Refrigerator for off-grid cabin

[Jack Rabbit Off Grid]

Yep

LG 20 cu. ft. refrigerator - LTCS20020W

Might be something to consider to keep the beer cold

I was just going to recommend this model. I own one and love it. Using only between 50 and a 100 Watts most the time. I say that because it does defrost every 24 hours and takes about 180w for an hour or so.

 

[Yurtdweller]

I'm currently using a 12v 'car' fridge. You could wire two in series to draw 24v. Mine has been running almost constantly for over two years. It's an Ausranviik. Mine is quite small. Less than 2cuft. I know they make them bigger. It's shaped like a cooler, so, the top door, and cold air does not escape. It has kept temperature even when my yurt hits 115°f repeatedly on hot sunny days and uses very little juice. I used it when I had only 400w pv and 100ah battery.

 

[ericfx1984]

LG 20 cu. ft. refrigerator - LTCS20020W

If i am understanding your video correctly it uses around 100ah in 24 hours? around around 1.4 khw per day? around 1.12 if you allow for the inverter?

 

[ericfx1984]

LG 20 cu. ft. refrigerator - LTCS20020W

Might be something to consider to keep the beer cold

can you disable the auto-defrost?

 

[mulefool]

Our off-grid cabin has had solar since 2017. Next spring I'm upgrading from 310Ah @ 24V AGM to 230Ah @ 24V LFP. Our original energy budget has proven to be very conservative, as I believe we almost never consume more than about 100Ah. The exception is hunting season, when a crowd of guys who are definitely not conserving energy crowd into the place for 4 days or so, and I don't think any size battery would be big enough for them. Good thing we have a generator.

We've had a propane refrigerator in the cabin since it was built in the 1970's. The current version (probably about 20 years old) has it's door seals failing, and we are getting tired of its inefficiency.

It appears that with the new battery we may be able to transition to an electric fridge. I'd probably prefer a 24VDC model, but if we need to leave the inverter on all the time I would just have to add in the tare losses in the inverter.

I've done some searches here looking for energy efficient refrigerators, but most seem to be in discussions about RVs or boats and so may be smaller or meant to meet requirements I don't have. We are hoping to find something over 10 cu ft (15 cu ft would be ideal), but I don't know exactly where to look. I know inverter refrigerators are much more efficient, but as far as I can tell they are mostly sold in Europe and Asia, but not here in the U.S. for some reason.

Anyone have some recommendations?

Did you ever find a refrigerator? I am selling a used Sunfrost 24volt 16 cubic foot one and live near Durango.

 

[Horsefly]

Did you ever find a refrigerator? I am selling a used Sunfrost 24volt 16 cubic foot one and live near Durango.

Well, we found what we think we like, but haven't bought anything yet. I'll PM you.

 

[BeerMeister]

LG 20 cu. ft. refrigerator - LTCS20020W

Might be something to consider to keep the beer cold

Good idea! Just got a new LG fridge last year (When our 2005 GE clunker's compressor finally died) and it uses only 198 watts!
(Cubic feet and design are similar -if not the same- as example in video.)

 

[Xhumeka]

Honestly, if you have a kill-a-watt meter, I'd be really interested in hearing how it actually performs. Rather than going through the hassle of replacing an RV fridge, I've been contemplating just getting one in the container and moving the RV fridge contents into it when we're not there. Even just 8-10 hours on the absorption fridge during solar gobbles >2X more than that fridge uses (by the numbers anyway).

Thanks again for your help in another thread - I used the USA Home Depot website like you suggested and it allowed a lot better searching functionality than our Canadian website for some reason. Once I found the model I liked on the USA site, I found a dealer locally that had it.

I ended up going with a 14 cf Frigidaire that consumes (by specs) 332 kWh/year. We've only had it a couple of days, but according to my consumption meter it uses between 60 and 80 watts when running. When compressor kicks in it stays at 80 watts for a couple of minutes then settles down to about 60 watts until it turns off. When the compressor is not running, it consumes practically 0 watts.

When the auto-defrost kicks in, it consumes 175 watts and runs for about 20 minutes.

Here is what the consumption pattern looks like at night when it's the only thing turning on/off:

The two larger peaks bookcasing the graph is when I went to sleep/woke up, so once I turned off the lights etc the fridge, starlink, and UV light were the only things running. The fridge is the only intermittent consumption device, so you can clearly see where it comes on/off. Seems to cycle just over once an hour (9 times in a 7.5 hour period).

Here are the specs for my particular unit:

 

[sunshine_eggo]

Thanks again for your help in another thread - I used the USA Home Depot website like you suggested and it allowed a lot better searching functionality than our Canadian website for some reason. Once I found the model I liked on the USA site, I found a dealer locally that had it.

I ended up going with a 14 cf Frigidaire that consumes (by specs) 332 kWh/year. We've only had it a couple of days, but according to my consumption meter it uses between 60 and 80 watts when running. When compressor kicks in it stays at 80 watts for a couple of minutes then settles down to about 60 watts until it turns off. When the compressor is not running, it consumes 0 watts.

Here is what the consumption pattern looks like at night when it's the only thing turning on/off:

Are you finding the 332kWh/yr (0.91kWh/day) value reasonably accurate?

