I am considering a do-it-yourself solar panel backup for my freezer. I am thinking that a solar panel with a battery and an inverter should be able to keep my frozen stuff frozen for a bit. I am not talking about long term storage here, but rather, a way to run the freezer in the case (very likely case) of blackout and brownouts as the power supply gets more constrained. Long term running of the freezer will take more effort.
There are some other things that I am planning. If the power looks like it will be going rocky, I will go down to the local Baskin-Robbins and buy up dry ice and toss it in the freezer. Once the dry ice is in there, a whole bunch of blankets to keep the cold in. I also keep a bunch of water filled milk jugs in there as beer cooler ice and to act as a thermal mass (the bigger the thermal mass, the longer it will take everything in the freezer to thaw).
If you haven’t already chosen a freezer, get a chest freezer rather than a stand up. When you open a chest freezer, the cold stays put. When you open a stand up, the cold flows out. Lots more energy use to keep it running.
If you guys are like me, you keep stuff in your freezer for preps. You gotta keep electricity flowing my friend. Better figure out a back up system and get it set up.
1 comment:
Around here dry ice can also be found at some of the Walmarts. I plan on increasing my canning so the freezer is not absolutely necessary. After watching the Sister Wendy video at Let Us Prepare letusprepare.blogspot.com/ I would like to get a food saver to vaccuum pack using the canning jars. Then we wouldn't need to store the powdered milk and other go-rancid foods in the freezer.
What about those panels that are mounted on the road signs? They are used to display your speed for slow-zones around here. Would they collect enough to run a freezer? They display lights all say so I wondered.
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