Converted fridge/fermenter-Does freezer still freeze?

If I use a Ranco or Johnson temp comtroller on a fridge with freezer, does the freezer still stay below freezing? Can I use it to store frozen food?

 

Nope... most, in fact all but Samsung, refridgerator/freezers use one compressor to cool both compartments. The freezer gets the first flow of cold air and the excess spills into the fridge. If you limit the compressor the freezer will not ever get cold enough. It might get close, but not to the zero degrees F that freezers usually operate at.

 

I use an old fridge freezer with a temp controller for my fermentation chamber, and it's located in an open air shop. During the hottest summer months, the freezer gets down around 32F-36F, perfect for keeping drinks ice cold. During the winter when in heating mode, it stays the same temp as the fermentation chamber, and I use it as extra space to condition bottles.

 

if you actually go to the trouble of hooking the temp controller to the internal fridge thermostat and leave the fridge plugged in all the time, the freezer will be freezing temp and the fridge segment will be controlled by opening/closing the baffle from the freezer to the fridge.

if you just hook the thermo to the fridge's wall plug it prolly won't get cold enough.

 

You might as well get a PID if you are going to all that trouble. It would be the best route to go no doubt, but don't waste your time with an analog controller if you are willing to go to all that trouble.