Any danger?

**Donner** · 05-09-2010, 02:30 AM

This is likely a dumb question, but i'll ask anyway. I need to come up with some form of fermentation control for the summer months. I'm not sold on SOF since i don't know how well an ice jug would do and i'm not sure i like the idea of the jug sweating and melting in the high humidity (mold and such).

I was considering investing in a small chest freezer, but the only place i can think of to locate it would be in the utility/water heater closet. It's pretty big (think 7x7), has a door to the garage that seals and is on the central air (which isn't always kept cold, mind you).

My question is, would there be any danger to keeping an electric appliance like a chest freezer in a closet with a gas water heater? We've never had the pilot light go out or anything like that, but would there be any danger if it did and the freezer was in the same room?

Thanks

Dr_Gordon_Freeman · 05-09-2010, 02:32 AM

If you have a refrigerator in a confined space, it won't work properly. The coil needs to have access to airflow. How about putting it in the garage or on a patio?

**Donner** · 05-09-2010, 02:36 AM

The room isn't sealed. It's on the central air and the previous owners also cut a hole into the bedroom that the room backs up to and placed vents over the hole (still can't figure out why) so i think it'd have as much flow as it would in a bedroom. How big a room does a freezer need to be in to get the proper amount of flow?

The garage is poorly designed and doesn't have much room for an extra appliance on top of the beer fridge. The patio is an option, but ours is a sunroom and gets pretty warm in the afternoon since it gets the direct afternoon sun. I just fear that the thing would be running a lot and disturb the quiet that is my wife's favorite spot.

bkloos · 05-09-2010, 10:45 AM

WRT the hot water heater, you should investigate what type of burner the system it uses. The reason is that most water heaters have some type of fail-safe, ie a thermocouple in the pilot flame that senses ignition. If the pilot goes out, the supply of gas is then shut off and there can be no filling of the room with gas.

This is, of course, if the unit is somewhat recent in design. Obviously you don't want to simply take my word for it!

Knowing this will also help you in the future should you have to relight the pilot for any reason. It sure beats calling in the HVAC guy at $$$/hour to relight the unit. No offense meant if any of you guys are in HVAC