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Turn a freezer into a refrigerator

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Doug K from PA
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2002-08-14          41240


I figured our freezer was old enough that it could give out at 10 days from now or 2 years from now and I did not want to gamble with $500 worth of meat. So I bought my wife a new one and wanted to turn the old one into a fridge.
I adjusted the thermostat in the freezer but things still freeze. Does any one know of an easy way to adjust the thermostat so it does not freeze the contents but still keeps them cold?
Thanks for your help.




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Billy
Join Date: Oct 1999
Posts: 975 Southeast Oklahoma
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2002-08-14          41241


You'd most likely have to get a thermostat made for a refrigerator (since freezer thermostats were never meant to be turned above freezing). I figure any refrigerator thermostat should work. You could probably pick one up for nothing. There's always someone wanting to give refrigerators away, if you'll haul it off. Good luck and good idea.

Billy ....


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MRETHICS
Join Date: Jul 2003
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2002-08-14          41247


I guess the easiest way would be to leave the door open a little. Opps sorry, I aint in as good as mood as I have been.

This is my serious answer, and it is pure speculation, so the door is still open for a streight answer:

The cooling system on a freezer probably is different than the oned used in refridgeraters, because of the temps that are produced and maintained.

A freezer must produce colder air than a fridge, and if it is of the frost-free type, that changes things some more.

Your typical freezer, must(and I must add here this is only speculation) not only produce colder air, it's compressor probably has less volumetric efficiency than the ones used on refridgerator, since they are less likly to have the door open and closed as much, things are usually packed tighter, and since the air is colder it warms up slower than ,say, 40 degree air. Not that it warms up slower, it just has more degrees to warm up.

And if it is a frost free unit, it has a heat cycle to melt the ice that forms after many many hours of use.

finding a thermostat that will let you accomplish what you want may be a trick.

But again, this is just speculation on my part, there are some pretty sharp people on this forum, there may be a cheap fast and easy answer, and a link to go with it. Who knows.

But my bigest concern here, is if you wont trust it with meat or food, would you consider trusting it with your favorite adult type beverage??

Not me, I don't care what it costs, when I get home, that Budwieser better be cold!!!!!!

Behold this creature who types like a man!!!! He is willing to take a chance with his beer!!!! How interesting. ....


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DRankin
Join Date: Jan 2000
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2002-08-15          41280


I think the designs are totally different. Most freezers have cooling coils distributed throughout the appliance, like maybe each shelf has one. I think a refrigerator uses the freezer coils to chill the refer box with insulation or airspace to deter freezing, and not separate coils for the refer section. Have you every seen a refrigerator that didn’t have some sort of freezer compartment?
I can think of two options:
1) Put it on a timer so that it runs say 15 or 20 minutes out of each hour, and do a trial and error experiment to get the temp right. Or,
2) Put it in the front yard, you might have to get an old Buick to keep it company, but you may live too far north for this option.
....


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Billy
Join Date: Oct 1999
Posts: 975 Southeast Oklahoma
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2002-08-15          41284


The only diff between a freezer and a fridge is the thermostats and where the coils are located.

In a fridge, the coils are located around the freezer compartment and there's a blower to blow some of the cold air to the fridge part. When the fridge gets to the desired set point, the thermostat cuts the compressor off. The only way to make the freezer colder, without making the fridge colder is by changing the amount of air forced into the fridge compartment.

In a freezer, the coils are located around the sides of the unit. This is done so there want be any hot spots. When the freezer gets to the desired set point, the compressor cuts off.

If you want your "freezer turned fridge" not to freeze some things you'd have to be careful about sitting things too close to the sides, where it is the coldest.

Billy
....


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Doug K from PA
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2002-08-16          41308


Thanks guys, Billy: I think I will try your idea of putting a thermostat from a fridge in there. Theoretically that should work the same as putting a timer on there like Mark suggested...since the idea is to simply keep the air around 40 degrees.
MRETHICS: I too am very concerned when it comes to keeping adult style beverages cold but fortunately I reach in there frequently enough that I would be immediately aware that somthing had gone terribly wrong and quickly come up with either an alternative cooling source or drink all of the beer!
That particular decision would need to be made at the time of the emergency and most likely some training would need to be done in advance so as to be completely prepared. ....


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Logan
Join Date: Jul 2003
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2002-08-16          41309


Wine making supply houses sell a thermostat that is plugged into the wall and the refrigerator or freezer is plugged into it. A thermostat bulb (on a wire connected to the power plug portion) is then placed into the freezer. A dial on the unit is used to set whatever temperature you want. I don't recall the exact temps that can be selected but I believe it would work okay. I think the one I have costs about $50. ....


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MRETHICS
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 190 Star City, Indiana
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2002-08-16          41310


MESSAGE TO Doug K from PA:

Sounds like you got the info you needed. And we al learnd a little something.......Life is good!!!!

P.S.

I check this board several times a day, so if(and God Forbid) you found yourself in the situation where emergency consumption rules apply, you know where to get a hold of me.
I would willingly donate my time to the cause!!!

(And they say I ain't a team player) ....


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Logan
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2002-08-16          41318


Here is a link to the controller I referred to earlier. http://www.ebrew.com/advanced_brewing/advanced_equipment.htm#TEM-EZ ....


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Doug K from PA
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2002-08-17          41335


Thanks Logan, that looks like a pretty slick system...plus it would give me an excuse to try brewing my own beer.

MRETHICS, your willingness to help others on this site is amazing, if problems arise I will certainly feel better knowing your are there as a back up. ....


