Off Grid Solar Power - Converting a chest freezer to a refrigerator
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- čas přidán 1. 08. 2015
- Off Grid Solar Power - Converting a chest freezer to a refrigerator
As I move toward living off the grid, a major part of ensuring that I have enough solar panels and batteries to sustain the lifestyle to which I'm becoming accustomed is actually using less electricity.
At this stage, I'm only a part time homesteader, living at the shack on the weekends while I hold down a regular job in the city. Recently, my fridge in the city died and so I moved my fridge from the shack to the city. For a couple of months, this meant living out of an esky (cooler) for the weekend visits to the shack, which is no major impost, but just not sustainable for the long term.
So what I've done is gone and bought a 145 litre (about 5 cu ft) chest freezer and converted it to a refrigerator. I've read about doing this for quite a while and there are a bunch of videos on CZcams about using an STC-1000 digital thermostat instead of the built in thermostat. But a mate put me onto using an actual fridge thermostat instead, which is what I ended up doing.
In this video, I show what I've done, as well as the related testing. Long story short, I paid $30 for a VB-7 thermostat, which is for a drinks fridge. I then simply swapped out the original thermostat in the freezer and put the VB-7 thermostat in. Then, using an indoor/outdoor thermometer, I simply adjusted the new thermostat until I had the temperature range that I wanted.
Before I swapped the thermostats, I did a 24 hour test and the freezer used .468kWh for the 24 hour period. After swapping the thermostats, I ran another 24 hour test and as a fridge, it used .191kWh for the 24 hour period. When the compressor starts, it uses about 600W. The usage could be even lower still, as the fridge uses about 1kW at times and I can only put this down to the evaporator coil defroster. Still...At 191Wh per day, I'm more than happy with the electricity usage.
The beauty of using the VB-7 thermostat is that it's simply a matter of unplugging one thermostat and plugging in the new one. The power light for the freezer still works and the original thermostat fascia remains. No other modifications, such as drilling or cutting, are needed.
Thanks for watching and please click on the like button and subscribe to my channel if you haven't already.
Music: Born Barnstormers by Brian Boyko. The full track is available at freepd.com. This music is in the public domain and is free to use. - Zábava
Thanks pop! All the other vids I have seen mess about with digital controllers, swapping the thermostat for a fridge one is so simple- the aussi way, to the point and no bull!!
I actually bought a couple of those controllers and then I found out about just swapping the thermostat. So simple.
Thanks! You rock! I live off grid now and need this chest frig to run off solar. Thanks again. D.L. from Southern Texas Homestead
Thanks for watching and I'm glad I could help.
Very interesting. I never thought of converting one of those to a refer.
Awesome. I've just been looking into fridge options for our live-in camper van. I think I'll convert a mini freezer after watching this. What an obvious idea now I know :)
It's been about a year now and this is still going strong.
Sweet, have you tested it throughout the year to check consumption? 190ish Wh is good.
+dimmaz88 It got close to 300Wh per day in the summer.
Thanks, mate. Exactly what I need for my off-grid cabin. And to think that some folks are spending $1,000 USD and more for these so-called solar refrigerators. I see a business in this, perhaps - just being me.
Mine's been working for a year now without any issues.
Well I haven't tried yet but u definitely gave me way good idea for my camper van. I can't afford this $500 dc chest fridges and want something little larger anyway. I'm thinking 3.5cu.ft. or 5cu.ft.
thanks for the vid, helped a lot!
Thanks for watching.
reever dee...I believe that a capacitor will help absorb some of the start up load, I've heard of motors having start up capacitors. And I don't know about the fridge/aircon dealio.
hi sambo so are you going to use this off grid on your battery bank at the shack ... can you tell me what size inverter you will use and the amp hour battery bank your using cheers mate and keep the video's coming
Hey Pop, firstly great vid, I thought about the STC1000s but the damage you have to do to your freezer was unacceptable to me. One question though, have you done temp tests with your new thermo, from running it as cold as you can, to as warm as you can? I just want to get an idea of temp range to expect. Thanks again, Benny
i haven't tested the temps of the extremes. I've got it set now so t h at food in the rack or on the shelf is cold.
