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How long does a freezer stay frozen when the power goes out?

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Re: How long does a freezer stay frozen when the power goes out?

#121

Post by jjulius »

geofft wrote: post #119
em-bee wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you'll learn to plan your meals better. take everything out that you need before you start...

There have already been two replies pointing out why this is a bad idea, but, why is this a good idea? Why is learning to plan your meals better (for... some definition of that term, which doesn't appear to be the usual one) worthwhile?

I cook often and, to OP's point, cooking can go a lot smoother if I spend a few extra minutes up front gathering all of my ingredients and prepping my workstation/workflow. That said, I also recognize that there are practical reasons for not always including every single item during said prep and making a few trips to the fridge during the cook.

Re: How long does a freezer stay frozen when the power goes out?

#122

Post by efficax »

wutwutwutwut wrote: post #109
vageli wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That’s a clever idea! > I’m not sure how practical it is, however. The first problem that popped into my mind was that the stove would often be unattended while I ran downstairs to grab something I forgot from the fridge. I often leave the stove unattended whilst I check the grill outside. So long as it's less than a few minutes (and you have a fire extinguisher on hand in the kitchen—as one always should), there s…

What kind of stoves do you guys use where this is a risk? Guessing it's not induction?

in the US natural gas stoves are very common. There is some risk when frying on high heat that you could start an oil fire... Never used induction but gas offers very fine control of heat with a nice stove, especially compared to electric which relies on radiant heat from a coil and cannot change temperatures rapidly

Re: How long does a freezer stay frozen when the power goes out?

#123

Post by cs02rm0 »

fouc wrote: post #105
cbsks wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s a clever idea! I’m not sure how practical it is, however. The first problem that popped into my mind was that the stove would often be unattended while I ran downstairs to grab something I forgot from the fridge.

Turn down the burner as much as you can, or even off.

My three year olds can trivially turn the burners up, or pull the pans down.

Re: How long does a freezer stay frozen when the power goes out?

#124

Post by celloductor »

galkk wrote: post #112

> When opening an empty upright freezer, all the cold air can just "fall out" I recently found that the ice-cream refrigerators of street vendors (and everything else that is being sold when the doors are frequently opened) are opening on the top for that exact reason - to not let cold air "fall out" (because cold air is on the bottom)

also why when i buy ice cream i go for the one on the bottom of the shelf. it's the place with the most stable temperature- as the top area can fluctuate in temperature with people opening and closing the door.

was told that by an ice cream seller.

Re: How long does a freezer stay frozen when the power goes out?

#125

Post by chillwaves »

gruez wrote: post #74
jhallenworld wrote: post #69

Here's what I've learned about refrigerators recently. My fridge is failing in a revealing way. It has an automatic defrost unit- this means that it heats the evaporator coils in the freezer every so often (I think it's once every 36 hours) to melt the frost off of them, producing the same condensation you normally get from an A/C. So where does this water go? Well there is a hose from the freezer to a pan underneath…

> This is where the planned obsolescence comes into play. I'm convinced that the manufactures make this metal out of steal with just the tiniest amount of galvanization so that it will eventually rot out. One thing I never got about "planned obsolescence" as some sort of way to get more recurring revenue is how it works with competitors. If you're the only game in town then it makes perfect sense, but if your applian…

They make their products fail in non obvious ways and the competitors do the same thing. You won't be able to see the flaws when you buy the product.

Recent example, my parents buy "stainless steel" because they think it is more durable but it's purely cosmetic because of the internal parts. They had a stainless steel microwave that stopped working because the door would not stay shut.

I was able to pry open the framing of the door and located the tension spring that was required to keep the door hooked shut, well it had been attached to the flimsiest plastic tab I could imagine.

Everything else about the microwave worked perfectly fine but because this flimsy 2mm thick plastic tab broke, it was now junk.

So i drilled a hole in the plastic frame and reattached the spring to that hole (which was drilled in a way that made it more stable) and fixed the microwave.

