Chest Refrigerator

[MountainDon]

You're on the money with that!     That's much better than previously thought.

I thought the batteries were likely introducing an unknown variable. You proved that to be true.

[speedfunk]

Whit,

thanks for that link about the passive spring /well cooler.  I allready had the same design in my head, but it's great to see it on paper so I can show deb   She is sometimes a bit skeptical of some of my idea's.  In the article it mentioned he used a old worn out freezer so that his wife approved. 

  I like his ending statement.

                       "why would you
want to keep throwing your hard
earned money away for electricity,
kerosene, or any other fuel when you
can refrigerate for free"

[pagan]

Don,

I'm happier with these numbers, but it's still not what I was expecting, given Sundanzer's literature. When we bought it we had plans for converting it into a chest freezer when we get another fridge. We were planning on a Sunfrost but I've been reading some reviews that were not good, so now we're thinking about getting the most efficient fridge like Whirlpool, Frigidaire, etc. and then get extra panels with the money we save on the fridge. We're building a small addition this summer and planning to move the Sundanzer there, although it'll be conditioned space this will put the fridge about twenty feet away from the wood stove and this should make the fridge run less frequently.

[MountainDon]

Yes, your figures are still much worse than the claims made by Sundanzer.

204 watt hours a day x 365 = 74460 watt hours a year or 75 KwH a year. Most refrigerators around that size (5.8 cu ft) are rated by Energy Star to consume 325 KwH, more or less. So Sundanzer looks great from that perspective.

A Sunfrost RF-12 is Energy Star rated at 171 KwH a year. That's a fridge that's about twice as big as the Sundanzer, so it's rating is about equivalent to your Sundanzer on a size corrected basis. But I have no idea how the gov figures compare to real life. I'd meter my home fridge to see how it compares but it's just old enough to not be on the Energy Star list. The Sunfrost seems to be about $2300 plus shipping which will be another $500-600. I have also read mixed reviews from owner/users of the Sunfrost. Some of what I read gave me great pause about spending $3K on one.

I do think the idea of using a "regular" refrigerator model, one with the highest available efficiency, and putting money into more panels and batteries has merit.

The Whirlpool Model #: W5TXEWFWQ, 12.6 cu ft fridge/freezer has a rating of 354 KwH a year for a purchase price of $549 at my local Lowe's.

The savings would go a long ways towards panels and batteries.

I had thought of doing this very thing when planning the cabin, but a very good deal on a "blemished" Servel came along and we chose that. It still bothers me a little to be relying on propane but it made economic sense. However if I was doping tjis over again and for a full time residence, not seasonal use I'd give serious thought to what you outlined.

Three years or more ago when the idea for our cabin was taking shape I talked to Tom at TheSolar.Biz for about an hour. Even though his family have had a couple of Sunfrosts for years, he thought that in many cases a few more panels and batteries along with an Energy Star fridge from Sears (his words) was a better deal.


You probably know, but in case you or someone else does not, you can D/L info on all the Energy Star models at...

http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=find_a_product.showProductGroup&pgw_code=RF

[pagan]

Don,

The Sundanzer performs far better than most fridges on the market, but it doesn't have a freezer either. When we were first designing and building our system I was leaning towards buying an Energy Star fridge and having extra panels, but got talked out of it by the solar dealer. I was also going to go with a totally DC system with a small pure sine wave inverter for electronics. Also got talked out of that but I was proved correct. My thought was we'd be running an inverter to have one or two lights on, and that's precisely what happens. Our inverter chews up 20 watts per hour while running a 13 watt CF. Not too efficient. Live and learn, I guess. Since I have a system in place I can put the $2,000 or so I save NOT buying a Sunfrost into panels and have plenty of power to run an Energy Star rated fridge.