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paulz
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# Posted: 28 Feb 2021 13:59
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Been wondering why I waste juice at night keeping the mini-fridge at 44 degrees in a 75 degree cabin when it's 42 outside.
Put it outside by the door or cut a hole in the wall, best I can think of.
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gcrank1
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# Posted: 28 Feb 2021 14:10 - Edited by: gcrank1
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Lol, 
That is why I have a cooler secure outside in the shade most of the time. Avoiding big temp swings makes my ice bottles last longer.
I think a 'fridge add-on addition outdoors with an inside access door in the wall (siding door?) to get to the fridge door would work well for about 1/2 - 2/3 of the year. Even in the summer if you need to have the AC running to be comfortable inside the fridge is working overtime and adding heat inside.
Fridge in a root cellar might be good too.
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ICC
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# Posted: 28 Feb 2021 14:43
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Quoting: paulz Been wondering why I waste juice at night keeping the mini-fridge at 44 degrees in a 75 degree cabin when it's 42 outside.
If it has a freezer? If so then when the ambient temperature is cool to cold, the compressor likely will not run long enough to keep the freezer contents frozen.
Some refrigerator motors or compressors may not like operating in cold temperatures as well. After all the manufacturer figures the fridge will be used inside in a normal home at normal home temperatures.
So the correct answer, is, it depends
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Irrigation Guy
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# Posted: 28 Feb 2021 18:51
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There are models that are designed to be outside but I think they are expensive as I remember
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ICC
Member
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# Posted: 28 Feb 2021 19:05
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Sometimes called a Garage Fridge
Some fridges also have a "cold weather kit" or some such name, available. It is a small heating pad that mounts near the thermostat and tricks the fridge. Or something like that....
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gcrank1
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# Posted: 28 Feb 2021 20:08
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With the fridge outside and the ambient outdoor temp is about what you want, or lower, than fridge normal fridge temp you dont have to have it running.
We used to have a junk fridge outside at our 1st cabin, leftovers from a meal we let cool off outside then stick in and stuff left in stayed cold. We monitored with a fridge thermometer and when the inside temp was getting too cold we would put the stuff in a cooler and take it inside to the coolest corner of the cabin (12x24, always had a cool corner).
It was a more 'active' cold food management than some want to do, but effective.
It was much more troublesome to manage food in the hot summer than in cool to cold temps.
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rpe
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# Posted: 28 Feb 2021 20:33
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Boss of the Swamp on Youtube did a really nice job of setting up his ice-box for winter cooling.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w68z-YJvei4
We use our place for short stays only in the winter. A week would be about max. It does seem odd to warm up the place with the wood stove, and then power up the fridge to keep the contents cool!
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Ontario lakeside
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# Posted: 28 Feb 2021 20:42
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I have often thought of installing a small tube connecting the interior of the fridge and the outside. A tiny fan controlled by a thermostat could exchange air as needed with a flapper to close the exchange completely.
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Nobadays
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# Posted: 28 Feb 2021 21:53
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A window box was quite common on a lot of old time cabins. We were caretakers on a ranch summer range for a couple years and lived in an old log cabin. The back window on the north side was about 2x3 feet and had a screened in box with shelves built on to the outside. The window opened in and we would keep food out there in the fall/spring when the temps were appropriate. During the dead of winter it was extra freezer space.
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FishHog
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# Posted: 1 Mar 2021 08:34
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My fridge is in the back unheated room. Works great without running as a fridge in the cool months and a freezer in the freezing months.
In the freezing months I use a cooler for non frozen food with a wireless thermometer in it, readout on a display in the cabin. I set it outside during the afternoon to let it cool down but not freeze and put it in the coldest corner of the cottage for the night with a blanket over it to keep stuff cool overnight.
A few water bottles left outside to freeze overnight can also be cycled in and out as needed.
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Aklogcabin
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# Posted: 1 Mar 2021 11:55 - Edited by: Aklogcabin
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I believe you should be fine. Probably even work better. Certainly will work less.
Your compressor will not be hurt running in 40 degree weather. If you think about it the refrigerant and oil are coming from the freezer to the compressor during the refrigeration cycle. And will run when receiving a signal from the t stat. The evaporator being in cooler ambient air will work better.
I went to college for refrigeration heating and air handling when I was younger. I don't do that kind of work now but movement of energy, refrigeration and heating, works in many ways.
The need for cool beverages is must . Fresh food is good too.
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Daaaaaaaan
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# Posted: 1 Mar 2021 21:38 - Edited by: Daaaaaaaan
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You may hear that heat pumps (for residential heating) are often cheaper at heating than propane or oil heat. Even cheaper than natural gas in mild climates.
Your electric fridge/freezer *is* such a heat pump. It doesn't create cold, it just moves the heat out of it. Instead of being an air-source or ground-source heat-pump, it's a soup/beer-source heat-pump.
When you put water in your freezer to freeze it, or put warm soup in your fridge, you're moving heat from that water and dumping it into your room. ie: heating your room up by moving the heat out of it and into your room via compression/refrigeration cycles.
If you leave your beer/soup outside to cool down (or have a hole in your cabinets), you're taking that heat out of your cabin and putting it outside. Then when you bring that cold beer inside, you're moving something cold inside. That's inefficient. Keep every drop of that heat inside with your fridge/freezer.
So what am I trying to say? If you're on-grid but use gas/oil heat, or you have excess off-grid power, use your fridge/freezer to move the heat out of your beer and into your room. If you're off-grid and/or have cheap firewood, use the outdoor fridge.
Fridges/freezers aren't 100% efficient/insulated, so this thinking falls apart for long periods of time.
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paulz
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# Posted: 2 Mar 2021 10:53
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Interesting thoughts and ideas. The pipe to the outside with a fan and flapper sure sounds good on paper.
Also never considered that the fridge is actually helping heat the cabin. Not enough to justify in my case, but something.
Another thought that occurred to me: since we spend 3-4 nights max at the cabin, we only bring a small cooler of cold goods (nothing frozen), which would fit in a plastic box or bag inside the mini-fridge, then just put it back in the cooler outside overnight.
I'm now running on solar only so every watt counts but I am making improvements. Also the dynamics will change with the seasons.
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gcrank1
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# Posted: 2 Mar 2021 12:16
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The thing all this off-grid makes me do is reconsider my long time habits of operation on-grid. I look at what my desired outcome is them figure out how to get there using as much of the KISS principle as possible. All this cabin stuff is great for somebody that tends to be 'mechanically oriented' and being a bit OC (I wont use the D as I dont consider it always a 'disorder'!) can be an asset.
Thats my story and Im sticking to it......
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paulz
Member
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# Posted: 2 Mar 2021 12:41
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Funny thing last week. After 4 days and 3 nights at the cabin I returned to my city house on grid. Wouldn't you know, 8pm the power went out, 3K customers. I was lost! No generator, no batteries, finally found a flashlight, then a candle. Sat there in the dark until midnight when power was restored.
It was actually kind of nice quietly staring at that candle. Solitude on grid, who'd a thunk it?
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groingo
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# Posted: 24 Mar 2021 15:03
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I use an Alpicool fridge freezer, uses 12/ 110 or 24 volt, is affordable and works really well using Minimal power and NO power spikes like you see in compact fridges.
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