Hi fellas (and hi to everyone else too of course),
Great comments from you all - thanks a lot!
My previous post earlier today offered a website link to help identify cost effective and low energy use refrigerators and other household appliances (note - the website has nothing to do with me personally or anyone I know…I’m just an ordinary Joe and PP.com member, not selling or promoting anything). My comments below are based purely upon my own personal off-grid experiences…I personally live permanently in a mountain house, at an altitude of 1 km (3’300 ft), in the east central Swiss Alps, Switzerland. I enjoy living the whole subject of preparedness / off-grid, it interests me enormously and warms my heart as a lifestyle.
REGARDING REFRIGERATION SPECIFICALLY: For maximum efficiency and convenience, why not consider setting up a combination of independent refrigeration methods, each purposed around the variety of different refrigeration needs that you undoubtedly have - rather than a one-size fits all single refrigeration setup. For example…let’s consider several normal “average” human needs and a few well known refrigeration brands - such as Liebherr, Siemens and Dometic:
- An ultra-low consumption dedicated refrigerator (without freezer function). Circa $300 to $400 should get a brand new A+++ 5 Cu Foot (5 ft³) one, consuming only 60-70 KWH per annum (example = Liebherr Comfort TP1720)...just to keep food short term fresh and preserved.
- A low-ish consumption dedicated chest freezer (again, circa $300 to $400 should get a brand new A++ 8.4 Cu Foot chest freezer (8.4 ft³) without defrost function, consuming 170 KWH per annum, such as the Liebherr GT2632...or...if you're thinking higher end, circa $1'100 to $1'300...for a 12.7 Cu Foot (12.7 ft³) freestanding freezer with automatic defrost function, consuming only 225 KWH per annum - such as the Siemens iQ500 GS58NAW41)...or maybe consider 2 x mid-sized freezers instead of 1 large capacity freezer, offering a backup in case of failure and also the ability to switch one off completely if frozen food depletes...thus reducing the load on your battery bank. Whatever.
- An ultra-low consumption 12/24 Volt DC/100-240 AC top-loading (chest style) portable compressor systle refrigerator/freezer, A++ 1.9 Cu Foot, consuming 70 KWH per annum via AC or 0.75 KWH per hour via DC, capable of refrigeration through to deep freeze -22 C (-7 F), or freeze -12 C (10 F) at outside ambient temperature of +32 C...such as the Dometic CFX65W...the type used by many RV'ers, travellers and campers. The CFX range is a latest Dometic design, reducing energy consumption by 30% compared with their previous designs.
So...why consider a combination approach using all 3 types mentioned, instead of a single 1-size-fits-all refrigerator? Generally speaking, we can only consume so much fresh food per week...so a good capacity refrigerator is highly valuable (compared to an oversize one, which is often exactly that)...combined with a smaller
portable refrigerator/freezer. This combination permits the
periodic transfer of daily essentials from the larger "fixed" refrigerator to the smaller portable one...enabling to keep the door closed on the larger fixed refrigerator for several days, minimising energy consumption - while you open and close the portable "chest style" refrigerator multiple times a day (where the cold air cannot escape downwards and outwards upon opening the door, due to the chest style design). The portable refrigerator can be carried around in the car on journeys, holidays or emergencies...and can also be taken into the yard/garden containing beer, wine, burgers, ice cream or whatever and be powered by a small 12 V and solar panel for the entire day without problem. In other words, you retain full flexibility for many different circumstances (normal or emergency)
and minimise energy consumption by design, all at the same time. The portable "compressor" style refrigerators (rather than the "absorber" style) help to massively reduce energy consumption whilst retaining highly efficient cooling. And naturally, the use of a fixed and dedicated standalone medium term food preservation freezer makes a lot of sense, in addition to the 2 short-term refrigeration methods described...with each of the 3 methods specialised towards its own design function, rather than being a compromise of all 3. Cost and space available are clearly very decisive factors for most people. Personally, I use all 3.
IN GENERAL:
Regarding off-grid anything
and if you can afford it
and if you have the space available - I've found that it's generally best to "purpose and dedicate" the battery bank setup and appliances specifically to the job in hand. Meaning: have
several battery bank setups, independent of each other - that are dedicated exactly towards the goal. Exactly as Chaz and Adam discussed in the podcast, some daily "essentials" are very low power consumption "handful of watt" items (such as USB charging the mobile phone, LED lights, recharging torches, small radio, MP3 player, laptop etc). Thus, having a small 12V DC setup with several recharging options (i.e. solar, or small rechargeable 3 or 400 watt "portable AC/12V/USB power pack" for traveling or emergency situations) dedicated to "low consumption tasks" will happily service this requirement and can be scaled up pretty easily as small rechargeable items accumulate.
Beyond that, most people have a sway of "smallish to mid-size" more power hungry items (e.g. larger stereo/amplifier/surround sound, powered speakers, 19" LCD TV etc, small power tools, game consoles such as Xbox360, PS3 etc, juicers and blenders, yadayada) - which individually all tend to operate somewhere in the 200 to 500 Watt range. On their own, they're pretty manageable with a small battery bank and recharger setup (solar, small portable power pack, small generator, small inverter or whatever), but start using a few at the same time and they soon overpower your setup. Having a separate "mid-capacity" battery bank for these type of items / with several recharging options (solar array, small generator etc) / with one or two mid size inverters, charge controllers etc - means: that it's possible to "manage" your way through tricky periods when your mid-size battery bank is a little depleted by the more power hungry items...and you find yourself with only 5% charge on your mobile phone, needing to do a 1 hour conference call, starting in 10 minutes time. Having the smaller setup alongside the mid-size one, solves little emergencies and keeps you flexible, while your mid-size battery bank restores its health.
Beyond that, everyone of us has a large sway of power hungry appliances, whether we realise it or not. AC powered microwave ovens, ovens generally, pumps, vacuum cleaners, irons, kettles, hair dryers, toasters, sandwich makers and the like, air conditioners, larger power tools, compressors, boilers, heating systems etc - generally any appliance that heats up, cools down, pumps, sucks, spins or blows...is going to quickly use up all the battery capacity that you have and more besides. All these items tend to come in at 800 to 3'000+ watts each - all of them... And naturally enough, if you wish to power up these kind of items, it all requires a sizeable and robust battery bank, with a combination of both sustainable and on-demand recharging sources (if sustainable is not up to the task, just at the moment that you need it be) and with some fairly heavy duty inverters, together with capable fuse boxes, heavy wiring etc for safety reasons. Whilst that is obviously the challenge, the good news is - that most of these hungry items are not as "lifestyle essential" as you might think. Not using them all the time...or better still - using an alternative instead, is easier than you might think...but only when you think about it...in advance. And if you're prepared to adapt.
Having several different battery bank setups - aimed by design towards low consumption / medium consumption / high consumption appliances and tasks, allows flexibility and scale up...and also human learning / acceptance / adaptation at a speed and intensity that suits the individual. It takes time...and money...and above all - the desire to face up to some challenges and short term inconveniences that easy-life living has mostly erased for the majority. But the reward - for me anyway - is brilliant and worth it I think.