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<DIV><FONT size=4>A while back a link was posted to an Australian site that
described his process of converting a chest freezer to a super-efficient
refrigerator by installing an exterior thermostat.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><A
href="http://www.mtbest.net/chest_fridge.pdf">http://www.mtbest.net/chest_fridge.pdf</A></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT><FONT size=4></FONT><FONT size=4></FONT><FONT
size=4></FONT><FONT size=4></FONT><BR><FONT size=4>I was very intrigued by this,
and so I bought a used Kenmore freezer ($100). We immediately began to use
it as a freezer because we had just taken delivery of a pig and our existing
freezer was full. The freezer is 50" long, 27" wide, 33" deep.
I would have preferred a smaller one, but this is what we could find. As a
freezer, it used about 70 KwH/month, so it is obviously an older model, that's
probably why it was so cheap.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>All of our meat is now in our original freezer. I turned
off the new-to-us freezer, and yesterday I dug out the external thermostat we
had purchased from a brewer's supply store here in town. You plug it into
the wall, and then plug the freezer into it. In our case, first we plugged
the Killowatt meter into the wall, then we plugged the external thermostat into
it, and then the freezer plugged into that. In the first 24 hours of
operation, the unit has used .264 kwH. If that rate of usage continues,
the unit will use about 96 kwH/year. (A Killowatt meter is a device that
measures the electrical usage of an appliance. It plugs into the wall and
then the appliance plugs into it. They cost about $30, I couldn't find one
locally so I bought ours online.)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><A
href="http://www.supermediastore.com/kilwateldet1.html?WT.mc_id=AdWordsKillaWattkillawatt&WT.srch=1">http://www.supermediastore.com/kilwateldet1.html?WT.mc_id=AdWordsKillaWattkillawatt&WT.srch=1</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>We haven't put any food into it yet. I am experimenting
with different places to put the interior sensor of the external
thermostat. Thus far it is maintaining 40 degrees, both in the bottom and
in the middle of the chest ( I wondered if there would be a difference). I
am going to tweak it down just a bit, to keep 38 degrees inside.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>I am putting some milk crates on the floor of the freezer (to
enhance the user friendliness) and have accumulated a variety of baskets,
shelves and containers. I expect I will put the food into the new fridge
tomorrow and disconnect our existing upright refrigerator.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>The external thermostat we are using seems to me to be
different than the one described in the original URL article. However the
external thermostats such as we bought are widely used in the brewing community
to convert chest freezers into "beer aging cellars", so they should work fine
for refrigeration too.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>I may put frozen 2 liter bottles of water in the milk crates
at the bottom. According to what I have read, water does condense on the
floor of such freezer to fridge conversions, but the freezer I bought has a
drainhole in the bottom so that should be easy to finesse.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Robert Waldrop, OKC</FONT></DIV>
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