Wasting precious electricity on the frig when its freezing outside!

[Woodbridge 30-30]

I've often wondered why you couldn't duct in ice cold air to the fridge with a small fan and out again.

There is a guy on YouTube named thebossoftheswamp that has this type of a setup in his cabin. He did a tutorial about it in one of his older videos.

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[Springfield]

There are many ways ot heat and cool things without electricity, but they tend to be high maintenance as far as keeping an eye on them, and we have all become lazy and too reliant on the electricity. My favorite i read about years ago was a plant nursery that kept lots of rabbits in the greenhouse, as the rabbit ears produced a lot of heat, and it was cheaper to feed the rabbits than pay for the electricity. It was more difficult to adjust the heat, though.

[ascast]

Yes, it is done. Now days it is called "Economizer Cooling". Used in commercial applications, like convenience stores etc. Basically, a fan blows cold outside air in the cooler and the compressor stays off. Like Syracuse you could save money for more than 6 monthes of the year, but you still probably run the cooler some during the day.

[slim1836]

Around Thanksgiving 2016 I was living and working away from home in a small town near Lubbock when a strong Arctic front came through. I was in the Houston area at the time. When I returned I found that everything in the fridge had frozen. The soft drinks exploded and made a huge mess. Glad I wasn’t there trying to stay warm during that!

Now that I’m retired I’m going back to personal rule #1: If I have to wear shoes it’s too danged cold. Failed that this past week but got lucky. Only one pipe break and that was in the laundry room. Had to have a plumber fix it for $195 because I couldn’t buy $3 worth of copper fittings. The entire state is sold out of 1/2” and 3/4” copper everything.

And here I've got an ammo can of copper fittings. I would have been happy to have given you what you needed had I known and been closer. I don't get rid of anything.

I got lucky here, no broken pipes, yet.... Keeping my fingers crossed and saying a prayer at times. I feel for those less lucky than I. We are truly blessed.

Slim

[ascast]

do a search (google) on Economizer cooling, it is far more common than I remembered

[Lloyd Smale]

ive got 3 freezers plugged in. Two in the non insulated part of my pole barn and the other in an unheated enterance way. Some worry about them not holding up when run it sub freezing temps but one of mine is about 20 years old and one of the others is a good 10 years old and i never had a single issue with them even once. Now if you look where i live youll see that we are below 30 for probably a 1/3 of the year and 30 is a warm winters day in mid winter.

[dverna]

I need to unplug the freezer/fridge in the garage during the winter or I get a buildup of ice in the freezer when it goes into defrost cycle. The water winds up freezing where it exists the freezer and blocks off the flow.

[JoeJames]

Memorable cold spell here in the Arkansas: Last Thursday, after doing some snow clearing, I thought I'd have me a can of Guinness from the frig in my open garage. New one for me. The can of Guinness was frozen solid.

Broke off a piece from some firestarter, lit it, and put it in a cast iron melting pot, then set the can on it for a spell. Finally it melted enough to drink it. Still slushy, but drinkable. Never heard before of heating up a can of Guinness. Even then I had one of those ice cream moments when the semi-frozen beer hit the back of my throat.

[MaryB]

Memorable cold spell here in the Arkansas: Last Thursday, after doing some snow clearing, I thought I'd have me a can of Guinness from the frig in my open garage. New one for me. The can of Guinness was frozen solid.

Broke off a piece from some firestarter, lit it, and put it in a cast iron melting pot, then set the can on it for a spell. Finally it melted enough to drink it. Still slushy, but drinkable. Never heard before of heating up a can of Guinness. Even then I had one of those ice cream moments when the semi-frozen beer hit the back of my throat.

Good way to get buzzed fast, the alcohol will melt out first so that slush is probably 30% alcohol LOL Some high ABV beers are made by freezing and draining off the alcohol. Freeze distilling and you need a distilling license to do it on purpose. How apple jack was made in the old days, freeze, invert jug over another container and let the alcohol drain. Temps must be below freezing for this to work.

[Lloyd Smale]

I need to unplug the freezer/fridge in the garage during the winter or I get a buildup of ice in the freezer when it goes into defrost cycle. The water winds up freezing where it exists the freezer and blocks off the flow.

first thing to do is get rid of that self defrosting furnace. They use ALOT more power. Especially if there in a warm spot. Plus they dry out food. I know its about impossible to find a fridge that isnt but i wouldnt buy a self defrosting freezer if it was half the price.

[Butzbach]

NO! Ya still need to boil the water first......it takes two minutes at a rolling boil to kill bacteria.

Not really. Preppers know that bacteria dies at 180 degrees F. In order to conserve fuel in a SHTF scenario you can cut the heat when the rolling boil starts as 180 degrees was passed on the way there to 212.

[Butzbach]

There are many ways ot heat and cool things without electricity, but they tend to be high maintenance as far as keeping an eye on them, and we have all become lazy and too reliant on the electricity. My favorite i read about years ago was a plant nursery that kept lots of rabbits in the greenhouse, as the rabbit ears produced a lot of heat, and it was cheaper to feed the rabbits than pay for the electricity. It was more difficult to adjust the heat, though.

So, they didn't have a .22?

[JSnover]

It's a lot simpler just to keep the refrigerator full; they're more efficient that way. I've lived all over the east coast and the midwest and I only imagine this idea being worthwhile if it was cold for the majority of the year.