Can I use a fridge as a freezer?
I have a two door fridge with a top freezer that I would like to use in the basement, but crank the fridge part down to use as a freezer, and turn up the freezer to use as a fridge. Do you see any problems with this?
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The freezer compartment gets the cold feed first, then the fridge. There's no good way to reverse the two (unless you're a refrigeration-engineer and happy to drain it, hack the plumbing and re-fill, but then you wouldn't be asking?)
You might try lining the freezer compartment with expanded-polystyrene foam sealed in plastic bags, but that's my best suggestion.
L
You might try lining the freezer compartment with expanded-polystyrene foam sealed in plastic bags, but that's my best suggestion.
L
Dec 7, 2009. 2:24 PMorksecurity
says:
As was said: Inverting it isn't possible.
You could use the whole thing as a freezer -- but using an old fridge as a freezer is MASSIVELY energy-inefficient., enough so that costs of running it may quickly exceed costs of replacing it with a proper chest freezer.
You could use the whole thing as a freezer -- but using an old fridge as a freezer is MASSIVELY energy-inefficient., enough so that costs of running it may quickly exceed costs of replacing it with a proper chest freezer.
No. the Refrigerator/freezer isn't designed to have it's functions swapped. In fact, as I recall, a lot of refrigerators use at least some of the freezer air to cool the frig side.
Kind of, I have a cold house as it is, and if I have the fridge turned up high it tends to freeze everything in a bit, it's not properly frozen and it wouldn't substitute a freezer but you could fill a chunk of the fridge with polystyrene, lowering the amount of space the fridge is cooling but the thermostat may stop it from getting too cold...
Dec 7, 2009. 6:21 AMrjlynn (author)
says:
The fridge will be in an unheated basement and I've thought about gluing ridged foam insulation on the sides and door. I could also prefreeze items before storing.
Could I swap the thermostats to get the fridge colder?
Could I swap the thermostats to get the fridge colder?
You probably could set the thermostat lower somehow but the components of the fridge might not be up to the job, there's only so much heat it can move, at best it'd be a bit hard on the motor, at worst the whole thing would be totally unreliable...
You can try, but I don't think it will work. The freezer compartment has many more cooling coils than the refrigerator part, so I don't think the refrigerator part can get very cold. Also the motor will run constantly and may burn out trying to get it to lots below freezing.
I don't think there is much problem running the freezer warmer, provided the thermostat control can be set above freezing.
I don't think there is much problem running the freezer warmer, provided the thermostat control can be set above freezing.
Dec 7, 2009. 6:28 AMrjlynn (author)
says:
The fewer coils in the fridge does seem to be the limiting factor. I wouldn't use it if it was inefficient.
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