3w ago

Zero-wasting the cold: Does anyone ever freeze blocks of ice outside in the winter and let them defrost in the fridge/freezer?

Curious if this would have any noticeable energy savings. Basically thinking of taking old semi-disposable plastic containers (the ones that like deli meat, butter, etc come in), freezing them outdoors, and letting them defrost (absorb heat) in the fridge/freezer. Basically back to the "ice box" model.

Anybody doing that and/or have any results to share? Mostly curious if it would be worth the effort.

19 comments

Along these lines...
We ex-wife and I had a horizontal freezer her folks gave us. We lined the bottom with rows of bottled water, filled it over the tops with the garden hose, put our frozen groceries on top. We had a freezer that would easily last 2-weeks if a hurricane knocked us out, and plenty of clean water. Plus, being "thermally full", it took less power.

I always have jugs of ice in the freezer, if I use one during the cold of the winter I will refreeze it outside before putting it back into the fridge.
I also store food outside in the snow. I usually keep a large ice chest outside in the winter and use that for overflow food.
- What do you use jugs of ice for?
  I freeze gallons of water to put in a cooler on camping trips, but idk what I would do with them in the winter.
  
  I use them in my ice chest when bring home groceries from the city. Even in the winter here it will be in the teens or twenties at night it can get into the 50s during the day.

Fridges are some of the most efficient appliances in the home but I always think it's funny that in the winter we keep the house warm and the fridge cold, when we could just harness the cold from outside.
- Lol, yeah. Though the exhaust heat from the refrigerator does warm the house (good in winter, not good in the summer).
  Definitely have had the thought about a thermostat controlled vent that would utilize outdoor air when the temperature permits. Might be one of those ideas that's nice but impractical.
  
  I think the next level of after heat pumps is complete heat management. Waste heat from kitchen exhaust? Heat pump. Hot water down the drain? Heat pump.
- You keep your house warm? I love winter because I can keep it cold.
  
  I assume you can guess that my winter is likely colder than yours then.
  
  Earth is a big place with different types of climates. I can imagine some people not only want but need to warm their homes.

That's brilliant. I googled the energy costs. It's $30 a year to run a fridge. So it doesn't save much money because you can only do it in winter but it's still a great idea.
- And modern fridges use very little energy, because they only run when needed. Technology connections did a few videos on that subject.
- Ah yeah, $30/yr doesn't seem like a lot from a strictly money-saving perspective. I guess if electricity here was more expensive (it's getting there lol) or if I was on a tighter power budget (e.g. offgrid PV + battery), it might be worth it. Maybe I'll just save that trick for when the power's out.
  
  Also isn't a fridge technically a heater for the space outside of the fridge? So in the winter it does 2 things at once?

It would be interesting to see the averaged power difference over time to see the effects.

19 comments