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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.
by morninglight 6y ago
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 refrigerator will run less often. This will not only extend its lifetime, but also lower the electricity it consumes, thus also reducing your carbon footprint. The kitchen space previously wasted by the refrigerator has uses that are only limited by your imagination.
Finally, you and your family will directly benefit from the exercise you get with trips to the fridge. Of course it is not convenient - that is the point. Sometimes you might even pass up that extra dish of ice cream, because it's a pain in the butt. However, the size of your butt may be improved.
It's a simple step that can be done in a couple of hours. And the recurring benefits are automatic and last a lifetime.
Method #1:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2J8ul-CcrzY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2J8ul-CcrzY
Method #2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXCiWk-aIyc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXCiWk-aIyc
- cbsks 6y agoThat’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.
- vageli 6y ago> 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 shouldn't be a problem in most circumstances.
- wutwutwutwut 6y agoWhat kind of stoves do you guys use where this is a risk? Guessing it's not induction?
- efficax 6y agoin 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
- wutwutwutwut 6y agoInductions are electric and does not have the issues you mention. But I see. For some reason natural gas didn't pop up in my head. Where I live nobody use those.
- BrandoElFollito 6y agoI used gas for 20 years, then induction for 10. Induction wins everywhere (reproducibility of heat, speed to heat, ease of cleaning...) The only thing I miss a tiny bit from gas is the ability to tilt a pan to have oil gather in a puddle to deep fry something small. Other than that everytime I use gas I long for induction.
- fouc 6y agoTurn down the burner as much as you can, or even off.
- cs02rm0 6y agoMy three year olds can trivially turn the burners up, or pull the pans down.
- interactivecode 6y agothat is a child problem not a stove problem
- JshWright 6y agoOk? No one was debating which of those categories it fell in. In either case it's a "don't leave it unattended" problem.
- walrus01 6y agoAs an additional benefit, since any fridge or freezer generates waste heat on its 'warm' side (the room itself), the additional heat from the freezer will rise from the basement into the rest of the house. As compared to if you had a freezer on the 3rd floor of a tall/narrow town house, all that the heat would do is rise towards the ceiling and attic. I would not advocate for moving a fridge to the basement just because of the hassle and back and forth trips involved. But if I had a dedicated top-opening chest freezer, sure.
- maxfan8 6y agoThis is only a benefit during cold seasons or in colder regions of the world.
- walrus01 6y agoThat's true, but having a fridge in your house is going to generate waste heat no matter what climate you live in. Just a question of what you do with it.
- gpm 6y agoWith centralized forced air air conditioning it helps in the summer too, because it reduces the temperature gradient inside the house.
- geofft 6y agoThis seems like a decent idea if the thing that's in your fridge is ice cream, but not if it's ingredients for cooking meals. Whoever does the cooking is going to spend a ton of time running up and down while stuff overcooks, and then they'll be even more tired and get more complaints from the rest of the family. So you should be absolutely sure that you have an equitable family dynamic and that everyone agrees that you do, before you try this.
- Falling3 6y agoYeah, I can certainly appreciate the environmental and cost savings, but this would make me miserable. I could get myself the make the trip for ice cream, but the multiple runs back to the fridge while preparing food has me agitated just thinking about it.
- em-bee 6y agoyou'll learn to plan your meals better. take everything out that you need before you start...
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- mjmj 6y agoThis is almost comedy for those with kids.
- em-bee 6y agoi have 3 kids. efficient meal preparation is quite important when your kids are hungry
- jjulius 6y ago"Refrigerate X while cooking Y, then remove X from fridge as Y begins to [something]," and variants of that phrase are common scenarios in recipes. Your point is only valid for a portion of recipes, not all. Let's also take into account how many ingredients you may need from the fridge when you plan ahead. Certain meals may require multiple trips to/from the basement (however far away that may be) depending on how many - and the size of - ingredients involved. Also, what mjmj said, re:kids.
- Dylan16807 6y agoIs the efficiency benefit bigger than getting a different model or taping some styrofoam to the outside of the fridge?
- NegativeLatency 6y agoI’d hazard a guess that most of the losses are from when you open the door and the seal around the door. Also while cooler than ambient my fridge and freezer don’t feel cool to the touch so I think that the walls are thick enough. Otherwise fridges and freezers would ship with thicker insulation.
- xxs 6y agoif they are cooler than ambient (cool on touch) - it'd cause condensation.