There was literally no increase in cost to anchor this critical tension spring in a less fragile way, in fact I would argue it cost them more to design this special failing piece.

The whole industry is just absurd, the whole way we run the economy is absurd. It only makes sense if you have infinite planets to exploit for resources with infinite room for waste.

Re: How long does a freezer stay frozen when the power goes out?

#126

Post by bacon_waffle »

oehtXRwMkIs wrote: post #37
pengaru wrote: post #18

A test with the freezer as full as possible with just water would be interesting as a best-case set of data points to compare against. I always keep containers full of water in the bowels of my refrigerators/freezers only removing them when the space is required for food. There's not much sense in keeping empty volumes of air in a refrigerated space.

I don't understand why that doesn't make sense. What you do with containers of water is what doesn't make sense to me.

Water has a much higher heat capacity than water, and obviously much higher density too. By filling freezer space with water, the thermal mass of the freezer goes up, and it will stay cold for longer in a power outage.

Re: How long does a freezer stay frozen when the power goes out?

#127

Post by dmckeon »

tzs wrote: post #115
stblack wrote: post #61

I bought and filled a chest freezer in pandemic preparations. Cost of the chest freezer: CAD 1,000 Cost to completely fill the freezer with good food: CAD 2,700 Given that, during a pandemic or a winter storm in Canada, a power failure can be a prolonged event... Cost of a good gas powered generator to keep the freezer viable beyond a day: CAD 1,000. This article seems to validate the generator purchase.

I'm a little unclear on how one efficiently uses a generator to power highly intermittent loads like fridge/freezer. Does one monitor the freezer temperature, and when it starts warming start the generator, then wait for the freeze compressor stops, and then turn off the generator? Or does one keep the generator running all the time, so between times of the freezer running the generator is idling? The second option i…

Run genny to cool freezer, refrigerator, UPS batteries, and all rechargeable devices. Stop genny overnight, or when all is cooled or recharged. Repeat as needed.

The less expensive generators may run at a constant speed, regardless of wattage load, so there may be no concept of “idling”. Thermal mass as jugs of water, or bags of water ice (if available) is a win.

Re: How long does a freezer stay frozen when the power goes out?

#128

Post by shortandsweet »

contingencies wrote: post #59

It depends on the thermal mass of the contents, the effectiveness of the insulation, and the external ambient environmental temperature. In real world use, it also generally depends on (1) how frequently and for how long you open it, and (2) whether it's top-loading (efficient) versus front-loading (inefficient). Source: My venture custom designed and built a refrigeration circuit with autonomous electronic managemen…

I keep a coffee mug filled with water in the freezer with a penny on top.

Re: How long does a freezer stay frozen when the power goes out?

#129

Post by sleavey »

pengaru wrote: post #18

A test with the freezer as full as possible with just water would be interesting as a best-case set of data points to compare against. I always keep containers full of water in the bowels of my refrigerators/freezers only removing them when the space is required for food. There's not much sense in keeping empty volumes of air in a refrigerated space.

I do this with my fridge too, always making sure the back is full of beer.

Re: How long does a freezer stay frozen when the power goes out?

#130

Post by drevil-v2 »

morninglight wrote: post #64

The location of the freezer or refrigerator is critical. If you live in a house that has a typical unfinished basement, don't overlook the advantage it offers. With one simple change, you can noticeably lower your electric bill, reduce your carbon footprint, gain extra kitchen space and improve your health. Just move your refrigerator to the basement. Since the basement is normally cooler than the upstairs, the refri…

What about the calories used to travel up and down the stairs by multiple family members?

Say over a month you burn enough calories to eat an extra steak to make up the energy lost, would the environment be better or worse off?

What about time lost? Say you wasted an extra hour or two every fortnight just getting to and from the fridge, what if instead you had read a book or worked on your hobbies? Would you be happier? Would your family be happier having an extra hour of time every fortnight?

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