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Chest Fridge (2009)

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Re: Chest Fridge (2009)

#51

Post by NetMageSCW »

nlawalker wrote: post #30
femto wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Makes sense if the drawers completely fill the volume of the fridge, so most of the air is inside the drawers and there is minimal air loss when the door opens. If the drawer fronts were insulated, each drawer would effectively be its own chest. Edit: On a reread, I'm guessing you were talking about individual refrigerated drawers? Multiple drawers in a single insulated box (as I interpreted it) could work though, as…

If you designed around it, it would fit where existing kitchens have drawers, and the space typically reserved for a vertical fridge would be occupied by shelving. Kind of a neat idea. Microwave drawers are a thing.

They make them already, they just tend to be expensive. Look up Sub-zero.

Re: Chest Fridge (2009)

#53

Post by ezst »

TurdF3rguson wrote: post #24
refactor_master wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most people in dense urban areas would actually pay less. By going vertical you’re freezing a whole m2 that was otherwise necessarily occupied by the fridge. In most places, 300 kWh is much cheaper than an extra irrevocable m2 for your fridge. Plus, a horizontal fridge is just… convenient. You can’t even put things on top of a vertical fridge.

But if I put things on top of it, now I can't get at the food. I mean, I have one of these as a meat freezer, and sometimes I put things on top of it, and then my wife gets mad at me and moves that thing somewhere because otherwise nobody can open it. Things on top of my vertical fridge on the other hand (my cat for example), can stay there indefinitely.

Wouldn't a solution be to have the opening on the side and pull it toward you, like a "box on wheels"? As long as the sides of the "box" are thermally insulated, it seems like a sound solution for the stated problem (but certainly not one that's mechanically the cheapest/simplest).

Re: Chest Fridge (2009)

#55

Post by idle_zealot »

mhb wrote: post #35
Hextinium wrote: post #6

This reminds me of the Technology Connections fridge rant video. Similar arguments all around, the dumping effect of cold out of a vertical fridge is pretty crazy to watch with a thermal camera. https://youtube.com/watch?v=CGAhWgkKlHI

Couldn't find that in the 26 minute video. But for a total energy cost of $70 per year, why is this of interest to anyone?

It registers to me as the same sort of impulse that drives optimizing a bit of rarely-used code. It's more of a principle-based interest than a practical one. In other words, it's very human.

Re: Chest Fridge (2009)

#56

Post by decimalenough »

pierrec wrote: post #49
doughecka wrote: post #37

Reminds me of Fly Away Home with the round fridge that would lift out of the counter. True story: "The refrigerator is round, rising from under the granite countertop with the touch of the button. “The pneumatic fridge works with air compression,” she says. “You step on the button and it pops up and the racks spin like a lazy Susan. Cold air is heavy so it stays cold.”" https://www.thestar.com/life/home-and-garden/pa…

Now that is the coolest fridge I've ever seen. Found a video of it in action (yes, featuring the same dad joke all over the comments but that is not stopping me): https://youtu.be/RoGuvvzHY1A?t=416 That entire place is mind-bending.

Mind-bending indeed, but looks pretty impractical. In an ordinary fridge, if your egg carton is a bit out of place, your door may not close properly. In this one, you're going to have liquid omelette slathered all over the place, and how do you even clean the bottom of that thing?

Re: Chest Fridge (2009)

#57

Post by decimalenough »

fwipsy wrote: post #48
KPGv2 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you by any chance switch "vertical" and "horizontal" at every point in your comment?

The words are intrinsically ambiguous. A standard fridge opens horizontally but stands vertically. Is it vertical or horizontal?

Horizontal vs vertical is determined by the orientation of the object's longest dimension. Portrait pictures on a wall and fridges with doors that open out are vertical, landscape pictures on a wall and chest freezers are horizontal.

Re: Chest Fridge (2009)

#58

Post by calmbonsai »

This only makes practical sense if your energy costs are exorbitant compared to the western industrialized world and you don't care about cold-storage volume relative to room square footage and/or ready access to stored items.

Thus, vertical refrigerators and freezers absolutely dominate.

Re: Chest Fridge (2009)

#60

Post by Tepix »

calmbonsai wrote: post #58

This only makes practical sense if your energy costs are exorbitant compared to the western industrialized world and you don't care about cold-storage volume relative to room square footage and/or ready access to stored items. Thus, vertical refrigerators and freezers absolutely dominate.

They are quite popular on sailboats.
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