Turn my 'frig on its side ?
 

How will my small dorm room size 'frig be damaged if I turn it over and use it like a chest freezer. Will it even work ? Will it catch fire and burn ?

Also, what makes these small dorm size 'friges so inefficient ( ( 3.1 Cu ft, yet burns up 337 kWh /year ) ??

Can I modify this thing much like a chest freezer modification ?


Thanks for any advice.

Thanks !
That looks easy enough. I talked to a guy that made it sound as if this sort of thing would be impossible -something about the "refrigerant not working right if the 'frig is turned on it's side."

So with this simple setup described above, I would also still have my freezer - right ?

( It appears as if the only change that was made to the unit is that it was modified to sit on its back )

Thanks again !

It's the oil in the compressor that you have to worry about, without that oil the compressor will burn it's self up, you might not get a nice fire out of the deal but the inner workings of it will not last long without oil.
other then that, as long as you keep it in a warm enough area (not outside in the winter) that the refrigerant can go thru it's whole cycle of turning in to a liquid and a gas, you should be fine, main reason that little fridge like that are so bad is they lack insulation and the warm compressor is tucked right tight in there.

After looking at the compressor on my 'frig, I notice that there are several ( short )copper lines that are coiled around.
I know nothing of refrigerators.
It would be nice if I could just cut the lines to the compressor and install some longer copper lines. This way I could keep the compressor upright, and also it would not heat up the 'frig with the heat it produces ( I could set it several inches away from the 'frig vs. below it )
However, my guess is that if I go cut the lines, all of my refrigerant will come shooting out.
Is there a way to keep that from happening ?

I tried to do some research on how refrigerators work , but could not find the answer to another question that I have : I notice that the sides of the 'frig get very warm when the 'frig is running.
Is it really necessary to have the lines that carry the refrigerant so close to the 'frig ? Could they be moved away from the 'frig, so as not to heat up the 'frig ?

One more question : There is a copper coiled line running from the compressor into a drain container. ( There is a drain tube that also runs into this container ) It almost appears as if the coiled tubing is meant to be immersed in the water of the drain container.( which at the current time is dry )
What do you make of that ?

Pictures to follow ...later.

Maybe, maybe not. Top freezer refridgerators generally work by only keeping the freezer section cold. When the fridge needs cooling, it blows cold air down from the freezer into the fridge compartment. That works for frost free models. However, non-frost free fridge usually rely on gravity instead of a fan for cooling (cold air surrounding the inner freezer compartment drops into the fridge area).

Do not cut the copper lines, when they put it all together they not only have to keep the refrigerant in there while sealing it up, they have to keep air out, so they have fittings that let them fill the components, seal them then connect everything together.

Here is what I have to work with . Given what you see here, how would you go about modifying this fridge ?

[/IMG]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3561/...648f4b50_b.jpghttp://farm4.static.flickr.com/3431/...06491c08_b.jpg

condensation drips down in to that little tub then the coil from the compressor gets hot and cooks the water off before it over flows, that thumb size copper doohickey I think is the dryer, I think as long as that is at a low point you should be fine.

So based on what you can see from the pictures, how would you guys and gals modify this fridge ?

Also, what type of insulation can I place around the fridge that is not a fire hazard ( yet eco-friendly of course ;) )

You don't want to insulate over the condenser. If the sides feel warm after the compresser has ran for a while, that's where the condenser is. My mini-fridge is constructed this way and it looks like yours is too.

Nothing on a fridge should be hot enough be a fire hazard. Unless you insulate over the condenser, but the compressor should shut down or be destroyed before this happens.
What about insulating inside the fridge?

Maybe expanded polystyrene would be a good choice?
All About Insulation

I'm not convinced whether laying down a fridge really helps because I haven't seen any test results. Obviously if you open the door a lot it will make a difference.

Insulate the insides except where the evaporator is.

It might be easier to sell the fridge and buy a small deep freeze instead. It would be really simple to modify the power cord with a line voltage thermostat (something designed for a small walk-in cooler).

there are some really cheap chest freezers out there and some thermostats for fermenting beer in your fridge that give you more control, you stick the probe in the fridge and plug the cord in to the device.

It's to hard to tell from the photos exactly how things are arranged, I think you will need to simply read some books on fridge repair to get a better understanding of how they work.

I'm confused ; A couple of you folks are asking me to insulate the INSIDE of the fridge.
Can you be more specific ? Are you talking about the inside walls of the fridge, or the actuall inside where the food is ?
This thing is crammed with food as it is already.
If you mean insulate the inside, that brings up a question : Which is more efficient, a fridge that is packed with food, or one that is half empty ?
I would think the one packed with more food,since the cold food would actually keep the food around itself cool as well. ( But I'm guessing )
Also, what about when the freezer has ice buildup on its sides ? Is this more efficient ( for the same reason as described above ), or does it actually make the fridge work harder ? I'm guessing not, since that's probably why they have " frost free " frdiges.
And ... yes, I have no idea what I am talking about.
Thanks

Yes, a full fridge is more efficient. There's more thermal inertia.

