No fridge? Cool!

[RevdTess]

I'd like to see you do it in the middle of summer as opposed to a couple of weeks ago when most of us had 3 inches of snow on the ground and frosts every night.

Always better to work with nature, rather than against her :p

(For the same reason, when I was living on the narrowboat, I would buy a lot more fresh milk in the winter, when I could simply use my boat's foredeck as a larder).

[DominicJ]

Well, its on average 10 degrees C in my house, on the kitchen table, that pork would be looking very dicey after 120 hours.
But hey, if you want to do without a fridge, thats your choice.

[RevdTess]

Well, its on average 10 degrees C in my house, on the kitchen table, that pork would be looking very dicey after 120 hours.
But hey, if you want to do without a fridge, thats your choice.

It was fine after a week here, similar temps, probably nearer 12C. I guess physics is different in Wales

[adam2]

Whilst it is of course possible to manage without a fridge, I recomend the use of ultra high efficiency refrigeration, DC powered if off grid.

My fridge uses an average of about 10 watts in the winter, and about 30 watts in the summer, this is easily generated from wind or PV, or could be obtained from the grid at very little cost.

Refrigeration greatly extends the safe storage time of perishables, and can reduce waste.
The absence of refrigeration would require daily shopping, possibly even twice daily, this takes a lot of time, that could perhaps be better spent otherwise.
Remote off grid households often produce much of theire own food, but supply and consumption are not allways in step, and refrigeration most useful. If for example a glut of milk is available, then butter could be made and stored for some weeks. Likewise a pig or sheep can be killed without having to eat it all allmost at once.
Cold beer or soft drinks are not essiential, but are much more enjoyable than warm.

[skeptik]

"No fridge? Cool!"

No, not cool at all as far as I'm concerned here in Spain. If push comes to shove, the fridge and ceiling fans would be my last electrical appliances - and I'd do whatever it takes to keep them supplied with electricity!

[sam_uk]

These were posted on another thread
http://www.affordable-solar.com/sundanz ... erator.htm

If i read it correctly a 5.8 cu ft fridge at 30 degrees c ambient. will cool to 3.3degrees c.

It looks like they would recommend a 190w panel and a 220ah battery.

Assuming you could get one imported...

So two 85w kyocera could be £729.00inc http://www.jgtech.com/shop11.htm

One 220ah battery £250 http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Elecsol-220Ah-12V ... 240%3A1318

One decent MPPT solar controller £126 http://www.brightlightsolar.com/acatalo ... llers.html

So for about 2k you could have a solar fridge...

[CountingDown]

Whilst it is of course possible to manage without a fridge, I recomend the use of ultra high efficiency refrigeration, DC powered if off grid.

My fridge uses an average of about 10 watts in the winter, and about 30 watts in the summer, this is easily generated from wind or PV, or could be obtained from the grid at very little cost.

Refrigeration greatly extends the safe storage time of perishables, and can reduce waste.
The absence of refrigeration would require daily shopping, possibly even twice daily, this takes a lot of time, that could perhaps be better spent otherwise.
Remote off grid households often produce much of theire own food, but supply and consumption are not allways in step, and refrigeration most useful. If for example a glut of milk is available, then butter could be made and stored for some weeks. Likewise a pig or sheep can be killed without having to eat it all allmost at once.
Cold beer or soft drinks are not essiential, but are much more enjoyable than warm.

What type of Fridge have you got Adam2? Sunfrost?

[CountingDown]

On the "My Grandma's tougher than your Grandma theme" I was talking to my Gran at Christmas, about what her Christmases were like as a kid. She grew up on a farm about an hour south of Brisbane (modern travelling time) Christmas temp about 35-40deg. No fridge. Wood-fired stove for full English-Style Christmas lunch!
They did have a Meat Safe, ate a lot of fresh meat and salted it to preserve it. They also had a lot of fresh milk - it was a dairy farm! Interestingly their Cream all went off to the butter factory, but there were only three pickups a week. Needless to say you can apparently make butter with some very "off" cream!

[RenewableCandy]

Tough-ness (or otherwise) didn't really have anything to do with it. My grandparents just couldn't be a**ed to buy a fridge. And I'm pretty sure they didn't go shopping loads of times a week: they lived miles from the nearest shops and there wasn't a mobile delivery there (except for milk). I'm just trying to say it's do-able, that's all (though not my style, and anyway our fridge-freezer only uses 1 unit a day).

[Bandidoz]

I need a fridge for keeping toilet paper cool enough to compensate for the after-effects of a good hot curry

I once tried freezing bog roll and it doesn't work

[adam2]

What type of Fridge have you got Adam2? Sunfrost?

It was made by polar star, AFAIK that company no longer exists, but very similar products are available from both sunfrost and sundanzer.

I believe that Electrolux are the only manufacturerer of small DC refrigeration compressors, and that both the above brands use the same compressor.

(peltier or absorbtion fridges are available from a number of suppliers but are unsuited to off grid use)

[CountingDown]

Thanks Adam,

Have been looking at the Sunfrost but it's pretty hard to work out the size of them from the pictures - they seem wider than standard so the proportions look wrong! Hoping I can find someone with one to have a look at before committing ourselves.

[adam2]

Thanks Adam,

Have been looking at the Sunfrost but it's pretty hard to work out the size of them from the pictures - they seem wider than standard so the proportions look wrong! Hoping I can find someone with one to have a look at before committing ourselves.

Various sizes are available, details here
http://www.sunfrost.com/refrigerator_specs.html

Remember that the internal space will less than expected for a given external size, on account of the extra insulation.

[Neily at the peak]

Just to throw a spanner in the works I heard an article on radio 4 the other day about how the refrigerants in most refrigerating systems when they leak which they do regularly are 1000's of times more damaging as a greenhouse gas than CO2!!

Neil

[adam2]

Just to throw a spanner in the works I heard an article on radio 4 the other day about how the refrigerants in most refrigerating systems when they leak which they do regularly are 1000's of times more damaging as a greenhouse gas than CO2!!

Neil

Certainly cause for concern in some circumstances, but it should be remembered that the more modern refrigerants are far less damaging than the older ones.
Also the harm is only done when the refrigerant escapes, no harm is done by its continued use in a sealed system.
Therefore a well made long lasting refrigeration umit, that postpones, for as long as possible the eventual eascape of the gas is to be recomended.

Refrigerants exist with almost no ozone destroying or global warming effects, these are however flammable and some authorities campagaigne against theire use, though the amounts are small and dont in practice seem to be a risk.