Refrigerator

What exactly is your goal? Do you want to cool the area more, or faster? In either case insulation is probably the first thing you can work on. Depending on the size of your unit, you can look for heat leaks in the insulation that let heat into your cold area.

If you are opening the door often then there is not as important and you need to look at how to remove more heat. First ensure your inside blowers are cleaned often and free of ice and the outside (hot side) is free of dust or obstructions. Make sure the hot side is not in the sun, or a closed in space; if either, cover and / or ventilate it.

If you have already done all that and you are still not removing enough heat, start considering installing a larger unit because the enhancements of water-cooling your hot side heat exchanger are only really significant when removing large values of heat.

That being said, if your area is small and you are looking to improve your efficiency you could look into this article on solar thermoelectric chillers.

Drew K

Don't see any real benefit, unless you can turn the water shower into steam with the heat exchanger.

During 33 deg c and above room temperature, recirculating cooling water after showering can be used.the moisture condition is the limiting factor.17 deg c has arrived in 33 deg c room temperature when water is stored in metal container having wet cloth as outer covering of container.It is used for room cooling also with metal false sealing with wet cotton above it.It is a type of energy conservation.Forced air can be applied for cooling the water to be used in ice plants

It could actually be quite a good idea, but it depends on many things which you would have to calculate/work out for yourself.

Do not ignore the points raised by SimpleMind re. complexity, humidity and corrosion.

But considering that a heat exchanger will always work better and more effectively to water rather than to air (the difference in heat transfer is quite significant, whether the water evaporates or not), it ought to be worth considering, as long as it is not too complex mechanically.

Consider also that the eficiency (or absorbed power) of the refrigeration system is also a function of the temperature differential between condensor and evaporator. If you can reduce the temperature of the condensor with a water spray without too much complication, then why not?

Home refrigerators usually use a capillary tube as the liquid metering device, and it depends on sufficient condensing pressure to supply enough refrigerant to the evaporator.

If the water has minerals in it, it may eventually build up scale on the condenser tubes. Therefore caution is advised.

I usually have more of a problem with a build-up of dust. This can get quite thick, and must have some effect on heat transfer, possibly more than scale (Perhaps I should clean it more often, with water!). I can't imagine that you would get much scale from a water spray onto the condensor.

Where does "metering" enter the equation. It's a closed loop circuit involving nothing but recirculation. And the pressure and condensation is aided by a compressor, not "condensing pressure".

For the capillary tube (or expansion valve) to pass enough liquid, there must be sufficient condensing pressure; it is the difference between condensing and evaporating pressures that drives the refrigerant through.

Of the three modes of heat energy transfer, you are fighting against Radiant heat with a home refrigerator.

Apply a radiant barrier coating to the front, sides and top. It will look just like white paint and a lot less hassle than what you are thinking about doing.

Go to my profile page and you will see a URL to the website.

The assistance provided by this could come from increasing the heat transfer area, assuming the water tank works as additional surface. However, if your humidity is under 99%, you will probably gain more just by evaporative cooling. This consumes rather than recirculates the water, but can be fed by a simple wet cloth wicking up water from a tank.

In dry areas of moderate temperature, successful refrigerators can be built using only evaporation. In areas that are less suitable, evaporation can still help.

See "Swamp Cooler" also.

I think this is what you really need

http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Conservation/chest_fridge2.pdf

In order to get the highest efficiency possible....keep the door closed at all times.

I am assuming you are trying to reduce operating costs.

You may not have this issue, but net energy requirement is quite low when you are heating the space the fridge is in. Moving the exchange out of the building envelope is not good.

I think that you may have an easier time extending the refrigerant circuit into either the ground or a pool of water. Either way, I would guess you'll save less than you spend, even over long periods, because of the complexity of systems.

As Tornado said, the issue depends on the extend of cooling achieved without reducing the pressure driving the capillary tube type expansion valves.

Since the extra energy is derived from Solar panels, then maybe it is worth it: Only when the ambient temperature is too high, and really speaking, when there is more heat input into the refrigerator than the normal operation [ that is you might speed up the cooling process at the beginning when first starting the fridge]. When the fridge is in the normal cooling range, this process will not be justified for many reasons of maintenance and corrosion ...

To increase the efficiency of a fridge I have used small mains fans running off a thermostat to turn the fans off when not needed.

That is an answer if you are simply wanting to cool and run your fridge in a better manner.....

Now if you want to capture the heat, that's a different problem....

Yes. During hot summer efficiency improvement will be significant. Some old designs of split a/cs have provision for water sprinkling arrangement at condenser.