidaires, I've seen them in utterly wacky places like underneath the kickplate at the front/bottom of the fridge, or in the back near compressor.
Do you have an update on how it is working?
Its been storing something like 100lb of beef since the day the video was uploaded. I had to cut the shooting short because it was sold before it was finished painting. No complaints from the new owner it seems. Generally, given how sturdy older fridges are, I can't see it having issues anytime soon.
Only costs 40 bucks and 4000 dollars worth of your time. ;) But joking aside, it's interesting. Thanks.
It was surely too late to blur the other guy in the video. 🤣
LOL.... the ex-wives line
Lol you ex wives
. Cold 🥶🤣🤣🤣🤣
Would the same conversion work on a 1950's Frigidaire?
Thumbs up for saying ex wives! LOL
ex wives! lmfao
For the cost and electricity savings over time just get a deep freeze. 150 bucks isn't a lot of money
Video was made when freezers were impossible to find in the US and there was a pretty large backlog due to COVID, hence the video.
Tell me where you can buy a new 15 cu/ft chest freezer for $150ea and I'll buy 1000 units right now.
😂😂😂
why not use a pair of 50mm quiet PC fans in the two vent holes. If you have them blow up the whole two cabinets become one for the cooling load.
Correct me if I'm wrong but most 50mm pc fans use 12v. This unit uses AC only.
Though I'd add a spacer above the grill to keep items from blocking the airflow.
@@bensappliancesandjunk they sell 120v small fans- I'm following your guide & doing some small modifications to a mini fridge trying to see what I can get it to do!
Why not just get a wire rack to put in the top part, and space it off of the bottom by a few inches, and cut two giant holes? Cold air sinks quite well on its own.
That was a lot of mouse shit
You lost 30$
ex wives 😆
'Ex-wives." LOL. So true. Cold as ice. Willing to sacrifice, our love (and children, all that is holy, etc.).