walk in freezer question

[matrixcs]

Has anyone here had experience with building a home walk in freezer? I was curious and my wife never is happy with our 2 freezers...

[Bmi48219]

Never built one but I spent a lot of time cleaning them in a butcher shop. Theirs had shelves with cooling coils that kept the whole room below freezing. So you probably don’t have to have coils in 100 % of perimeter walls.
One thing about a walk-in is you need floor to ceiling space to walk in so you’ll have chilled storage area you can’t use. Another thing is opening a walk-through door will allow lots of cold to escape. Unless you do a lot of freezing you may be better off with a couple uprights, or one large commercial upright with double doors.

[Huskerguy]

Some friends built a new house several years ago and one goal was a walk in freezer. I helped put material on the walls and seal it up. I believe the condenser is outside. They absolutely love it and would not go back to individual freezers. They can store a lot of stuff in there and do with 4 kids.

I think the best place to start is with the person who will be setting up your condenser unit. They will tell you about placement (this one was in the middle of the house so there were lots of options but plan this out) and how much space you think you will need. Then it becomes a matter of just building it. It has been so long I frankly don't even remember the sub material underneath the metal I was screwing on. We also put in shelving that was adjustable. This guy is one to save wherever possible so stuff like this must be pretty easy to locate.

[farmbif]

I had friend with seafood store and had my crab boat docked behind his house, we put one up at his house it was like 8x10'. insulation panels were like 4" thick which were sandwiched between galvanized metal. the key to the whole thing is he had refrigeration experts that worked for him for many years. we sealed the panels with caulking guns
it was kind of crude but it worked to keep, crab bait, cases of pigs feet frozen.

[trebor44]

Electric cost?

[36g]

Check with a local refrigeration company for a used commercial unit. They can be had reasonably and depending on size wanted they may be a series of insulated side, ceiling and floor panels that go together with a roof mounted cooling unit.

[tinsnips]

The units are not cheap right now ,just sold one Friday wow they have gone up. Freezer doors are expensive also.

[Silvercreek Farmer]

I’m currently fattening a beef calf and hoping to build a walk in cooler this fall using 2” thick foam insulation and a window unit rewired with a fridge thermostat to age my beef. Don’t need much refrigeration, just enough to level out the 45-25F ish days we get in January. Not quite what you were asking about, but along the same lines, so I’m also interested in what folks have to say…

[gunarea]

Hey Matrixcs
I have built several examples. A two stage entrance works the most efficiently. The whole structure is built using Aluma Shield or Kingspan panels. The 6" thick panels have an insulation R factor of 56. The material is not difficult to work with, but it is different. Coolers can be built with thinner material. The foam is closed cell urethane and the metal skin is stainless steel with baked enamel. 100% food grade silicone is used to caulk all joints. Refrigeration works best with external mechanics and blown in sub freezing air circulation. I have several structures here on my property. My experience is extensive with this material. Just ask.
Roy

[farmerjim]

I’m currently fattening a beef calf and hoping to build a walk in cooler this fall using 2” thick foam insulation and a window unit rewired with a fridge thermostat to age my beef. Don’t need much refrigeration, just enough to level out the 45-25F ish days we get in January. Not quite what you were asking about, but along the same lines, so I’m also interested in what folks have to say…

Get a coolBot to regulate your AC in your cool room.
I have a 8x4 walk in cooler for my vegetables. I cool it with a 11,000 btu AC. It can get the room down below freezing. The coolBot will make the AC continue to run by a heater element on the AC thermostat. It will also shut off the AC compressor if the coils start to freeze up.
It makes a good room to hang deer in for ageing.

[matrixcs]

Thank you to all who have replied. I greatly appreciate your replies and they will help me decide what to do when I purchase my new home in central Florida..

[gwpercle]

Check with restaurant supply business's ... many times they remove good units to install a larger one at a store , retaurant or other business . Usually they are made of put together panels to form a standard size 6x6 , 7x7 , 8x8 whatever size you want and an insulated concrete slab is best but they do have an insulated floor that can be installed over any sound sub-floor . The refrigeration / freezer unit can be located in several different areas to make it work in an existing structure ...
The Restaurant Supply business will sell you the used units at a good discount and any damaged insulated panels replaced before installation .
My business partener got a nice 6x6 for his camp when a store replaced it with a 6x12 ... he jumped in and got a good deal on the used 6x6 . You can have them set up as freezer or cooler simply by cahanging the refrigeration unit...the walk in box part is the same .
Gary

[cwtebay]

We built one into our first house. Used commercially available panels and door and installed the works inside of a 2x8 framed insulated shed. It worked great! Electric cost was ridiculous as compared to 2 large chest freezers.
It definitely helped with the resale value of the house also.
However, our old neighbour called a few months after we moved to tell us that the freezer had gone out and the homeowners lost everything in it. I decided to go with several freezers rather than a single walk in after that.

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[.429&H110]

The difference between a cooler and a freezer is the floor.
A freezer floor has to have a "cold break" so the floor doesn't frost heave.
A wooden deck just above grade would be fine to keep the floor panel dry.

If you run a freezer at cooler temps you will short cycle and lose oil return.
If you run a cooler at freezer temps it won't defrost.

A Russell 2000 has a reversing valve, defrosts by reversing the cycle, hot gas will clear the coil presto, blow the oil back, so they can be run as coolers. Has no 30 amp defrost circuit. Must be installed very clean.