I'm not sure about the ice affecting efficiency. I think the 'frost-free' technology is to keep the freezer from becoming completely ice-jammed (I've seen it happen) and ruining food.

Well, I took all of the food out of the mini-frige and started using the full size one.
The very first thing that I noticed was how LOUD that the full size one was.
Also, the heat coming from the thing is really noticeable. The kitchen feels like I am using an oven now. ( Supposedly, the fridge is newermodel - a 2007 Kenmore. 14.8 Cubic foot and burns 355 kWh per year - compared to the mini-frig which uses 337 kWh ! )
Power consumption on the mini-frige was 101-102 watts while the full size starts at 184 watts and dips down to 156 watts at the end of its 15 minute run cycle.

I tried to see if I could move the compressor today, and I managed to get it to move around just like the instructable. I had thought that the copper lines were too short, but I have plenty of play to work with.:thumbup:
I plan to try and convert this thing to a chest fridge, but I am going to do it in such a way that it is reversible.
Along the way, I will take some readings and post them for a sort of A-B-A-B test.
I predict that the only change might be that I lose my freezer, and just end up with a really awkward fridge.

If that happens, I'll just bend the thing back into shape and use it as is.

Now - about that insulation .... any advice ? I'd like to use something that is eco-friendly. We sell isulation at work made from recycled paper. I'm just worried about its flammability. I'm still confused whether or not to insulate the sides of the fridge or not.
Thanks

If I understand you fellas correctly, what makes this fridge inefficient is the lack of insullation, not something like a poor quality compressor. Right ?
I would convert a chest freezer to a chest fridge, but I want a freezer within the same unit.

You guys are right - the fridge will use the same amount of power whether turned upright or laying down. ( DUHHHH right ? )
The only benefit of a lay down setup being if you open your frige doors quite often.

The full sized fridge was driving me crazy with it's loud noise and constant heat. I also noticed that it has consumed over 3.5 kWh in just the last two days.
Therefore, I moved all the food back and have begun using the compact again.
Just out of boredom, I threw some blankets on the fridge.

Very encouraging.

The thing is around four feet from me, yet I did not even notice the compressor had turned on. It is so quiet that I thought that I was hearing my neighbors fridge through the wall.

( I kept the back side uncovered and the blankets are away from any heat source.)

Right away, I noticed that the fridge had taken around twenty minutes to cycle, versus the fifteen before. This is with me opening the door twice .

So - change of plan. I'm not going to convert this thing to a chest fridge, but rather just insulate the living crap out of it.
I'm also going to just take a thick piece of metal and bend it around the compressor to form a heat shield.

Just wanted to add that currently, the frig is showing .025 kWh per hour.

This is with no modifiactions to the frig. The temperature is set to the lowest ( warmest ) setting just above 'off ', yet the food stays fresh. The frozen items are not rock hard, but they are cold enough to be very rigid.
This is actually prefered over 'rock solid' because my small sanwich maker cooks the food quicker, using less energy.

.025 kWh is not bad, but it is a heck of a lot worse than what I am aiming for.
I have run it for the last 24 hours and the average is .025 kWh.

Earlier, I tested it with 1/4 thick styrofoam sheeting all around ( except where the hot compressor is.) I also left the top uncovered, thinking that since hot air escapes upwards, this would allow the heat from the frig to have a place to go.

I got the styrofoam from the trash compactor at work.

After running the frig for around three to four hours, I concluded that the extra insullation was doing almost nothing . I adhered the foam using tape, but I made sure that the foam was snug.

I gained maybe a minute or two of time between when the frig would turn on, but with the normal variations in shut on time, this may have had nothing at all to do with the extra insullation.

Any ideas what I might have been doing wrong ? Temperatures that day were rather cool. (55 - 60 ish ) Would I see more or less of an effect on a hot day ?

I found a really nice 5 Cu. ft. chest freezer for $ 165 at my job. Although I could save some energy by converting this to a chest frig, I have to consider the emissions produced in the production of the freezer.
I think that this would far outweigh the extra ( powerplant ) emissions from using my frig as it is.

Besides, when you convert a chest freezer to a frig, where do you store your frozen foods ??

This is before I did a good controlled test. The unit actually turns on once every 24 minutes or so, and stays on around 7.5 minutes. This was without any blankets.

O.K., point 60 kWh for for 24 hours.

That amounts to what ... 219 KWh per year right ?

Not good enough.

60 kWh/day is a lot. Isn't it 60 Wh/day ? If yes then it's very efficient, my newer fridge is at 380 Wh/day = 140 kWh/year.

