Eliminating the fridge

[LeanBurn]

In Seinfeld Scripts - The Soup Kramer tries to get rid of his fridge. It all falls apart when he has company that drops by and he hopes to feed them.

[elhigh]

Those Peltier coolers are woefully inefficient as straight coolers. Using their waste heat for water heating (or tempering a pre-heater tank) is one of the few things that would make one worthwhile.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by elhigh

Those Peltier coolers are woefully inefficient as straight coolers. Using their waste heat for water heating (or tempering a pre-heater tank) is one of the few things that would make one worthwhile.

Co-generation is a key to increase the overall energy-efficiency in a household. If I didn't live in an apartment, I'd probably try it.

[ThePrudentNinja]

I've lived without using a fridge for about a year now. Not difficult. Just don't buy food that needs refrigeration. Cook in small enough batches so there is no leftovers. Use cheap fuel sources for cooking if you plan to can food yourself. Be careful though to follow the latest guidelines on canning/drying/curing/etc or you may end up dead.

In the summer time I do use an ice cooler sometimes to keep the odd treat cold or keep some drinks cold. I can fill the chest for a couple of dollars and it lasts a week. However from a simple cost point of view, it's cheaper for me to use a fridge. Would only cost me about $5 a month to run a fridge. I just don't use a fridge enough to warrant leaving it running all the time (yes I do have a fridge, just don't use it). In the winter I just leave what I want to keep cold outside or in a closet that is against an exterior wall. Typically all I ever need to keep cool is the occasional "drink".

If you want a really efficient fridge and don't mind a little work, here's what you do. Get a cheapo working chest freezer. Salvage the guts of it. Build a custom "box" to replace the crappy box that came with it. Think 4in or so of foam. Mate the guts to the new box and use a thermostatically controlled outlet that has a remote sensor to control the guts. If you are feeling brave, you could probably do it another way. Never tried it but have heard plenty of people doing similar. Most times though they just get a chest freezer, add extra insulation, and put it on a thermostatically controlled outlet.

[order99]

Stovie, i'm a little confused (and intrigued) by this 'friction heater' and 'gravity motor' arrangement you speak of...are claiming perpetual energy, or do you mean that you've found a way to harness energy that would normally be wasted? If you're still in the experimental stages-or if you think further discussion would end in Thread derail-fell free to PM....

You mention that your main source of power is going to be wood-if that's the case I recommend doing lots of dehydration and smoking, My Grandparents were Great Depression babies and didn't have electricity until the late 1950's, and canning/pickling (on a wood stove) salt-curing, and dehydrating (via the low-tech option of a tin roof and protective cheesecloth) were the order of the day. For refrigeration they stuck eggs, wrapped butter, fresh meats and veggies in moisture-resistant wax paper or oilskin, placed in boxes and suspended the boxes in the well about 5 feet above the water-ice was expensive! They didn't have a freezer until about 1965 or so...since they lived to the age of 90 (Granddad) and 91 (Grandma) respectively, I doubt their diet was terribly unhealthy for them...

I've been doing a little room-temp pickling recently-nothing fancy, just a 50/50 mix of cider vinegar and water with a half-tablespoon of salt, no canning or vacuum packing or canning...i'm keeping most of them in my tiny RV fridge but I have one jar as a 'control' sitting in my cupboard at 79-85 F for two months now, and so far the acidity alone has kept them fresh-I have of course made sure that the veggies are fully covered by the solution at all times. Haven't had the guts to try fermented (brining) pickles yet though...

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Seems like recovering some heat from the wood stove would be the most effective method to get water heating and to keep a small fridge off the grid for those items that do require some refrigeration while still relying on wood for most of your energy needs. Just have to figure out how you would hook the serpentines up.

[Longsnowsm]

Stovie, I like your thinking here... Root cellar is your friend for preserving things longer term such as root veggies, some fruits, cabbages etc. Many of the things we have in a fridge really could probably be eliminated. Today for convenience sake I still have a fridge, but I decided to get rid of the electricity sucking monster I had and I bought a chest freezer and put a Johnson controls temperature control on it. If you look on YouTube for the Keg-er-ator for converting a fridge for keeping beer cold you will see how it works.

It dropped my power consumption by a large amount and has worked out OK for us. It is more difficult to organize things and when you want something your having to move stuff around, but the energy savings is well worth it. Our goal is to move completely to renewables for our home power and we keep plugging away at it one thing at a time either by replacing things with the most energy efficient electronics possible or asking ourselves if we really need it at all. In the case of the fridge if you dehydrate, smoke, and keep things cool in a basement or root cellar you can probably find you don't really need a fridge... For canning alternatives instead of using fuel you can do fermentation for preservation. I do my kraut and my pickles this way, and you can do a lot of things this way. No cooking, heating, or killing your food, and it is better for you in the process... So lots of ways to do things that we have just forgotten today!