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Piwoslaw · 08-27-17, 01:37 AM

I recently bought a used chest freezer. It is larger than we expected (we wanted 110 liters, turned out to be 168 l), so I'll add extra insulation to reduce the extra load. According to the label, the compressor needs 70W, and the unit should use 0.52 kWh/day. Here is the plan to reduce that:

The freezer will be in the basement, where the temperature is lower than in the house - now (late summer) it is 16-17C, in the winter it drops to 9-11C.
I will remove the 15W light which turns on when the lid is open.
There is about 3cm of space between the condenser coils and the rear wall. I want to increase this by 10-15mm, and insulate the rear wall with 5mm of styrofoam with a reflective coating, to keep the heat off (when testing, the coils heated from 16 to 26C in just 2 minutes).
The freezer walls are already 85mm thick, but I would stick an extra 3-5cm of styrofoam on the front and sides.
The bottom stands 4cm above the floor - should I raise it more, or add insulation?
What about the lid and the seal? Are these worth the effort to insulate?

Possibly in the future we may change our tariff so that electricity is cheaper at night, then the freezer could be put on a timer to only work the compressor during cheap hours.

I also had a plan to add a second thermostat for refrigerator temperatures, with a switch allowing me to choose between fridge and freezer mode. This would be for example during holidays, when we have lots of food and barely enough space in our primary fridge. But I'll have to see if this is at all needed.

08-27-17, 01:37 AM	#1
Piwoslaw Super Moderator Join Date: May 2009 Location: Warsaw, Poland Posts: 961 Thanks: 188 Thanked 110 Times in 86 Posts	Chest freezer insulation I recently bought a used chest freezer. It is larger than we expected (we wanted 110 liters, turned out to be 168 l), so I'll add extra insulation to reduce the extra load. According to the label, the compressor needs 70W, and the unit should use 0.52 kWh/day. Here is the plan to reduce that: The freezer will be in the basement, where the temperature is lower than in the house - now (late summer) it is 16-17C, in the winter it drops to 9-11C. I will remove the 15W light which turns on when the lid is open. There is about 3cm of space between the condenser coils and the rear wall. I want to increase this by 10-15mm, and insulate the rear wall with 5mm of styrofoam with a reflective coating, to keep the heat off (when testing, the coils heated from 16 to 26C in just 2 minutes). The freezer walls are already 85mm thick, but I would stick an extra 3-5cm of styrofoam on the front and sides. The bottom stands 4cm above the floor - should I raise it more, or add insulation? What about the lid and the seal? Are these worth the effort to insulate? Possibly in the future we may change our tariff so that electricity is cheaper at night, then the freezer could be put on a timer to only work the compressor during cheap hours. I also had a plan to add a second thermostat for refrigerator temperatures, with a switch allowing me to choose between fridge and freezer mode. This would be for example during holidays, when we have lots of food and barely enough space in our primary fridge. But I'll have to see if this is at all needed. __________________ Ecorenovation - the bottomless piggy bank that tries to tame the energy hog.