219 kWh/year = 600 Wh/day = 0.025 Wh/h and is more efficient than my older fridge at 660 kWh/year.

My fridge has two small ventilators at the upper part. They switch off as soon as the door is opened. I rarely saw them already off when opening the door.

Denis.

Whuups!
60 kWh should have read 60 Wh per day ! :)

I am running another test of the frig. This time, I have at leat 1.5 " of foam on all sides of the frig - including the top, underside, and the front of the doors . I also threw a ( thin ) blanket over the top as well.
I am at three hours, and the reading is .07 Wh, but the compressor was still running at the three hour mark, so this skews the results. I'll have to wait longer.
At the two hour mark, my average was .025 per hour, which is really disappointing, because this would confirm that the extra insullation is indeed useless.
Time will tell.

So if I did go with a chest freezer modification, how could I have both a frig and a freezer in the same unit ?

Well ... it looks as if insulating the outside of a frig like mine does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ! ( except make it look ugly )

This is surprising to me, since I have over 2.5" of foam taped to the sides of the thing ! ( it ranges from 1.5 " to over 3 " in some areas )

My average at 32 hours is still .025 Wh - so no change what-so-ever.

I've had the Kill-a-Watt in place for the last three days. It looks as if the frig is actually now using MORE energy with the extra insullation. ( It jumped up 12 kWh per year - to over 231 kWh )

What am I doing wrong folks ? This seems to defy logic. It's like finding out that your car gets better gas mileage with four flat tires. It just doesn't make any sense !

Make sure you're not blocking any vents.

Has your local ambient temperature increased recently? I can see more electricity usage on our fridge with as little as a five degree increase in ambient. I've been tracking for a couple years now.
JJ

I agree with Mike. If you are insulating over vents or over the heat rejection coils the fridge may be running extra long to reject the heat, and actually wind up pushing heat into the fridge instead of out of the fridge. This is why people had said to insulate the inside walls of the fridge with the exception of around the cooling line, because it will increase the amount of insulation between the cold and the hot. You can insulate the outside, but make sure to not block vents or cover where the coils are.

I haven't posted in a while. Nothing new to post though.
Currently, I am running the frig with only foam underneath, and attached to the doors. ( 1.5 " of white packaging styrofoam )
The sides and back of the frig are same as stock.
Currently, my readings are between 234 and 240 kWh ( per year - or less than .70 Wh per day )
( It's hot and humid here now.)
The readings fluctuate so much that I wonder if I am doing the testing right.
What is the best way to test a frig for its power consumption ? Since the frig has a set number of cycles per hour, plugging in the Kill-A-Watt just as the frig kicks on, or just after the cycle has finished seems as though it would skew the testing for that first hour.
To compensate, I have been subtracting the data from the first hour from my tests so far.

Is traditional packing foam ( the white sheets of styrofoam ) an inferior type of material to insulate with ? As mentioned above, it seemed to do nothing. No vents were covered ( there are none ). As far as a heat rejection coil ... perhaps I was covering that up. If it is located inside the walls of the frig, then yes, I was indeed covering them.

I'm still very confused about what you all mean when you say insulate the inside of the frig. Do you mean put foam inside of the frig ?
Surely not !
This would not only cram the interior space even worse than it already is, but it would be messy, leaving little styrofoam 'crumbs' all in my food. ( And the toxic favor as well ! )
I'm thinking you mean the inside walls of the frig. This would mean prying open the walls and probably breaking something in the process.
It would be interesting though !

I'm already finding that I need more than 3.1 Cu. Ft. of space. I am now reconsidering a true chest freezer modificatuion.

I will create a new post for that though.

DIY econo fridge
 

I have a small (2c.f.) mini-fridge. SOooooo...I took a few minutes and carefully removed the entire cooling system from the mini-fridge. Unbolted the compressor and coils (it's an older fridge with the coils on the back, I bought it for this experiment), carefully cut a hole in the back and slid the inside cooling piece (the cooling shelf that makes the freezer section) out of the refridgerator box without breaking any lines. I cut the wires to the temp adjustment, but they are easily spliced.

Next step, I found a MaxCold Igloo cooler (the one that says it will keep ice for 5 days) and my plan is to cut a small slot in the side of the cooler, bolt the compressor & coils on the outside on the end with wheels on it & put the cooling lines and cooling "shelf" inside the cooler (the lines will go thru the slot cut in the cooler). Once it's set up and looks OK. I will spray-foam the slot closed and maybe slap a little sealer on there, and see if the extra-thick insulation the cooler has will make for an efficient chest refrigerator. It certainly has MUCH more capacity than the mini-fridge, just not sure how the energy usage will turn out.

Sounds like a good idea to me. Any pics?

I will take some pics and post soon. Actually, should I start a new thread rather than hijacking this one? Also, where do I put the pics?

that fridge mod to turn it on its back is a cool one. It seems like it will fit more stuff that way too :-)