Anyone ever convert a typical fridge into a freezer?

[Richard T]

The reason combination freezer/refrigerators can use frost-free freezer compartments; is that they are designed to only keep food down to between 0 and around 25 degrees F. That's so you ca take a roast or frozen poultry out of the freezer and be able in a hour or two of defrosting on the kitchen sink; and be able to cut it up to cook the meat. Meat in a frost-freezer should only be kept about a month before using.

But if you want to store meat for longer periods; from 2-6 months you want a dedicated long term freezer; in conjunction with a frost-free one. The best are; imho; chest freezers with large enough compressor to kept the food well below 0 degrees at all times -10F to -20F for the best long term storage.

So your DIY freezer would probably be OK for short term storage; a month or less. And instead of filling up the un-used space with foam insulation; fill it up with gallon milk jugs of drinking water; once they are frozen; they are a great "cold-sink" to store the cold when you need to open the door.

Also; to stop or slow down freezer-burn; caused by ice crystals in the meat; which is made worse when you take un-frozen meat and put it into a below zero long-term chest freezer; the meat freezes too fast.

It's better to put it first in a frost-free freezer for a few days; so it can slowly cool down; then put it in your chest freezer.

The same for meat taken out of a deep storage -10f to -20F; it should be gradually unthawed; first in the frost-free freezer; then in the refrigerator section; a day or two in each one.

Thanks again, I had no idea what a frost-free freezer was in comparison to a deep freeze. I basically thought all freezers were about the same. I will look for a true, deep freezer for long term. In the meantime, I will prepare for any food supply problems with more dry and canned goods. I feel lucky to have picked up a generator recently, as they like freezers are just about sold out everywhere.

 

[Sophrosyne]

I wouldn't overlook frost free in a freezer as there are frost free deep freeze freezers but as far as I know they are uprights only. Even a deep freeze freezer needs defrosting and either you buy one that does it for you (frost free) or you have to take everything out and defrost it manually or the ice will build up and fill your freezer up to the point airflow is totally impeded and the food nearest the coils will keep frozen while the food farthest may not be anywhere near as cold possibly even thaw at times during compressor cycling (cooling/freeze cycles). The main problem I think with having a frost free anything is running them on a generator a freezer with no defrost cycle can easily be just plugged in a few times a day and run off a generator to keep food good as long as you keep it closed while I'm not sure if the defrost cycle which runs a heater followed by a cooling cycle to restore the temperatures to normal operation happens always the same. You may need to have the generator on constantly waiting for the heater and compressor cycles waiting for defrost and refreeze cycles before unplugging it again.
I once considered a generator until we had an ice store and a year after that the power around here was so much more reliable that it wasn't needed. I went from having 8-10 hours of outage a year or more to less than an hour outage a year in total nothing that required a generator as I can do without power for a few hours a few times a year to save hundreds of dollars plus the time and cost to maintain a generator for emergency use.

 

[paul1149]

I once considered a generator until we had an ice store and a year after that the power around here was so much more reliable that it wasn't needed. I went from having 8-10 hours of outage a year or more to less than an hour outage a year in total nothing that required a generator as I can do without power for a few hours a few times a year to save hundreds of dollars plus the time and cost to maintain a generator for emergency use.

That's exactly what happened here. We would lose power at the slightest storm. We were on the verge of buying a generator, but then I felt a conviction that it wouldn't be necessary. Thereafter something changed. I conjecture that they switched the direction we got our power from. For the next five years would have a few few-second outages, if that, per year. The only exception was the macroburst that ravaged the mid-Atlantic states a couple of years ago, which ripped the wires off our house for a few days. In that case my friend's son brought his 5000W generator over. I'm currently thinking of an inverter to run off the car, which produces a purer sine wave current.

 

[Sophrosyne]

Most inverters aren't pure sine wave but it depends on what you want to power with them. The big problem with running inverters off of cars is that a 120v device that takes 3A can take 30-40A+ from your 12v car battery giving you maybe an hour or two before the battery is dead. You are better off not powering things off an inverter if you can find them that operate on 12VDC or less off a car battery. You can buy inverter generators the best are made by Honda and Yamaha and are a lot quieter and more fuel efficient that the larger cheap generators. They typically come in 1000-3000 watt varieties and some models can be ganged together in parallel with a cable setup to double power output to run things like AC and Freezers.

 

[paul1149]

Yes, the pure sine inverters cost more, but I think are worth it. I was thinking of direct hookup to the car battery, then running the car's engine occasionally.

 

[Sophrosyne]

Yes, the pure sine inverters cost more, but I think are worth it. I was thinking of direct hookup to the car battery, then running the car's engine occasionally.

What are you going to run off the inverter?

 

[paul1149]

Electronics, refrigerator, lights, etc. The water pump is 220V, however, so that's out.

 

[Sophrosyne]

Electronics, refrigerator, lights, etc. The water pump is 220V, however, so that's out.

Not going to be able to run any decent size fridge off a car battery inverter and a water pump also may have a starting load that can be high as for electronics I purposely bought a blu-ray player that has a 12v power supply and also a 24 inch tv that is 12v native.

 

[ewq1938]

Buy canned meat if you can't get a freezer. I filled my upright freezer full plus bought a ton of canned meat. I bought 150 pounds of rice today, and already had 100 pounds from the last couple weeks. I like to be over prepared plus I have family that do not prep so I am prepping for them just in case.