Often when buying a new refrigerator, the old one still remains operational and continues to serve its owners in the far corner of the apartment or cottage as a backup option. If the owners have a need for additional space for deep freezing of products, such an exhibit sometimes becomes a contender for being converted into a large freezer.
Below we will talk about how to make a freezer out of your ordinary refrigerator on your own.
Before you start designing a freezer, you should carefully study the principle of its action.
The freezer operates by analogy with an air conditioner, which draws heat in a small, insulated space. Heat is transferred from the inside of the device to the outside by the refrigerant, in the role of which, as a rule, freon is used. It is in a closed loop and passes from a liquid state to a gaseous state with heat absorption, and vice versa - with the release of thermal energy. ATImportant components of the freezing device are: a condenser, a compressor, an evaporator, a temperature regulator, tubes forming a circuit, and, in fact, the internal space of the refrigerator.
The heat transfer cycle takes place according to the following algorithm.
- The liquid refrigerant, when it enters the evaporator with low pressure, begins to boil (evaporate). This process occurs when a large amount of energy is absorbed - thus, the temperature in the chamber decreases.
- After this, freon in a gaseous state is pumped by the compressor and enters the condenser. Under high pressure, it liquefies. During this process, heat is generated, which is removed by the device to the outside in a condenser cooled by the ambient temperature.
- After this, the liquid substance enters the capillary tubes and is fed back to the evaporator, where the pressure drops sharply. The cycle starts anew.
- If the temperature drops a couple of degrees below the set level, the motor is temporarily turned off. When it rises 2-3 degrees higher, it starts again.
This option is the easiest when creating your own freezer.
First of all, it is necessary to disassemble the freezer compartment and dismantle the evaporator. After that, it is necessary to insulate the internal space, which will become a new freezer. After that, you need to deploy the evaporator and fix it on the back of the freezer.The crucial point is the next step, in which you must choose the right place to install the temperature sensor. Depending on the choice, the freezer will maintain the set temperature with one degree or another accuracy.
After installing the sensor, it is necessary to verify the tightness of the chamber formed, check the refrigerant circuit and, if necessary, refuel.
ATTENTION!To diagnose the refrigeration circuit and refill freon, you must use a specialized tool. To avoid circuit integrity, extreme care must be taken to manipulate the capillary tubes, avoiding excessive bending.
At the last stage, you should turn on the upgraded unit and test it in operation.
IMPORTANT! The efficiency of a self-converted freezer will be significantly worse than that created in an industrial environment, so its energy efficiency will be lower and electricity consumption more.
What else are the options for creating a do-it-yourself freezer
In addition to converting an old refrigerator, there are many options for creating freezers that require different levels of skill, tools and materials. Let's consider some of them.
Small room as a freezer
Around the perimeter of the room, a crate of wooden timber is installed. After that, reflective material is laid. The cells formed by the crate are densely filled with a heater with a thickness of at least 10 cm. All cracks and joints must be sealed with aluminum tape. After that, the walls are covered with thin sheets of galvanized metal, the resulting seams are reliably sealed. The cooling core of the freezer room can be a regular candy bar. The optimal location for installing a temperature sensor is selected, which is connected to the automatic control system. The final touch is the manufacture of a well-insulated door, which is tightly adjacent to the box in the closed state.
Sandwich panel freezer
One of the budget solutions for creating a chamber for freezing large capacity can serve as a design based on sandwich panels. The principles of the organization of work are the same as in the case of the arrangement of the room described in the previous paragraph. Sandwich panels are assembled in the design of the required dimensions and configuration in accordance with the rules of their standard installation.
When creating such freezing rooms, it is necessary to monitor the absence of thermal bridges - heat-conducting bridges between the external and internal casing of the engineering structure.
To combat the formation of thermal bridges at the joints in the corners of the structure, special slots are made inside the corner elements at the places of their exit into the external environment.
Measures to combat thermal bridges also need to be carried out at the joints of the refrigeration sections that support different levels of temperature.
For the door, as in equipping a room with capital walls, a high-quality shutter and insulation should be provided. It is best to use a special polyurethane foam thermal door for this.
Other options for creating freezers
The following are other ideas that can form the basis for making homemade freezer systems:
- use as a space for the freezer the case of the transport container;
- arrangement of a warehouse;
- for making a small freezer, cooling the contents to a moderate temperature (‑100C), you can use Peltier elements;
- the creation of a cold condenser inside the premises, acting on the principle of a glacier, for example, the use of basements encircled by a closed system of pipelines with a refrigerant (e.g. kerosene), which concentrates cold in the winter season and maintains a low temperature level in the warm season.
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