We've been pickling a lot of our summer veggies to the point that we're running out of storage room. Now it would be great to make one of these cool room things in the backyard if it wasn't for the fact that we don't have the space for it. So I thought to use an old fridge as an insulated cupboard for outside. Probably have to use some extra insulation and provide some fresh air to make it work. Has anyone tried this? if so , how did it go cheers j-cornelissen
my father uses old fridges for storing tools in a shed, they stay quite cool.. though this isn't out in the open, there is no sunlight on the fridge
Fresh air is a problem - you need to break the seal around the door in a way that allows air to enter but doens't stop the door staying shut. Without enough fresh air they go really mouldy really quickly.
If your useing an old fridge for storeing jars of pickles you wont have mould trouble, only get that with damp produce like cabbages , i use an old fridge for storage they are great , their mouse proof , stay cool , dog proof (mine has blood and bone in it at the moment ) i store eggs in it until i have enough to incubate . Regards Rob
I was going to drill some holes for airflow, as I've experienced first hand what happens if you don't air a fridge properly (great if you're into microbiology, otherwise quite disgusting) Still reckon I'd give it some extra insulation or maybe dig it in or something
Don't know the details, but be careful about putting holes in a fridge. I've heard freon can have some nasty environmental effects.
I have a book about cellaring and I am pretty sure there is a design for using an old fridge in it somewhere, but it's out in the shed and I am spent for the day. So I'll have a look for it tomorrow for you. I can either give you the name of the book or see if I can relay the basic concepts. Stay tuned
The book is Root Cellaring: Natural cold storage of fruits & vegetables by Mike and Nancy Bubel. They actually don't say a lot about the fridge except that you must bury it if you are protecting against cold. Dig the hole a foot bigger than the fridge so you can back fill with gravel for drainage. When you have filled it the book then suggests that you cover it with hay or bags of leaves (I imagine full bales would be best). It says that you can store apples, potatoes, beets, carrots, turnips, celeriac, kohlrabi and rutabagas in a buried fridge. Hope that helps??
"protecting against cold" what about against the heat! Does the book explain.. do they bury the fridge on it's back so you can still open it?
There's that vid of Paul Wheaton's about the freezer converted to a dehydrator. It might help with designing a passive solar ventilation fridge conversion! https://forums.permaculture.org.au/showthread.php?7001
Unfortunately the book is North American in origin so it's mostly about cold protection. Yes ppp they bury the fridge on its back
A lot depends on where you live and your layout. If your in an area with low humidity ie where there are evaporative coolers on some of the houses (usually inland) the you could after responsibly degassing the fridge cut a hole in the back place some mesh over it to keep out crawlies and hang some hessian cloth over that with the bottom edge into a tray of water and another mesh covered hole in the top to allow flow through ventilation, add some black pipe on top of that and youve got a solar chimney although you want to keep the sun off the rest of the fridge. Presto Koolgardie safe. Have any shady trees in the back yard stick it under there and the insulation will tend to "flatten" out temp variations , low tech and easy. Or if youve got space under the house put the fridge under the eave and have the mesh covered hole facing back towards the cool space under the house or any variation in between . Cheers Tim
I imagine the most important thing would be to keep it shaded. If it's shaded it will minimise the direct solar gain, and so the insulation of the fridge doesn't have to work as hard. I have a mate who keeps one under the house to keep his beer in. Stays fairly cool! As for the freon issue...I may be wrong, but if the fridge is one of the older round shaped ones, they are more heavily insulated and rely less on the circulation of coolant, so if you drill the sides or the door it would be fine. However, I might be very wrong!