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Old 05-04-09, 11:17 PM   #31
jjackstone
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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.
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Old 05-05-09, 02:10 PM   #32
wyatt
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NiHaoMike View Post
Make sure you're not blocking any vents.
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.
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Old 06-09-09, 06:57 PM   #33
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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.
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Old 03-26-10, 06:52 PM   #34
Beaker
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Default 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.
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Old 03-27-10, 09:28 AM   #35
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Sounds like a good idea to me. Any pics?
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Old 03-27-10, 12:33 PM   #36
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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?

Last edited by Beaker; 03-27-10 at 08:33 PM.. Reason: add info/pics
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Old 04-06-10, 09:45 PM   #37
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that fridge mod to turn it on its back is a cool one. It seems like it will fit more stuff that way too :-)

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