# solar power chest freezer vs normal chest freezer



## Wintergrower_OH (Sep 21, 2010)

Looking at using a chest freezer for canned food . I would think that you can buy a normal chest freezer using solar panels with a converter ? cheaper than going the solar power chest freezer that limits you on size , cost more and heavier . Thoughts on going this route ?


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## wy_white_wolf (Oct 14, 2004)

You will need more solar panels and batteries to operate the "normal" freezer. Personally I'd go with the way that requires the smallest battery bank as you will be replacing them every 3 to 5 years.

If the food is "canned" then why does it need to be frozen?

WWW


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## Wintergrower_OH (Sep 21, 2010)

The debate for me was build a walk in freezer or chest freezer . Doesn't have to be frozen , but kept cool enough to prevent the meat , etc from going bad . My basement is too hard to get a freezer down the steps and doesn't get very cool in the winter . Garage gets hot during the summer (not bad in the winter months , although we don't have consistent cold nights and short winter ) . Thinking of putting a chest freezer or two in the garage . Concern about my electric bill if what was spoken by our president is done through executive order (cap and trade) .


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## Fire-Man (Apr 30, 2005)

Wintergrower_OH said:


> Concern about my electric bill


 A new energy eff 15cuft freezer would cost you less than $100 per year IF YOUR ELECTRIC BILL DOUBLED what it is now(should be less than $50 per yr right now). If the bill did not double, you could pay the electric bill for several years for just what a good battery bank would cost you if you went to solar and as WWW stated you would have to replace the battery bank every so many years anyway. The cost of the solar panels, charge controller, inverter and everything you need to get it hooked up will set you back alot more.

I feel if everyones electric bill goes up, then everything that takes electricity to produce will go up to.

One other thing to think about is If you would buy a Nice Solar Freezer to go in your carport----it will require less electricity to run per year than a good energy efficiant one.

I believe in solar and I believe its nice to run everything off solar, but I also Know that going to solar Will Not save me money compared to what the electric company charges.

The best way to save money in your case Is To "Can" everything you are planning to put in them freezers, then it does not cost you every month for your food to sit on the shelf.


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## Wintergrower_OH (Sep 21, 2010)

just put a thermostat in basement to find out how cool it get at night . I have enough room in basement to store allot canned jars . But until now forgot to check the temp . So while we still have cool night i need to find out how cool of temperature i get . Also check the daytime temp while i'm at it . I might go the cellar root route . Need to do more research . My concern is with meat , etc that need a bit more cold temp . Curing meat in fall .


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## Jim-mi (May 15, 2002)

You can do a "solar powered" chest freezer.....

A 24vdc freezer and a couple good sized PV panels would do it. . . . .no inverter needed.

But . . .maybe not in Ohio . . .
I'll bet you have periods (days) of non sun there in NW Ohio so now you would want to have a battery bank to cover the cloudy days.....

But if you think you can get a "good" freezer at the big box store prices, you are mistaken.

If you can part with around 2K you can get the good stuff..............


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## stanb999 (Jan 30, 2005)

My 14.9 Cu.ft standard chest freezer uses 5 amps max. It uses per the label 1 KW per day. IS this tiny loading is just over the top? It's actually a very minor portion of an electric bill.

I guess solar just really isn't all that affordable yet. I wish it was as I'd implement this... It's in a detached garage. Average temp here is 42F, In the winter it hardly runs, In the summer it's real sunny. It would seem this would be a perfect fit.


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## Wintergrower_OH (Sep 21, 2010)

Well its official . I will have to build a "Root Cellar " in the basement . I need to put up a wall surround the pantry to get the temps below 50 on average . Not sure about summer month and keeping the temp below 50 . Might have to go and build root cellar in the garage . I need to replace the floor in the garage any ways . Very big project that will have to wait .


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## wy_white_wolf (Oct 14, 2004)

stanb999 said:


> My 14.9 Cu.ft standard chest freezer uses 5 amps max. It uses per the label 1 KW per day. IS this tiny loading is just over the top? It's actually a very minor portion of an electric bill.
> 
> I guess solar just really isn't all that affordable yet. I wish it was as I'd implement this... It's in a detached garage. Average temp here is 42F, In the winter it hardly runs, In the summer it's real sunny. It would seem this would be a perfect fit.


Assuming you have a yearly average of 4 hours solar insolation it'll take:

400W solar array
450AH @ 12V or 225AH @24V Battery bank
40A (12V), 20A (24V) charge controller
1000W pure sine inverter

That will give you about 2.5 days of backup on the batteries to make it through cloudy days.

The 1000W pure sine inverter is needed for startup load and to most motors run hot on mod or square wave inverters.

WWW


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## stanb999 (Jan 30, 2005)

wy_white_wolf said:


> Assuming you have a yearly average of 4 hours solar insolation it'll take:
> 
> 400W solar array
> 450AH @ 12V or 225AH @24V Battery bank
> ...


That's about what I was thinking. 

The panels are around 400
The inverter is about 200
Batteries about the same as the panels 400
Mounting, wire, other incidentals. 200

So for 1200 dollars, I can "save" 38 dollars a year. Or have a pay off... Never. The batteries cost more than ten years of grid power. They will likely only last 5. :hrm:


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## GregYohn (Jan 24, 2013)

Is a walk in cooler needed? Having a root cellar might mean you could open up a solar freezer to lower it's temperature or even a solar frig. You can use the same item to do both.


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## Usingmyrights (Jan 10, 2011)

I'm in the same boat with the deep freezer except I already have mine. I would love to get off the grid for my freezer and fridge. It's just too expensive. I want it for hurricanes or other long term power outages if nothing else. I could run a genset, but would rather have a more covert method.


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## Wintergrower_OH (Sep 21, 2010)

Decided to go with a basement root cellar and chest freezer for meat (garage) . Walk in freezer would allow me to do both meat and pressure canned food to be in the same location . Getting a chest freezer into the basement would be impossible to do .


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