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Peters
Join Date: Feb 2002
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2002-08-17          41336


If the controller is mechanical, rather than electrical, there is a dimetallic tube senser, normally this expands and presses on a switch to control the freezer motor. Usually there is an adjustment on the tube that you can move back and allow the motor to turn on later and re calibate the control.
....


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MRETHICS
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 190 Star City, Indiana
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2002-08-17          41343


Dimetallic tube sensor? Is the slang term for that called "mercury switch"?

Forgive my ignorance, but my family needed farmhelp and lacked funding when I was of college age. Add to that no time to cultivate an athletic schollarship, nor the acedemic achievements to make anyone take notice. So furthering my education has been my own pursuit later in life at the U of Knocks, and I must reley on the kindness of strangers. ....


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DRankin
Join Date: Jan 2000
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2002-08-17          41344


He might have meant bi-metal. Similar to the little tube that sits in the pilot flame on a gas waterheater or furnace. Or the remote sensor on your indoor/outdoor thermometer. ....


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Billy
Join Date: Oct 1999
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2002-08-17          41345


That's what I was thinking too, Mark. The kind that curls one way when it's cold and the other when it's hot?

Billy ....


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Peters
Join Date: Feb 2002
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2002-08-17          41348


The mercury switch sit on a bimetallic spring. The difference in the rate of expansion and contraction provides the movement to close and open the contact. Commerical thermal air conditioner/freezer controls have a bulb and tube. The tube expands, activates the switch and switches the compressor on or off. Your controller adjust the distance between the switch and the end of the tube. Normally there is also an adjustment on the tube.
I have no idea about the residential systems. ....


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TomG
Join Date: Feb 2002
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2002-08-18          41359


We have a cooler at our camp. It has no freezer section, but does freeze everything if the thermostat is too low. The unit has an air-circulating blower that is on when ever the door is closed. The blower is independent of the compressor.

I think that air circulation is important when the object is to try and keep things cool but not frozen. I'm not sure a freezer would provide the same type of air circulation. If circulation isn't uniform, then things in some areas might spoil unless things in other areas freeze.

Anyway, I'd give the design some thought over and above the thermostat problem. I know we use an old freezer with a latch on the door for more or less bear-proof garbage storage. That’s the best use for it we came up with.
....


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MRETHICS
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 190 Star City, Indiana
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2002-08-19          41385


Thanks for clearing that up. My speling succs two.

I was not makeing fun of anyone. Just trying to learn ....


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Doug K from PA
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2002-08-26          41651


Hey just wanted to let everyone know that the thermostat that Logan recomended works great! I am able to set it for any temp (I have it set at 34 right now)and none of the beer freezes.
I don't know if this freezer is any different than most but it does have a fan to circulate the air and maybe that helps to make the air more uniform. I would say that this system works great....thanks Logan and to everyone else for you sage advice! ....


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Billy
Join Date: Oct 1999
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2002-08-26          41652


I never had any doubts. Glad you got it going. I keep a fridge in my shop, full of cold beer. So, I know how important this is ;)

Billy ....


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DRankin
Join Date: Jan 2000
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2002-08-26          41653


Cool! ....


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TomG
Join Date: Feb 2002
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2002-08-27          41677


Yes Cool! Good way for beer to be.

The old freezer at our camp is still working too, but the bears haven’t challenged it yet. Guess that raises the question of how do you know if it's working or not.
....


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Doug K from PA
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2002-08-27          41700


Tom, I am not sure if you meant whether the freezer is working or not but I check the beer on a regular basis, especially during the weekends, to make sure they are cold but not frozen....I tell the wife that it is just part of my quality control.
Seriously, the best thing about this system is that you can make the beer very cold, just short of getting icey. ....


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DRankin
Join Date: Jan 2000
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2002-08-27          41707


If a freezer, that has been turned into a refrigerator, falls in the woods, and no one is there..........
Tom. I went deer hunting on Kodiak Island a few years back. We arrived the day after Christmas to hunt the last 6 days of the season. Yogi's NFL lineman cousin had visited our Wildlife Refuge cabin the day before. It didn't even try the window. It pried off the T1-11 siding to gain access. After seeing what a really big bear can do (this bad boy ((or girl)) was wider across the front prints than both my 14 EE boots together) I doubt any structure short of a concrete bunker is gonna stop em, much less a steel refer door. If you have anything that once smelled like food, sooner or later they will come.
....


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TomG
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 5406 Upper Ottawa Valley
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2002-08-28          41722


Doug: I was joking about my own freezer used for garbage. The idea is that if it has undisturbed garbage in it, then is it actually bear proof, or aren't there any bears visiting? Yes, it's a freezer in the woods, but when it's working can you hear it? This is sort of like the cat riddle of some months back. Maybe if I do enough quality control this'll start making sense, but I am happy the freezer with a fridge thermostat does the job.

Mark: Those would be brown bears while ours are black ones and junior cousins. Still any bear is really strong. One came in (or maybe fell in) through the roof at a friend's camp. It came out through a bedroom wall and an exterior wall. Bears don't bother with doors and 2x4's are no problem.

Actually there's no question that we've got both visiting and resident bears at our house as well as camp. Most are normal bears that run away when you yell at them. Increasingly 'dump' bears don't run. Yes, we've got bears--both running and non-running. The non-running ones probably are courtesy of our wildlife officials who have a charming practice of relocating 'problem-bears' from more populated areas to our backyards.
....


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