[Greenbuilding] efficient fridge/freezer

[Stephen Collette]

I'm liking the insulated/uninsulated fridge/freezer thing idea. I was  
mulling over one when we were going to build our house and I think it  
might work with this thought. I was thinking of making a pantry, a  
real walk in pantry. We were planning on doing a straw bale slab on  
grade. So the thought was that I wasn't going to insulate underneath  
the pantry portion of the slab. This way I would gain the thermal  
constant of the ground to help maintain year round a cooler  
temperature for the space. It was all internal so I was even going to  
vent it and everything. It would have been swell. This would also  
work for the fridge/freezer idea. If the compressor part was close to  
the uninsulated earth, then it would be more efficient throughout the  
year. No muffin fans etc. (although I do like that idea a lot).  
K.I.S.S. I would then purchase a manual defrost and insulate the  
appliance.

A slightly different version I have actually seen, and it was done  
for different reasons. A wonderful architect friend of mine in Guelph  
built a fabulous little green house for him and his wife. It's super  
insulated and stunning. He didn't like the noise of the fridge  
because the house is sooo quiet. So he plumbed the compressor to the  
basement where he doesn't hear anything. He doesn't have a full  
basement, just a glorified utility room for the bits and bobs, so  
it's slightly cooler down there. Just puts in my head the ability to  
relocate the compressor for potential benefits for other reasons.

Stephen

Stephen Collette B.B.E.C
Principal

Your Healthy House
Indoor Environmental Inspections & Building Consulting
www.yourhealthyhouse.ca
stephen at yourhealthyhouse.ca
705.652.5159


>
> I LOVE that idea!
>
> It updates the old icebox idea and incorporates Ben's concern about  
> opening
> the door to go outside.
>
> Kat - when you build it (and we'll all be listening in), you'd  
> essentially
> put super insulation in the door to the icebox, right?
>
> The main thing that I love about the idea is that it gets the  
> refrigerator
> out of the main floor space of the kitchen.  one thing we'd need to  
> solve is
> how to move the function, once built, without a major HVAC budget.
>
> I really think you're on to something here
>
> Amy Bauman
> greenGoat
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: greenbuilding-bounces at listserv.repp.org
> [mailto:greenbuilding-bounces at listserv.repp.org]On Behalf Of Kat
> Sent: Friday, March 09, 2007 10:04 PM
> To: prattb at uwstout.edu; Greenbuilding
> Subject: Re: [Greenbuilding] now on to fridges....
>
>
> (snip)
> ... insulated under-counter box (perhaps two large drawers,
> stacked; small freezer on the bottom and fridge on the top) on an
> outside kitchen wall and ditch the fridge.  I'm thinking maybe a small
> heat pump-y thing that would go on the outside of the house in warm
> weather and gets moved to the inside in cold weather?  Then in winter
> there's a hole in the outside wall for cold air to come in.  Though it
> doesn't stay really consistently cold here in Portland in the
> wintertime.  I don't know if the hole would be a good idea.  I suppose
> you could have two small heat pump-y things, one on the outside and  
> one
> on the inside, and put some sort of switch in that flips power from  
> one
> to the other depending on temperatures?
>
>
>
>
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> End of Greenbuilding Digest, Vol 9, Issue 30
> ********************************************