Walk in cooler mod for better efficiency

[Ike Carlson]

AKA: The most important cooler mod

We built a walk in cooler this year. It's awesome. One of the best things we have done. It loads from outside and unloads right into the kitchen. Anyway, I was keeping tabs on how much energy it was using and figured I could do something better. I poked around inside it with a laser thermometer and found that the biggest thermal loss was the air conditioner itself. The blower housing was not insulated and had fans pushing tons of different temperature air over both sides. It was a heat exchanger! And a very good one. The air was 2* different coming out than it was going in. That's bad news for any cooler. I pulled the air conditioner out, removed the case, and insulated the outside of the housing. I was shocked when I got it put back in and ran it. The temp shot right to where it was set and pretty much stayed there. I had reduced the run time by 65% just by insulating the blower! My cost to run it went from $1/day to just 34 cents. This will vary based on the size, shape, and insulation of your cooler, but it is most definitely the best and most important mod you can do.

 

[Bear_Hunter]

Have any more pics of your set up? Not gonna lie, kinda jelly you have a walk in cooler.

 

[Ike Carlson]

I wish my phone would take wider pictures. This is the best I can do on short notice. I still have to remove the wood "washers" I used to hold the foam on the doors while the glue dried, and install the paneling, but it is hopefully getting first meat put in it tomorrow.