 

[Xhumeka]

Are you finding the 332kWh/yr (0.91kWh/day) value reasonably accurate?

I will let you know in a couple of days once I have a few days' worth of data to average. So far I think it's pretty accurate yes, but I've only been tracking it for 24 hours so I'd like to give it a bit of time to normalize. For the 332kWh/yr spec, I wonder how many times they account for the freezer and fridge doors opening/closing (if any at all). Too bad they weren't more transparent about consumption numbers.

I have an S40 consumption monitor connected so I'll report back after the weekend with specific consumption numbers.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

I will let you know in a couple of days once I have a few days' worth of data to average. So far I think it's pretty accurate yes, but I've only been tracking it for 24 hours so I'd like to give it a bit of time to normalize. For the 332kWh/yr spec, I wonder how many times they account for the freezer and fridge doors opening/closing (if any at all). Too bad they weren't more transparent about consumption numbers.

I have an S40 consumption monitor connected so I'll report back after the weekend with specific consumption numbers.

Dude... you sent me down a rabbit hole...

Federal Register :: Request Access

https://www.aham.org/DownloadableFiles/HRF_1_2019_draft.pdf

If I'm interpreting everything correctly, they "simulate" multiple door openings by simply testing the unit close in 90±1°F ambient conditions.

I like wifi power plugs. I have a different brand, and they're awesome.

 

[Xhumeka]

Dude... you sent me down a rabbit hole...

Federal Register :: Request Access

https://www.aham.org/DownloadableFiles/HRF_1_2019_draft.pdf

If I'm interpreting everything correctly, they "simulate" multiple door openings by simply testing the unit close in 90±1°F ambient conditions.

Wow, nice detective work!! I'm going to peruse that later tonight after work, thanks again!

 

[Xhumeka]

Are you finding the 332kWh/yr (0.91kWh/day) value reasonably accurate?

After 5 days of monitoring the fridge's energy consumption I can say I'm PLEASANTLY surprised by the results:

The first bar is the day we brought it home and plugged it in (mid-day), so that's why it's lower than the rest. The middle bar is when we went grocery shopping, so cooling the warmish food accounts for the highest day for energy use.

We used it "normally", but it's only about 1/2 full. Ambient average temperature approx 75 degrees F (24 Celsius). It's sitting right beside our gas oven/stove which we used each night... could probably save a few more watts if the fridge was placed away from that heat source.

Super happy with the fridge and can't believe it has such low consumption.

 

[Garage Solar]

Don't have any detailed stats, but we have run a 115v AC Unique 9cu-ft fridge/freezer (fridge on top, freezer on bottom) for 3-4 days during power outages on a Bluetti EB240, which has a 1000w continuous inverter with only a 1200w surge capacity. The fridge works great, no self-defrost but doesn't need defrosting very often, quiet, LED interior light. Much cheaper than a DC fridge.

 

[showme]

LG inverter type is what we have.

 

[Ampster]

LG inverter type is what we have.

I agree an inverter type will be more efficient and not have startup surge.

 

[showme]

It's like a quarter of the normal energy usage. Actually, it's still in the carton in storage until I get the new house built next summer. Seem like it was 400w daily, or something just really low. I figured that's just what we need with solar. They were hard to find when we got ours a couple of years ago.

 

[Daddy Tanuki]

my small Heir freezer died on me last month while I was in COVID lockdown. 400 USD of beef and ribs rotten and thrown out. make sure you get quality if you are gone for long period of time. the replacement was another cheap unit this time form the base exchange, however I am looking for a good Japanese made unit now.

 

[OzSolar]

my small Heir freezer died on me last month while I was in COVID lockdown. 400 USD of beef and ribs rotten and thrown out. make sure you get quality if you are gone for long period of time. the replacement was another cheap unit this time form the base exchange, however I am looking for a good Japanese made unit now.

We recently bought a stand up freezer at Sam's and honestly I don't trust it as far as I can throw it. I've been on the hunt for a wifi freezer alarm that sends an alert when temps are out of spec but so far haven't found anything that I really like.

 

[Hedges]

I have several old models which have lasted a long time, like 25 years.
If you can afford the watt-hours, I suggest picking up a cast off unit somebody has kicked to the curb.

If you are present, a temperature sensor wired to beeper could be the way to go. Electronic? Buy a spare thermostat for the freezer and wire it to buzzer?

This Hotpoint side by side was gifted to me already well used 20 years ago and I converted to all freezer a couple years ago:

Converting a refrigerator/freezer to freezer only

My upright Frigidaire deep-freeze wasn't freezing anything more concentrated than ice cubes any more. Things were mushy and spoiling. Maybe it just needs a refrigerant recharge; I'll look into that later. Went to the store and found they all have 60 or 90 day delivery. Only come out of China...

diysolarforum.com

Another, a top freezer from GE, I bought slightly used 25 years ago. Fridge has been getting up to 40F lately with compressor running 24 hours/day (except for defrost cycle.) It is R-12 so I won't be recharging. Maybe compressor is worn out. I pulled out floor of the freezer, replaced with a shelf, and it is now all-refrigerator and is maintaining 34F.

My Frigidaire upright freezer failed to cool well enough at around 15 years old. I recharged with R-134a and it is working again.