Frigidaire Freezer rust forming after only 2.5 years

If you go for disassembling it, watch carefully for where the refigerant tubes (liquid capillary and suction maybe 1/4" to 3/8") penetrate into the interior cabinet. Preserve this intact if at all possible, and then build your new cabinet around it.

My present fridge/freezer has 2.5" insulation around the freezer part and 1.25" around the fridge part, as close as I can measure. It is a fairly recent and satisfactory unit, so these thicknesses might serve as a rough guide.

Depending on how the lid gasket is attached to the existing unit, you might be able to preserve and reuse it.

You will find adhesives at the building center for these panels though in my experience the adhesive is inadequate. I suggest sandwich the insulation panels between something that can constitute a good seal; commercial bead-board is a possibility.

You may find bulk rock-wool in the nursery area will be as good a insulation as the foam; think on it how a loose fill may have advantages.

Why not empty the freezer you have now. Fix/stop the rust then bond the foam board over the outside and seal the edges so moisture can not get under and start the rusting again. Then you could cover it with some thin sheet metal to make it look nice for the wife.

skfarmer:

you wrote:......---' 1. Conduction....is likely only about 30% of your total heat transfer...'---

For a chest freezer, this 30% of the total heat transfer being due to conduction seems very low, and actually not very likely. It would only become feasable in the unlikely event a high temperature body was located very close to the freezer (for radiation to dominate), or significant gaps in the air seal of different heights (to allow convection to dominate).

Can you back up your claim that conduction would likely rank at most second or possibly last among methods for heat transfering the most heat in a chest freezer?

Benbenben

Perhaps my hasty estimate for conduction loss in a chest freezer is on the low side (30% is more likely for a house). On new freezer with a good lid seal, conduction loss may be the dominant mode of heat transfer. The point I was trying to make was that one should not assume that thin insulation means excessive conduction loss.

Probably wouldn't hurt to add insulation, but is the design really that bad?

Do the sides of the freezer seem unusually cool? Also, is this a vertical freezer?

Is it made in China?

P E Bobimm

My thoughts exactly.

Many chest type freezers bond the condensor tubing to the exterior panel to prevent condensate. Check for an air cooled or gravity condenser. What type of environment has this been in. If it was thawed the insulation may have become saturated. Is there an energy saver switch, which is a heater that can be turned off during low humidity days but should be on normally to prevent condensate.

If I were you,

I'd go out and buy a good freezer and instead, I would build an airplane... Much more rewording much more interesting and much more expensive!!!

Wangito.

I see a problem with insulating the outside of the freezer if it does not have a fan cooled condenser. Many chest type freezers have the condenser in the wall of the freezer. If you cover the wall with foam the freezer would not work because it would not be able to remove the heat from the freon.

Good point! Don't cover the condenser.

fuifnommer-

Manufacturers have already completed the calculations to produce the cheapest way to manufacture the product and still be as effective as their design permits. I would do a few tests to determine how efficient or inefficient that product is before I go and re-invent the "wheel"? The "rust" may be your fault. Did anything spill in the freezer? Was it left to react with the metal?

#1 - Keep it clean. Is it installed in a corrosive environment?

Here are a few tests to determine how efficient:

Measure the amps during compressor operation. Compare your reading to the motor tag data. If you are really interested in how this unit operates, install two schrader valves in the refrigerant circuit, one in the suction line of the compressor and one in the liquid line just before the capillary tube. Install a set of refrigeration guages and record the pressures during operation. While recording the pressures, record the tube temperatures, obtain a PT chart for the refrigerant in the machine and check your operating pressures, sub-cooling and super-heat.

Next, drop a thermometer in the freezer and record the box temperature when the compressor stops and see if the thermostat is working. Last, record how long the compressor is idle before it starts the cycle again (insulation and heat gain).

For $200, such a deal! Your parts, labor and frustration to build a better "mouse trap" will probably run you over$500-$600 or more!

Good Luck & have fun!

That is up there with my (high end, brand name) stainless steel cutlery that rusts; made in China.

The evaporator coil of your freezer is bonded to the outside of the inner cabinet. The condenser coil is bonded to the inside of the outer cabinet. Between the the inner and outer is foam insulation. This foam also acts as an adhesive and provides structural rigidity to the freezer.

Disassembly is not an option. You will spend days prying out foam from between the cabinet walls, only to find out that at a certain point you will have to cut the refrigerant suction line and capillary tube to the evaporator, in order to pull out the inner cabinet. This will require the refrigerant to be recovered.

You can build a freezer from scratch as long as money is not an issue.

Option#1: Dry your freezer out for a couple of days. Scape the rust lose and clean the area. Paint it with Tremclad rust paint.

Option#2: By a new freezer not make in China. Good luck with that one.

They don't make them like they used to. When my father sold his house there was a 30 year old chest freezer in the basement, still working perfectly. Could not remove it as walls were added after it arriving. The new owners used it for another fifteen years until the remodeled the basement. I was made in a town 80 KM from his house.

Please up load a picture where the rust can be see.

If you have a closed cavity you can buy a closed cell eurothane and pour it in. It foams up and fills the cavity and the R value is much better than blue Styrofoam. be sure to have some vents to prevent pressure build up. this product is available at most marine fiberglass shops. I would do the top door as well. Years ago we made an fiberglass cooler for rv vans and with only 1/2 inch of spray on foam a bag of ice would still have some cubes after 2.5 days in hot summer weather.

Use por-15 and be done with it

http://www.por15.com/POR-15-Rust-Preventive-Paint/products/1/

Wow guys thanks for all the responses.

Indeed: It's hard not to find a non-Chinese product. However It's Frigidaire that gave them the specifications. I am not at home now but I seem to remember that this freezer was made here in the US. Will check back later. And it is rusted only in one specific area, but you can see that its rusted not only on the outside but also on the inside. So I did do a paint job on it but I am wondering how long it will hold.

Some suggestions pointed to improving the insulation of this freezer itself, however that's not possible as the freezer can't rid its own heat than. The sides get warm when its running. I could improve the insulation of the lid as that seem very cold if you touch it. (Again silly design as the lid is not insulated at all).

A product that does allow for improving the insulation value is of course your electric water heater. Mine now has an insulation of R40 around it. The insulation in combination with an timer contributed to at least 20 dollar improvement (read decrease) of my electrical bill.

One of the suggestions stating reinventing the weel are very true. I am more in search of improving a product with a bad (read cheap) design. If I do it myself I have control over quality and efficiency, which is the appealing part of a project like this.

I guess the best thing for now is to let it run until it falls apart, and than built a new one myself. I did found a guy that built it himself Very Interesting. Here is the link.

http://www.raycotechnologies.org/build_your_own_battery_powered_r.htm

Thanks again

Fuif

Sorry forgot to login but the last comment was mine Fuif