Do collars cause the freezer to be less efficient?
I've seen a lot of people putting wood collars around the tops of their freezers. I can see that there are a lot of advantages to this, more space, no need to drill holes in the freezer etc. but don't they become much less efficient and spike your energy bills?
I've seen a lot of people putting wood collars around the tops of their freezers. I can see that there are a lot of advantages to this, more space, no need to drill holes in the freezer etc. but don't they become much less efficient and spike your energy bills?
Yes, it does make the fridge less efficient. Is a wooden collar enough to make it horribly inefficient and spike your energy bills, no.
The largest source of inefficiency is a poor seal between the collar and the fridge. Some people also use foam insulation glued to the back of the collar to significantly increase the R value.
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I have a fairly large collar. I used pretty thin wood so I put a small block of wood beading along the top to aid the contact of the seals and along the bottom to aid the contact of adhesive to the freezer. Then I filled in the middle section that created with polystyrene that you can get from your local fish or fruit and vegie store. About a few inches thick and its packed in tight with no gaps. Then the fans I have in keep it all an even temp so I think the collar doens't contribute a whole lot to the extra power. My keezer turns on about twice a day during daylight hours I've noticed.
I was also informed by my LHBS that you need to add the collar as the coolant lines run throughout the sides as well as the lid, so drilling would be next to impossible unless you want an expensive dorr stop...
I was also informed by my LHBS that you need to add the collar as the coolant lines run throughout the sides as well as the lid, so drilling would be next to impossible unless you want an expensive dorr stop...
I don't think there are too many chest coolers with coolant lines in the lid. If all you see connecting the lid to the body are hinges, there are no cooling lines.
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Hey, knock that shvt off. We're drinkin' here.
Lids are just insulation for nearly all freezers. Thats how people put towers on the top of them. Collars just give you somewhere to put the taps and gain height if needed for kegs.
Why not purchase a feezer that has enough head room as well space to handle 4 to 6 corney's with your taps out of the the front panel without adding a collar to the chest freezer? I could never understand going thru all the trouble making a chest freezer what it was never intended to be used as.
By this making a smaller CU/FT freezer handle a larger volume than the manufactures designed their units in the first place. They already are on the smallest compressor size for the "Green World" why make it work harder or to their maximun limits? The compressor hump problem, just get a bigger chest freezer and move on. JMO's not to start a war just my thinking about adding collars to chest freezers. Unless you must show stained wood I do not have a clue. Function vs looks here. Granted there are many great collared freezers posted but not for me.
And how do you buy a freezer knowing where the coolant lines are before purchase? I doubt the few times a day my freezer runs and the 15 mins its on for that period is really pushing the compressors limits. And thats with one of the larger collars I've seen.
How would you be increasing the load on the compressor by turning it into a fridge? Sure you'd be decreasing the R value but you'd be increasing the temperature inside significantly, right, so the compressor would be just taking a stroll through the part, so to speak, instead of breakin rocks all day.
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Originally Posted by TheFlyingBeer
...no sense hauling empty carboys around when full ones take up just as much space. :)
Not all of us have unlimited funds so we can go out and buy the biggest and newest chest freezer. Some of us are using hand-me-down freezers and we took what we could get.
Adding a collar and turning up the temp that the freezer maintains does not make the compressor work any harder, probably even less work for it.
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Do collars cause the freezer to be less efficient?
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