- Dylan16807 6y agoEven 1-2 degrees difference can waste a lot of watts over such a big surface, and would be difficult to perceive.
- KSteffensen 6y agoThere's a tradeoff between thicker insulation and space in the freezer
- kevincox 6y agoPutting the fridge in the basement probably leads to you opening the door less.
- drevil-v2 6y agoWhat 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?
- distances 6y agoWould you use the same reasoning against exercising?
- jve 6y agoFrom what i'v read, freezers are designed to be placed in ambient temperature greater than +10C. There are specificially designed freezers that can withstand up to -15C ambient temp: https://home.liebherr.com/en/lva/products/household-appliances/floor-mounted-appliances-for-households/chest-freezers/details/gtp-4656_69320.html https://home.liebherr.com/en/lva/products/household-applianc... A guy on the phone that sells used freezers told me that compressor has some liquid that gets thicker when temperature drops below X and compressor has to work harder. The other reason i'v read somewhere is related to compressor not maintaining stable temperature, won't turn on when needed etc. These may be false statements and I ask for some guidance from professionals - is that the case? I understand when temp may fall below 0, you need some special freezer. Liebherr guy assured me any of their freezers will work OK as long as it is > 0C. But he couldn't tell about other manufacturer freezers. As i'm in the process of buying a freezer that has to work in basement, could someone chime in please? Is Liebherr my only option?
- mschuster91 6y agoUhh, if your basement frequently gets below 0 °C, you have far bigger problems than the freezer. This should normally not happen unless you're living somewhere in the Arctic.
- jve 6y agoI have a dedicated garage with basement that is detached from home. I still have to see what temp there is in winter.
- mschuster91 6y agoUnless you're in deep Canada, any basement should always be deep enough stay above the frost line: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frost_line https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frost_line
- bickeringyokel 6y agoWhy would you keep running the freezer when the ambient temp is freezing?
- enaaem 6y agoAlso, get a chest freezer. They are much more efficient. Every time you open a standing freezer, the cold air "false out", since cold air is more dense than warm air. The chest freezer on the other hand will hold the cold air in place.
- woobar 6y agoThey are more efficient in keeping the food frozen. But they are less efficient in getting the food out of it. This is how you find 5 year old products at in the bottom of the freezer when you finally clean it up.
- asdff 6y agoThat's an organization problem, not a freezer problem. In my field, we go vertical on the horizontal freezer: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/j3SL_cL0MF9c3ASG-LfRyUJNvnUKehYMWACnFei9yw63RYMfRABsX8fiD2mBm-mXqG4h7qdZ67cF9GeYj2je_aeNvCbhOIrbJ0IZTJ11ztFgms1l https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/j3SL_cL0MF9c3ASG-LfR...
- smiley1437 6y agoUnfortunately, the link doesn't work - and I was looking forward to seeing how you organize a horizontal freezer vertically because I have the 'black hole' problem...
- Cthulhu_ 6y agoSounds like a good idea in theory, in practice though, nowadays very few people have a house with a basement like that anymore, unfortunately. I don't get it myself to be honest, it's more efficient use of the ground surface area a house occupies. I'd go with a chest freezer in the basement and a small fridge in the kitchen for frequently used / quick access stuff (milk, tonight's dinner ingredients).
- ghaff 6y agoYeah, you don't really want to run down to the basement every time you want some ice cubes or cream for your coffee. But that's more or less what I do. I have a (not small) fridge in the kitchen and an upright freezer in the basement. (I find chest freezers can become something of a black hole.) When I had a 48-hour power outage recently, the freezer upstairs was pretty much defrosted--which was mostly fine because I didn't have perishable meat/fish up there. But the freezer downstairs was fine. (Made a point of keeping it buttoned up the whole time.)
- pessimizer 6y ago> nowadays very few people have a house with a basement like that anymore It depends on where you live, and the type of ground underneath you. Where I live, everyone has a basement.
- ghaff 6y agoThey're probably referring to an unfinished basement vs. a finished one.
- mark-r 6y agoAn unfinished basement is still adequate for storing a freezer. Unless by "unfinished" you mean one without walls or a floor.
- ghaff 6y agoI meant the opposite. I do indeed have a (very) unfinished basement that gets a bit wet with a freezer. Many people won't want a freezer in their downstairs living room. At least that's how I took the comment.