We converted a freezer to be used as a fridge for our off grid solar tiny house in order to reduce our overall power needs.

This is a very simple conversion really with a digital thermostat controller. This is a digital thermostat with a built in on/off switch which controls how often the compressor is running.

You can buy one here: https://amzn.to/2JszuuI

I have done extensive research to find the perfect thermostat at the best price. You will often find them at $60 or more for a freezer/fridge conversion. I found mine for under $30.

A freezer makes a better solar powered fridge because a freezer is more insulated than a fridge in the first place, making them more energy efficient as a fridge.

A chest freezer is even better because cold air is heavier than warm so the cold air falls down. When you open a front door fridge, the cold air falls out onto the floor at your feet. But when you open a top door fridge, the cold stays in place inside. This is why you see the open top freezers in the grocery store yet the food stays frozen.

Combined, these points make a freezer converted into a solar powered refrigerator even more efficient.

Many people see power usage under 1 KW per 24 hour period compared to 2.4 to 8 Kw per day with normal refrigerators.

We removed the old fridge/freezer combo from our tiny house to make space for the new solar powered fridge. Then we cleaned up the area left behind. This also opened up a window which we were never able to use before because the old fridge was very tall and covered it up.

Now we have more light in our tiny house as well as a more energy efficient fridge.

Next I simply plugged the new thermostat control into the wall and set the program. I set the low temperature cut off at 33 degrees F and the high temperature at 37 degrees F. I may change this later as needed.

There is also a warm temperature alarm on this device which as really good to have. I set the warm temperature alarm to 40 degrees F. If the fridge compressor ever fails, the alarm will sound, letting us know before our food goes bad on us. That is a nice bonus feature.

I put the temperature sensor into the new fridge and then plugged the converted refrigerator into the thermostat power outlet and let it run. The new converted solar powered fridge turned on immediately and started to cool the contents.

At 33 degrees F the unit turned off and then it turned back on again at 37. It is working perfectly well.

This little chest freezer converted into a solar powered fridge takes all the food our huge fridge took. I am surprised.

It does take some adjusting to get used to packing it all in there though since everything is stacked from the bottom up.

We are going to be making follow up videos in the coming days to see how much energy we save using this device. I will put a meter on the output as well to see how much energy it uses per day so stay tuned for updates.

Read the full article here: http://www.thedoityourselfworld.com/articles/article.php?id=11574


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Troy
http://www.thedoityourselfworld.com
http://www.theoffgridproject.com

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