Freezer on Economy 7 ?

mmmmikey

This just came to mind - be interesting to hear any thoughts...

I'm planning to get a small chest freezer for the garage. I'm wondering if I put it on a timeswitch so it only operates during Economy 7 hours it will stay cold enough for the rest of the day. This will be a second freezer and only be opened once a week, and I can help it along by putting ice packs inside.

Assuming an annual energy consumption of 200kWh, running costs on my current tarriff without the timeswitch would be of the order of (7/24*200*0.05)+(17/24*200*0.20)=£31.25

Assuming I use the same amount of energy (but concentrated overnight) running costs would be about 200*0.05=£10.00

Any thoughts on this - (other than "get a life, why are you p155ing about trying to save £20 a year") :rotfl:

I'll probably just try it - I have a temperature data logger I can monitor it with, but be interesting to know if anyone else has done anything similar with their freezer.

p.s. Zarch - if you read this - how about running this on Octopus Agile and just turning off the freezer for the "nightmare charges" hours? Do you do this?

pile-o-stone

If you’re using a freezer in a garage, make sure you buy one that is designed for that.

http://www.ukchestfreezers.co.uk/chest-freezers-in-the-garage

This one has a powersafe feature of 52 hours, so I guess could be used on E7 and be left off during the day:

http://www.ukchestfreezers.co.uk/products/russell-hobbs-rhcf200-md

Here are some solar freezers:

http://www.windandsun.co.uk/products/Lighting/DC-Refrigerators-and-Freezers#.XVsZ9MrTWhA

coffeehound

I did something a bit similar. A flat I rented had an ageing fridge-freezer that would kick on when the door was opened at 7pm to make dinner, and would then chug away for the rest of the evening. I fitted a time switch to cut power to it at 7pm and then reinstate power at 00:30 hrs when off-peak rate started.

It sounds worth doing if you don’t have to spend too much on the freezer model and timer. Maybe a temperature alarm would be worth having, too.
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Martyn1981

Could also add additional insulation to the freezer, there's always old PIR board in skips if you keep an eye out. But make sure you leave the heat coils alone, and check that any sides, top etc don't have anything like that embedded in them.

Also you might want to make a MKI eyeball defrost alarm, just in case, to avoid food poisoning. Place something buoyant in a waterproof container, then freeze it upside down. Then put it the right way up, and if you ever see it with the item at the top, then you know the freezer 'went wrong', or there was a powercut whilst away (on holiday etc) and items defrosted, before re-freezing.

Heard of off-gridders using chest freezers as fridges, just by placing ice in them ..... but I digress, as usual.

mmmmikey

Thanks for responses - I'm just about to order the freezer pile-o-stone links to. Can't see why it won't work on Economy 7 only, be interesting to see. Assuming all good, does lead to a quick moneysaving top for anyone with a chest freezer on a time of use tarriff. Thanks again, Mike.

pile-o-stone

mmmmikey wrote: »

Thanks for responses - I'm just about to order the freezer pile-o-stone links to. Can't see why it won't work on Economy 7 only, be interesting to see. Assuming all good, does lead to a quick moneysaving top for anyone with a chest freezer on a time of use tarriff. Thanks again, Mike.

Which one?

Let me know how you get on. I'm thinking we will be needing a chest freezer for storing produce from our mini orchard and raised beds.

mmmmikey

This one:


http://www.ukchestfreezers.co.uk/products/russell-hobbs-rhcf200-md


Thanks again, Mike

joefizz

Regarding the freezers in the garage/outbuilding/shed check their max operating temperature and if you have electricity going to the building via a separate consumer unit keep an eye on the ambient temperature and the circuit breakers.
I was away recently and the building got over temp causing one of the freezers to trip the circuit breaker on startup after a brownout... I was away for a month...

...oh and I had 2 freezers on the same circuit on the consumer unit... something that has since been rectified ;-)

My neighbour did wonder what the wee flashing light was but didnt think to text me about it as the power had come back on again... (loss of power alarm).


Have a look on gumtree and facebook marketplace for people getting rid of large good quality chest freezers but check year of manufacture as insurance may not cover you for a freezer more than 9 years old. (I use one as a keezer in summer with pid addition/freezer in winter).


If you go 2nd hand check out the internal dimensions as the cheap ikea wire baskets might fit...

coffeehound

Is the criteria for a freezer that it has to stay below -18 degC ?

pinnks

I had an old Liebherr fridge-freezer in the garage for years - about 15 - without issue. I freecycled it when we decided to buy a new Liebherr dedicated under-counter freezer rated A+++. It consumes about 150kWh per year and has also been running fine for the past 2 years.

That said, our garage is brick with a normal tiled roof, so perhaps temps are more stable both in summer and in winter?