how to convert a chest freezer to a fridge

My chest fridge conversion uses only 6 to 10 watts an hour, .2 kwh for a day. The photos are from the net. I am planning to improve performance with radiant barrier on the top.

MATERIALS
1) love temperature switch TS-13010 – $50 $65 Cole-Palmer
b) 3 to 6 foot round extension cord – $6 Harbor Freight
c) push on connectors – $1.70 Home Depot
d) micro screwdriver – $1 Dollar Store or Harbor Freight
e) 7 cubic foot Whirlpool chest freezer – $200 Costco
or check craigslist for used chest freezers in your area.

WIRING
2) Cut a 6 inch section out of the middle of the extension cord. There need to be black, white and green wires that can be separated and stripped;
b) Complete the wiring with the push on connectors. This wiring diagram shows the proper connections, but it is better to have a 3 way push on connection prior to 8, to only have one wire go into the 8 socket, and the third wire to 10. The white wire can be set up the same way, with a 3 way connection prior to 7. The ground wire is spliced together with a 2 way push on connection.

PROGRAMMING
3) This is the programming that I use to keep the temperature between 33 and 40 degrees. The switch turns off at 37 and the temperature continues down to 33 degrees, then back up to 40, where the switch turns back on.

CHEST FRIDGE
4) Plug the chest freezer into the temperature switch, and plug the temperature switch into the wall. Verify that the chest fridge conversion is working as expected. Make any adjustments in programming. Move food from the old refrigerator to the new chest fridge conversion.

RESULTS
The Whirlpool chest fridge uses only 6 to 10 watts an hour ($.60 a month) and the Frigidaire freezer ~22 watts an hour, compared to the old Frididaire fridge that averaged 100 watts an hour. This chest fridge runs 6 to 8 minutes, of 60 to 95 minute cycles, keeping an average temperature of 36.5 degrees (33 to 40). The combination of fridge conversion plus chest freezer uses less then 30% of the energy that the fridge used.

CHEST FREEZER COMPARISONS
1) Whirlpool 7cf eh070cfxcqoo Costco 200709 $220 with tax – yes
Uses 80 watts when running (107* energy meter); 3 amps; runs 8.5% of the time as a fridge conversion (and 10.1% of the time when used as a freezer); is quiet and cool; does not put out any significant heat. I wanted to get another one (to use as a freezer) but Costco doesn’t carry them any more.
2) Frigidaire 7.2cf ffco723dw19 Costco $250 with tax – no
Used 121 watts when running, 5 amps; ran 33% of the time, was loud and got extremely hot. I returned the freezer to Costco.
3) GE 7cf fcm7suww HomeDepot $218 with tax – no
The online rep said they do not stand by the freezer even if it fails the next day.
4) Beverage Air 2sf-13 Craigslist $120 – yes
Six year old 5.4 cf ice cream freezer, 148* watts. I am happy with this freezer as it is much better than the Frigidaire for the price. I got an (advanced multifunctional) energy meter for less than $20 from smartlaptopparts on ebay, which will help with determining energy use for the house. I am going to put radiant barrier foil on the top, below to block compressor heat, and then update the energy use.

pushing a chest freezer home on a dolly

I needed a way to transport a new freezer home from Costco, and decided to push it the 2 miles home on a dolly. Fortunately, Harbor Freight had a 1000 pound rated piano dolly for $17, plenty strong enough to hold the 100 pound freezer. I removed the slippery rug material, and replaced it with rubber from an old truck tire innertube, glued down with wood cement.

I was nervous about a wheel breaking and being stuck 1/2 way home with the freezer, but all went well. I wore my running togs, and a Costco guy helped me to move the freezer to my dolly, after having me sign a waiver to not sue them if the freezer fell off the dolly on the freeway. There was not much chance of that happening.

I waited for cars to pass, made my way out of the parking lot and 1/2 way across the street, when a harried driver came whizzing around the corner aiming right at me. I stopped in the middle of the street as the car whizzed past, then proceeded, the dolly wheels clunking hard on the other side at the edge of a driveway. I quickly learned to stop and lift a front wheel over the edge, which was easy to do, but the freezer had shifted part way off the dolly and was leaning to the side. It took a minute to get the freezer back on center and all was well from then on.

