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creeky
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# Posted: 5 Jun 2013 12:28pm
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as some of you may remember, last year I griped mightly about the pain of hauling propane. so I did it. I bought a regular fridge. a small one, 10 cu ft (still bigger than the propane fridge I had) that uses a very respectable 312 kwh/yr.
It's the Magic Chef MCR1010WEF (from a big box). It was on sale.
I have a 1kw solar system with 1200 amp/hr 12v battery system. [I am in the process of putting together a projects and photos post(s) so expect pics ... ]
anyway. I just wanted to post that the fridge has been running for almost a month now and is working on my Pure Sine inverter perfectly.
When I got it home the manual said "not for inverter use" twice. Once in big bold letters. So, thank goodness for pure sine.
I do notice the power draw. It takes a tiny bit longer to get my batteries to "float", but basically this thing is fitting in nicely with my system. At night, where I would once see maybe 12.5 as the nightly low at the batteries I now see 12.35. But remember, previously I would not have a night time load (maybe the tv or a few lights), and the reading of 12.35 is a "load" reading from the running fridge, with the batteries recovering to their true state of charge after the load is removed. Which is not recorded.
So let's hear it for solar power!
Anybody else have a "real fridge" off grid?
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MJW
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# Posted: 5 Jun 2013 02:14pm - Edited by: MJW
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After careful consideration we decided to just go with a real fridge.
After living in an RV for a while, I was just a bit leery of a propane fridge for the house. We shopped carefully and found this 14.8 cf Frigidaire that only uses 355 kwh a year. Still alot of juice but as fridges go, not so bad for a full size model.
We are currently using generators only to power our place and run them 10 - 12 hours a day. After over a month of using it this way we find that it has no problems keeping the cool stuff cool and the frozen stuff frozen even during the 8 or so hours it is off every night.
My wife even reported to me a few days ago that the freezer compartment froze the ice trays she had filled the other evening while it was off. 
We keep thermometers in it and monitor carefully and so far, no problems.
Fridges have come a long way over the years and one of the first things I noticed was the fact that the gaskets on this thing look like gaskets on a car door. Very thick and heavy.
Even the start up on it doesn't draw that much as my Honda barely makes a fuss whenever it starts up.
PS...Looking forward to seeing your pics and details on your solar set up.
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Truecabin
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# Posted: 5 Jun 2013 04:25pm
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creeky sounds like you can add another solar panel to add some for the new fridge and be OK
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hebegbz
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# Posted: 6 Jun 2013 12:20am
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I used to live in the Australian outback, we used propane refrigerators and they were okay.
When I decided to go "off grid" I looked at all options.
I also remembered that we had an enormous meat cooler that held several side of beef. The cooler was powered by about five hours of generator power a day.
So, instead of using a small propane fridge, I have a 21cu ft side by side, as well as a 10 cu ft chest freezer, all cold, mostly frozen.
It costs about $6 a day in diesel, but I have air conditioning.
I have been on this system for over four years now.
It works.
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creeky
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# Posted: 7 Jun 2013 10:25am
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thx mjw. i'll try the turn off thing. 355 for a big fridge is very good.
truecabin. for me it's not the power during the day it's the power at night. I've gone from 2 days without sunshine capacity to one. Doesn't take long. Yesterday was dark and raining so I ran the genny for a little over an hour to give the batteries a bulk charge. used my kitchen appliances while the genny ran.
so. a larger battery pack may be in my future.
and I do have another kw of panels to install. gotta get to that.
hebegbz. 6 bucks in diesel. what kind of super genny is that? do you back up with batteries also?
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hebegbz
Member
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# Posted: 7 Jun 2013 11:16am
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I have an old three cylinder diesel kohler 10k.
It burns between 1/3rd and 1/2 gallon an hour, depending on load.
Right now, I need to run it for about for about 5 hours a day to keep my chest freezer frozen.
I am using 6 deep cycle batteries on 6 chargers when the genset is running. They are located in various places in my home. Such as, battery and charger under sink runs 12v pump for water, and small inverter for under cabinet lighting when 120v is off.
One in bedroom for 12v lights.
Two in front room with 1000wt inverters to run stereo/TV/computer when 120 is off. And two more batteries in the mud room, kept charged for backups.
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creeky
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# Posted: 8 Jun 2013 09:13am
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nice setup. I like distributed power systems.
on the fridge front: three days of dark rain clouds and no sun. running the genny for about an hour (or much less today) to give the battery pack a bulk charge to keep up with the fridge load.
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optimistic
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# Posted: 8 Jun 2013 09:31am
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Any reason why not going the converted chest fridge route?
Unless you live in your cabin full time - it is a perfect solution... And very easy to do. you buy a chest fridge and you buy an outside digital thermostat (sales on amazon for $50) and you are basically done. It will use so little power it is crazy.
The only con is the fact that it is a chest fridge so not as easy to take things in and out from but I will use my cabin as a weekend get away so for the little food I bring and then take back - it is more than enough.
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creeky
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# Posted: 8 Jun 2013 10:50am
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The chest conversions have two problems for me.
One. I have no spare time. I already have a list of projects a mile long for this summer.
and Two: they typically seem to come in around 160-250 kwh/yr.
the fridge I bought has a fridge and a freezer section and uses only a bit more power.
but I did look into it. If I had more time I would have gone that route.
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