Freezers in power cuts

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diamond lil
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Freezers in power cuts

Post by diamond lil »

I'm not happy :evil: The power has been going off and on since Saturday, and when it goes back on, the digital readout on the fridge freezer door is showing an alarmingly fast rise in temp. I turned it lower to cover possible cuts, so it was sitting at -25. Power went off at 11am today, then a couple of hours later when it went back on the readout said it was -6 :shock: Is this a true reading or is it a very sensitive sensor? has anybody else found this with American f/freezers? I think we need to get a genny at this rate.
Hamradioop
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Re: Freezers in power cuts

Post by Hamradioop »

diamond lil wrote:I'm not happy :evil: The power has been going off and on since Saturday, and when it goes back on, the digital readout on the fridge freezer door is showing an alarmingly fast rise in temp. I turned it lower to cover possible cuts, so it was sitting at -25. Power went off at 11am today, then a couple of hours later when it went back on the readout said it was -6 :shock: Is this a true reading or is it a very sensitive sensor? has anybody else found this with American f/freezers? I think we need to get a genny at this rate.
Is it an upright or a chest freezer? A chest freezer will always remain colder longer as the cold air is retain in the chest whereas with an upright the cold air effectively falls out. see below
Fridge freezer

Running a fridge or fridge/freezer on solar power

Appliances in our test Whirlpool American fridge/freezer v Steca PF166
Run it on rating 5/5
Skill level Beginner
Comment Well worth it!

If you're already thinking that's not a fair comparison you're probably right but it's what we have in our house and therefore easier for me to measure. Besides which this is more about the feasibility rather than a side by side appliance review/comparison. Also one of the main disadvantages of upright fridge/freezers is all the cold air "falls out" when you open the door (open the door with nothing on your feet) The Steca PF166 is a chest fridge/freezer so it doesn't suffer from this problem. And neither would a mains powered fridge freezer for that matter.

The Whirlpool consumed 840 Watt hours over a 24 hour period. Although that's quite efficient for mains appliance that's a lot of power that would need to be generated by a solar panel and stored in a battery.
http://www.mysolarshop.co.uk/Fridge-freezer-i-293.html
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diamond lil
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Re: Freezers in power cuts

Post by diamond lil »

It's a huge upright side-by-side bloody american style one that we bought exactly a WEEK before I spotted the solar powered ones :evil:
Hamradioop
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Re: Freezers in power cuts

Post by Hamradioop »

diamond lil wrote:It's a huge upright side-by-side bloody american style one that we bought exactly a WEEK before I spotted the solar powered ones :evil:
sounds just the sought of thing that happens to me. :D
“A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves.” ― Edward R. Murrow
"Remember Politicians are like babies diapers they both need changing often for the very same reason" - Mark Twain
If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal.
Yorkshire Andy
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Re: Freezers in power cuts

Post by Yorkshire Andy »

Only thing you can do in the short term is as soon as the power comes on bang it on fast freeze.. once it reached the usual temperature stick several 2l bottles of water in there (fill with about 1.5l to allow for expansion) at the bottom of the freezer leave it on fast freeze ... once frozen stuff them at the top ........

(assuming you have some room now you have taken the turkey out :lol: )


if the power goes off let the kitchen get cold open the windows and door drop the ambient temperature of the room the freezer is in and it will stay cold longer...

if you have any blankets spare wrap the freezer in them...


the frozen water bottles will thaw first and work like an ice pack in a cool bag...



making the kitchen cooler and adding insulation to the freezer should make the temperature stay stable for longer :tinfoil

ultimately a generator will be a big help but ensure its big enough and stable freezer / fridge units need an initial start up kick to get them running so always over rate your gen set if the unit is plated at 800w dont get a 1kw gen go for a 2kw for example ideally since yours is fancy electronic controlled unit... a gen with a AVR (auto volt regulator) is a must to protect the circuit boards... emergency fix to that would be a 40 w or 60w light bulb in a holder wired into the gen at the same time to absorb/ reduce any spikes

http://www.endtimesreport.com/Generators.html
If your roughing it, Your doing it wrong ;)

Lack of planning on your part doesn't make it an emergency on mine
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diamond lil
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Re: Freezers in power cuts

Post by diamond lil »

Lot to think on there, thank you. Price of running the bloody thing I'd probly be better off buying a solar freezer lol.
My kitchen never gets really warm, faces north and we're high up. And there's no room inside it for water because I bought a lamb at Perth market and its in there in poly bags.
O bugger :mrgreen: I need a plan B.
Yorkshire Andy
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Re: Freezers in power cuts

Post by Yorkshire Andy »

you dont need to run a gen set all the time if you slap it on fast freeze you'd probably maintain a decent temperature for a 15- 20 min run every few hours... (but start the generator first then apply load once its warmed up)

id love something like this

http://www.honda.co.uk/energy/generators/EU20I/

after killing my lidl gen set i was looking at the above but given its christmas and money is err tight.... and i didn't want to be without one....

i got one of these second hand last week for £100 from a friend who had upgraded to a massive 7kva diesel genny

i felt so guilty of taking it off him for that price i gave him another £30 to get himself a bottle of his favourite whisky

http://www.justgenerators.co.uk/pages/PramacE3200.htm

knew it had been looked after and well serviced tried it on the chest freezer today and it struck up 3 double florescent lights without drama as i wired it into the outhouse distribution board having first isolated it from the grid (took the supply from the house out the consumer unit totally ) it run the entire outhouse... lights CCTV / alarm system fridge freezer. the lot...
If your roughing it, Your doing it wrong ;)

Lack of planning on your part doesn't make it an emergency on mine
grenfell
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Re: Freezers in power cuts

Post by grenfell »

Yorkshire Andy wrote:
if you have any blankets spare wrap the freezer in them...


the frozen water bottles will thaw first and work like an ice pack in a cool bag...



making the kitchen cooler and adding insulation to the freezer should make the temperature stay stable for longer :tinfoil
Brings back memories. Power cuts were , or at least they seemed to be ,more common in the 70's and I can remember my parents covering the freezer with blankets and quilts. They also tried to keep the freezer as full as possible too.
Another option albeit one of last resort is to eat the food if the power is going to be out for a great length of time. Meat once thawed will go off but cook it and it will last a few days longer . Granted it will be unlikely that you would be able to eat the entire contents but better than it all going to waste. I also remember the power cuts affecting our local shops. My father at the time worked for the council and would come home with defrosting food that was sent for disposal by the shops. For the next couple of days we would have fish fingers , chips and Black Forest gateaux for almost every meal.
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diamond lil
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Re: Freezers in power cuts

Post by diamond lil »

But you cant wrap a 6ft x 4ft f/f in blankets easily :mrgreen: yes I have a routine in long power cuts, defrosting and cooking etc.
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Devonian
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Re: Freezers in power cuts

Post by Devonian »

If you have any empty space in the freezer fill it up with balls of scrunched up newspaper, and when the power goes off, NEVER open the freezer door unless you really have to!