Drinks on the floor and around the walls freeze.
For use off RV solar panel, would I need 2 100W solar panels just to supply the 191Wh fridge?
It should be enough.
I'm assuming the existing thermostat wasn't adjustable, but if it was it would be a matter of turning the screw that regulates the temperature range.
The thermostats being sold have that screw for adjusting the temperature.
Another thing. I can't find videos of people doing what you did here. I like this option better than all the other ones, and it's the less expensive one given these thermostats are running as low as $7 USD on Amazon.
Hello I have come across your video on converting a freezer in to a fridge I have a freezer I bought that 2 days ago and I already had a very similar (older model) thermostat controller I wired it up like you have on your video. And I got it to run my freezer ok. I have the stat set to 5c but I put the sensor where the original old one went but I was finding the freezer was going 5c and shutting off like its meant to but the temp kept dropping to around - numbers but the inside the freezer there was no ice build up at all. I did try the sensor attached to the wall in the freezer and that’s giving me readings of around 0.0 but it does in time creep back up to what i set 5c. I was wondering if you might be able to help in any way get it more stable. I am testing the fridge empty not sure if that would make any difference
I just kept adjusting the thermostat until I got the temperature stable where I wanted it. Some parts of the fridge still got below freezing.
Any issues with water build up?
I may try this for our off grid Cabin, is there any reason you wouldn’t use a upright Freezer?
Thanks
You could certainly do it but it won't be as efficient. When you open an upright freezer, the cold air flows out of the bottom.
i have a chest top freezer but the problem i have is the bottom or it only get cold the top freeze a little
That's weird, the bottom should be colder than the top as cold air is denser than warm air.
Hi. I install the control like yours but now I don't see compressor turning on ..maybe because is frozen inside the cooler ? Can you help me to see if this how it works
Sorry, I'm not a refrigeration mechanic.
Hi I just watched your video on converting a chest freezer to a refrigerator. Will any fridge thermostat do the trick or do i need a specific thermostat, and where would i buy one from? thanks
Almost any fridge thermostat should work. I used the VB-7, which I bought on eBay.
thank you very much. i will give it a go
Did you try the original thermostat set at the warmest setting first before changing it out to see what the temp got at?
Yes.
@@PopsShack
What were the results of trying that method?
@@readtheinstructions1407 - It wasn't warm enough.
Have you tried just turning up the factory thermostat? I have a chest freezer that runs at about 33 to 34 deg. with the thermostat set as high as it will go.
Yep, tried that.
aren't you taking a chance of freezing and unfreezing the food as it so close to 32?
Tom Sherman - No. The food has to get below 0C to freeze.
3 years on, is your conversion still working?
G'day. Subscribed after watching this.
A question. I understand the numbers will differ once you fill the fridge, but let's just use what came out of this video. Say I have a converted freezer running at 200Wh per day, how large a solar panel would you say I would need to produce those 200Wh consistently every day, year round?
In my youthful novice folly, I optimistically want to say not very large. Depending of course on far from the equator you live, sunlight will differ, but let's say worst case 8h of sunlight a day, I'd only need something like a 200/8 = 25W panel?
Am I maybe being a bit naïve about how these numbers come together?
Also: What you said at roughly 8:15 didn't quite come out right, did it?
zooblestyx It's not often I manage to get my knob lined up.
zooblestyx I can run this and my water pump on my 100W panel. When you're looking at daylight hours, you have to look at the average for the year and for most of it, you can really only count on about 4-5 good daylight hours per day in Australia.
You could probably get away with a 40W panel, but to be sure, a 100W panel is about $130 on eBay right now. That's delivered.
Thanks for your reply. I'll have to look into this deeper, because I get the sense these systems pay for themselves rather quickly.
+zooblestyx I'll give a better answer tonight when I get home, but the solar panel is cheap compared to the batteries.
That looks a little big. Are you planning on to store more than one months worth of food for one person ? I see video is 8 years old. Is this logical option for modern days ?
Updates?
Hmm.