[Greenbuilding] Greenbuilding Digest, Vol 17, Issue 31

[Stephen Collette]

Hello Reuben and all,

I know an architect who took apart his refrigerator (where did the d  
go from fridge to refrigerator anyway?) and he put the compressor in  
the basement, as he had built a lovely quiet house and didn't like the  
noise of the fridge going and running. He had his HVAC guy do it for  
him, and it's actually about 4 feet or more away from the fridge  
proper. He didn't do it for efficiency, but sound, so it doesn't  
answer your question properly. But it's interesting to note that yes  
it is possible to move the compressor, ( and then change it too I  
suppose), and have it still run. I would hypothesize that you can do  
the opposite and move the coils and have the unit still work.

I thought about at one point having the fridge for new construction,  
on a slab on grade house, have the point where the fridge sits  
uninsulated below to help keep the unit slightly cooler, or ensure the  
radiant floor doesn't go near it, or have it on a slightly less  
insulated exterior (like you said, north is best) wall too. All of  
those ideas crossed my mind.

I saw a cool fridge from my renewable energy friends and it was a  
chest style, and it actually lowered into the floor and sub slab. Sort  
of like a raising and lowering coffin. Quite spectacular, I wish I had  
seen one in real life! But the idea was to maximize the earth's  
ability to keep your food cold, by maximizing the efficiency of the  
fridge. Interesting stuff.

I've seen the propane ones, and there is a guy in Ontario who actually  
builds them from old electrical fridges. They work pretty well from  
the couple that I've seen, both for off grid straw bale homes. I've  
also seen the Sun Frost fridges and they are slightly better in  
efficiency, but now with others catching up to near the same levels,  
it can be hard to justify their expense. The Sun Frosts are typically  
quite plain looking with really nothing flashy about them, just  
insulation, so that can be a turnoff for many. The ones I've seen were  
borderline blah looking. The other point is they are built a lot  
better than the normal fridge which have a shorter and shorter life  
before replacement due to lack of quality. So as always, you get what  
you pay for.

Dig a root cellar, build a pantry, purchase a fridge only, and freezer  
only, make them manual defrost to get the heater coils out, and buy  
the smallest you can. My two cents worth in the whole thing.

Stephen

Stephen Collette BBEC, LEED AP
Principal
Your Healthy House - Indoor Environmental Testing & Building Consulting
www.yourhealthyhouse.ca
stephen at yourhealthyhouse.ca
705.652.5159

>
> From: "Reuben Deumling" <9watts at gmail.com>
> Re:  Refrigerators
> To: "Lawrence Lile" <LLile at projsolco.com>
>
>
> The whole insulation project took about a day. I'd like to figure  
> out a way
> to gently move the compressor from its location beneath the fridge  
> to a spot
> some inches further back, in anticipation of putting the fridge's  
> coils
> through the wall of my North-facing kitchen), and the next round of
> improvements. The other alternative would involve paying someone a  
> bunch of
> money to suck the refrigerant out, swap out the existing compressor  
> for a
> slightly more efficient one (Sanyo's 2001 compliant model), and  
> resolder the
> new one in place with a bit of extra tubing. I'm reluctant to do this
> because I have no way to ensure that the charge will be as well  
> matched to
> the loop length as it is now... Any thoughts?
>
> Reuben Deumling