There are several models of self contained that drop into a big hole in the ceiling, two blowers and a compressor in a steel box, really simple, but heavy. No refrigeration mechanics needed, just carpenters.

Freezer doors are expensive, hang two shower curtains inside, and you might not need the door heaters. Frozen freezer doors are easy to break impossible to repair.

We had fun in Fairbanks with outdoor freezer boxes. Milk coolers have electric heaters so they don't freeze. Freezers had serious door, threshold, seal heaters. The condenser was colder than freezer setpoint. The box would be 50F because of the fan motors and defrost heaters, but the condenser at -40F won't run. So leave the door open? Change the plugged up ORP outdoors at -40? Now that's fun. You can tell if something was built by Alaskans, because it works. Outside vendors, low bid, re-install it.

The R-4xx "interim" refrigerants will be banned 2030.
R-410a is going away, 134a soon, R-32 and 1234yf are flammable.
Global warming is a hoax.
R-22 is the perfect refrigerant, still produced in Mexico, China, and Saudi.
This hoax is all because DuPont's patent on 22 expired.
There is no ozone hole over Kennebunkport.
The cows don't need sunglasses, the UV didn't blind them.
There is no ozone above Antarctica when the sun doesn't shine all winter.
Algore has a house on Miami Beach, he's worried about sea level rise?
Stand by for Global Cooling and Climate Change.

[HWooldridge]

We built one into our first house. Used commercially available panels and door and installed the works inside of a 2x8 framed insulated shed. It worked great! Electric cost was ridiculous as compared to 2 large chest freezers.
It definitely helped with the resale value of the house also.
However, our old neighbour called a few months after we moved to tell us that the freezer had gone out and the homeowners lost everything in it. I decided to go with several freezers rather than a single walk in after that.

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That would be my concern about a really big freezer. We lost the plug on our largest chest freezer (a gecko got inside the box and shorted the circuit). I didn’t notice the breaker tripped until it started thawing - we lost about 300 lbs of fish and meat. Fortunately, we live in the country so I dumped it in the pasture and the buzzards had everything cleaned up in a few days. The freezer didn’t go out but it still failed for lack of juice.

[cwtebay]

That would be my concern about a really big freezer. We lost the plug on our largest chest freezer (a gecko got inside the box and shorted the circuit). I didn’t notice the breaker tripped until it started thawing - we lost about 300 lbs of fish and meat. Fortunately, we live in the country so I dumped it in the pasture and the buzzards had everything cleaned up in a few days. The freezer didn’t go out but it still failed for lack of juice.

Unfortunately, I'm sure most of us have had a freezer fail.
I have a business that depends on refrigeration for a significant portion of our income. Insurance will not cover more than $30, 000 per insured cooler or freezer (I'm sure YMMV depending on your insurance company) so I have a ridiculous number of coolers and freezers. Each one is now on both a generator back up and a cellular alarm if power fails or rising temperature. Those are WORTH!!!
I still have a walk in cooler for butchering and big game season, but it is short term use only.
I believe there's a proverb about eggs and baskets that applies here.

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[HWooldridge]

Unfortunately, I'm sure most of us have had a freezer fail.
I have a business that depends on refrigeration for a significant portion of our income. Insurance will not cover more than $30, 000 per insured cooler or freezer (I'm sure YMMV depending on your insurance company) so I have a ridiculous number of coolers and freezers. Each one is now on both a generator back up and a cellular alarm if power fails or rising temperature. Those are WORTH!!!
I still have a walk in cooler for butchering and big game season, but it is short term use only.
I believe there's a proverb about eggs and baskets that applies here.

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

We have four freezers but of course, the biggest one was chosen by Mr. Murphy…

[akajun]

Get a coolBot to regulate your AC in your cool room.
I have a 8x4 walk in cooler for my vegetables. I cool it with a 11,000 btu AC. It can get the room down below freezing. The coolBot will make the AC continue to run by a heater element on the AC thermostat. It will also shut off the AC compressor if the coils start to freeze up.
It makes a good room to hang deer in for ageing.

THey have plans for a walk in freezer on their site as well. THe only thing Id change is using a commercial spray foam instead of panels for speed, ease of construction and better R Value.

[Jim22]

I have worked on building a walk-in freezer. It was a commercially made prefab unit withsix inch thick walls and floor - insulated with fiberglass like your house. If I were doing one from scratch I would do the same - 2x studs, joists, and ceiling joists. 2x6es with R-21 insulation would be a starting point. If I lived in an area with high elecricity rates I would make the walls, etc thicker. I would make it smaller rather than larger. 6 mil vapor barries on the outside. Cover the interior with something easily cleaned. Outside with cheap OSB or plywood and paint it. As has been said consult your refrigeration contractor first.

Jim

[.429&H110]

Freezer fail?
One night the children working in Sam's Club hooked an evaporator with the forklift and tore it down. By the time I got there the noise was over. Silver the lines shut, recharge the other evaps, no harm done? Same store pushed a rack into the back wall of a freezer pushed the base out a foot. Children foamed the gaps, thought they were clever until the wall got frost under it and started lifting. They needed a new box anyway.
Long ago I made a rule: Never let the boss drive the forklift.

Another difference in boxes is food service, if you will be inspected there is a to-do list.
Make sure the freezer door can't lock behind you.