Half way home a nice black man waited for me to cross the street. I motioned him on, and he motioned me on, so I went ahead and waved thanks. I got a lot of curious looks and friendly smiles while pushing the freezer along. My goal was to get the freezer home the 2 miles in an hour, and I made it in 34 minutes. Now I am inspired to do this again, any place, any tim

strides per minute

The stride rate of top runners is similar to the rate of average runners, usually 170 to 200 spm when racing from 5k through half marathon. Most all of the difference is in the length of the stride, a major difference in the ground that is traveled by the runner with each stride.

Five time World Cross Country Champion and Olympic 5000m Champion John Ngugi had a nice long stride, and a relatively low stride rate for his speed, as can be seen in his amazing victory in the 1992 World XC Championships in Boston, over a rough 7.5 mile course in the snow. Ngugi was dominant in cross country, the first ever five time World Champion. Ngugi moved up during part 2 of 5 of this exciting race, recommended to see from the start.

Lasse Viren had a shorter stride and made up for this with a high rate through his races. He ran at 200 spm during his 1972 Olympic 10000m race, and up to 214 spm the last 800 meters. Viren again ran 200 spm in the 1976 Olympics 10000m.

After his 3:51.0 WR mile in Jamaica in 1975, Filbert Bayi continued around the track at 153 spm and 6:00 pace to warm down. Try this, it’s not easy, for me anyway! This demonstrates how the same runner has a different stride length and rate at different speeds.

Stride rate is easy to test with a stop watch, by counting the strides, and converting the result to 1 minute. For example, time from 0 up to 20, counting every third step, which is 60 strides total. The formula [ (60x60) / time ] shows the stride rate per minute.

The Korg ma20 metronome has a convenient tap function. By tapping the metronome every 3rd stride and multiplying by three, the spm is determined for any moment of a run.

Another way is to count the strides for 110 yards or 100 meters; or set the metronome for a rate, say 55 beeps (165 spm), and adjust this to match the rate you are running.

I have found that gradually lowering the rate for a given pace gives me more power in my stride. Similarly, it is fun to keep the cadence the same, and gradually go faster, which means the stride is getting longer for that rate.

running with a metronome

I’ve been running with my Korg ma30 metronome this past week and it’s great. The metronome helps me to run at a very even stride rate, pace and effort. I carry the metronome in my hand while I’m running. It is very light and easy to carry. I started at 144 spm (48 beeps) on Sep06.

This morning I ran 4x a quarter mile at free rate to see what my cadence would be, by split timing several sets of 60 strides (3 steps x 20). My average stride rate was 160.5, with an average stride length 25 percent longer than it was at 150.

September 21st
This week have been my fastest at 153 spm (51 beeps) for this year.

October 23rd
Fastest pace / longest stride length at 150 spm (50 beeps).
I am keeping a record of my longest stride averages at each rate, to focus on my stride length improvement.

October 29
Fastest pace / longest stride length at 147 spm (49 beeps).

November 09
Fastest pace / longest stride length at 144 spm (48 beeps).

household electricity

How much electricity is used by a fridge or tv? Refrigerators have high consumption, as they keep going on and off, on and off all day and all night. Heating and cooling has by far the highest energy use in a typical house.

All that is needed to determine the energy use is a timer with a second hand, a pen, paper, and basic calculations. First unplug every appliance in the house, easiest to do the first thing in the morning. Then turn on the appliances one at a time, and time or calculate one revolution of the wheel for each appliance at the meter. Wattage of each appliance is the result of [ (3600x7.2) / seconds = watts ]. The number 7.2 is not always the same and is usually listed on the meter.

One of my goals was to convert a chest freezer to a fridge, with a digital temperature controller. Doing this has reduced that use by more than 70 percent. I don’t use any air conditioning, and use a wood stove for heating in the winters. I am planning to use bubble wrap to insulate windows this winter, and radiant barrier to keep heat in the house, which should reduce the consumption of wood. Updates will be coming as I just got an energy meter from ebay.