When we upgraded our power system, we bought an old Viking electric chest freezer and changed out its thermostat with that of a refrigerator. It was our first free refrigeration and we were delighted. However, it was not that efficient and we found our batteries would often be fairly low, especially as the weather heated up.That problem is now solved. We just bought ourselves a Sundanzer Fridge. These are made specifically for an off-grid system, and you sure can tell the difference. Our batteries are full all the time - the fridge barely even makes a difference ( pulling the equivalent, all day and night, to a couple of hours of a light bulb).
It was more expensive than a regular type, but its efficiency will more than pay for itself - cheaper than having to buy the solar panels required to keep up that old Viking.
Chest freezer to fridge conversions for 100-200 Whr/day -
ReplyDeletehttp://openfarmtech.org/wiki/100_Whr_Per_Day_Refrigerator