Using kitchen fridges as chillers:

Tommo

Well-Known Member
Afternoon all,

Quick question, am l ok to use a kitchen fridge as a chiller? In my job l clear offices etc. Yesterday bought home a 6 month old (never used) 6ft fridge / drinks chiller combo (but essentially it is a fridge). Is it ok to use as a chiller if it is set low (bearing in mind its not having to work so hard with all the shelving out/perhaps a carcas or two (mainly Muntys/Roe) in it at any one time.

Tom
 
The principal problems you're likely to face are i) the speed of cooling, and ii) arranging a method for hanging the carcases. Drinks chillers are pretty weedy in general, but worth a try.
 
Tommo,

Like this?

roedoecarcass009.jpg


It works ok with some limitations. The unit I have has a circulating fan which is a definate "plus"...Also, I leave carcasses to cool to room temp before putting them in because as baldrick mentions, these type of fridges are not really meant to chill too much heat load..
 
They are fine to use as Pete says, one way of dropping the carcass temp is to put it in a chest freezer if you have one for a couple of hours to rapidly cool it before putting it in to your domestic fridge.
 
Tommo

I've got a setup just like Pete E's (in fact I thought he'd broken in to my larder and taken a sneaky photo ;) ) It works fine. Like Pete, I also hang my carcases in the larder for a few hours before putting them in the fridge.

I got my fridge off of eBay for around £25.

willie_gunn
 
tommo

i use a fridge as a chiller i got a little 6" clip type desk top fan from e bay and this helps air cirulation and lowers the running temp a huge amount as it creats a wind chill . i run my fan 15min on 15min off via a timer.

i have put warm carcasss in fridge/chiller ,all i do is put fridge on lowerst temp setting and run fan constantly for 4hrs . ....neil
 
Sounds like it would work then!

I'm interested in putting a fan if nothing lse to help it chill/create a wind chill, and make it more economical to run. The 6" fan you use griffshrek is that a protable car type fan running off a bat or something 240v?

Thanks all for the info - l have a huge chst freezer too so i'll bear in mind the need to chill 'down' before 'fridging' a carcass.

Thanks,

Tom
 
Tommo,

I'd modifiy a small 240V desk fan...

The fan in my fridge runs 24/7 when the fridge is on, exect when the fridge door is openned...

Personally, I don't think you can have too much air circulation inside the fridge; its certainly better to have "too much" rather than "too little"..

Regards,

Peter
 
I have just finished jointing up a Doe from seasons end , no problems with it at all , It was dry , no hint of a mould, and smelt perfick .I have a drinks chiller set up as Pete E , only mine is double doored , it has an integral fan for circulation and stands cool at about 2c , so I am well happy, £ 20.00 for that and a 5 ft ice cream freezer as a spare just in case freezer.
Happy
Trapper ;)
 
Have any of you thought of using a freezer as a larder. No I am not mad!, you can buy small inline thermostat to go inside the freezer, when it reaches a certain temperature it cuts power or turns it on. You can set it for say 4 deg and the freezer will hardly ever kick in so long as the door is closed.

Just a thought for anyone who has an upright style freezer.
 
deer-man,

That idea had occurred to me as well, but large upright freezers are no more common than than coke chillers ect..

Whats is a real shame is that you can't easily convert large chest freezers to run standing upright...There are plenty of those about and they can be had fairly cheap as well..

Regards,

Peter
 
deer man said:
Have any of you thought of using a freezer as a larder. No I am not mad!, you can buy small inline thermostat to go inside the freezer, when it reaches a certain temperature it cuts power or turns it on. You can set it for say 4 deg and the freezer will hardly ever kick in so long as the door is closed.

Just a thought for anyone who has an upright style freezer.

Deerman,

Have you a link to this sort of thermostat? this could be just perfect as l have a large chest freezer too - got me thinking now!!

Tom
 
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