I have an old upright freezer for storing the dog food. I'm not sure of it's age, but the sticker says it uses R12 refrigerant, and that was phased out in '92.
It still works great, but seems to lack insulation as it cycles on and off all day. Maybe 15 minutes on, then 15 mins off etc. Even when full with 100kg of food, it still cycles constantly. So it seems like it's just 'lost' it's insulation. It's in the cellar where it's only 8 deg, but the outside of the freezer is very cold.
Any ideas on improving the insulation?
I can't do the back, as the condenser and compressor are there. But what about the sides and door? I upgraded the door seal with some foam tape, but it's still loosing its cold I think.
|
|
Might want more gas. If there're no elements in the sides/top, you could stick insulation on.
|
I understand that freezers don't work well in low ambient temperatures. Link to some half baked solutions here
www.howtomendit.com/answers.php?id=97970
|
Could try removing the door cover and stuffing the space if any with roll type roof insulation, always found that as good as any and cheap, insulated a shed once by similar means and then covered the insulation with a hardboard covering inside, toasty warm in there.
If the sides are not able to be similarly accessed could you glue similar insulation on and then cover with bacofoil...might look a bit HeathR but who cares?
Are you a BARF feeder Dave?
|
|
Insulation is not going to fix it, if it was broken down there would be condensation on the outer panels. Its lacking in gas. Its knackered basically.
|
|
Agree it's time for a new freezer. Iceland do a chest freezer for £99 and quite often they have dented freezers with a hefty discount
|
Turn it off and fill it with tins of Pedigree Chum.
|
>> Agree it's time for a new freezer. Iceland...
... isn't Dave in Sweden?
|
I'm not sure it's knackered, as it gets down to temperature ok, then cycles off. In theory it wouldn't get down if it was too far gone. Although granted, it's not in it's first flush of youth!
The cheapest new ones I've seen here are about £300.
Not really a BARF feeder as such. They advocate cooking up vegetables and adding some other stuff. I don't bother with that. I've got a supplier of turkey carcases, less breasts, legs and wings. They've not been subject to 'mechanical recovery', so still have a lot of meat on them, especially the head/neck, and the other end. And dirt cheap too! So I chop them up into lumps and each dog gets a lump a day (or two if they're looking a bit thin). Some days they get lucky with a good thick male turkey neck and head - other times it's the rib cage with mostly bone. No problems with bad teeth, and I don't have a garden full of dog doo, like you get with regular food that contains virtually everything except actual meat.
|
|
We drape the old freezer in our garage with a travel rug. Easy to remove and seems to cut usage by a fair bit.
|
They advocate cooking up vegetables and adding some
>> other stuff.
We've got a pooch again now that SWM is enjoying early retirement, we bought Dr Ian Billinghurst's 'Give A Dog A Bone' book, and it makes excellent common sense reading...i used to prefer raw food before with dogs but he explains the reasons clearly with no nonsense, recommend a read.
He doesn't advocate cooking anything, but veggies should be mulched/crushed (mincer ideal) to put them into as near a state as would be found in prey's stomach.
On veggie days, usually once a week the dog gets pilchards or similar, and garlic.
Sensible to add brewers yeast and a Kelp tablet daily with all food to aid with balancing mineral intake, which we do, and the odd multivit.
Anglian Foods produce excellent frozen packs of chicken wings, poultry necks, chunks etc, plus various offal packs..good value and the dog loves 'em, and meaty bones from the butcher.
Poos are as said, very good, not the foul pile produced by dogs fed processed junk.
The surprising bonus from this diet is just how sweet the dog's breath is, and lovely clean teeth.
|
>> The surprising bonus from this diet is just how sweet the dog's breath is, and
>> lovely clean teeth.
>>
Interesting GB. My Lab's are fed on Skinners dried food (Ruff and ready) Plus Erin cooks toooooo many veg most nights so they benefit there as well. The two younger ones are as fit as fit can be. I will get the book though as it sounds like it's worth a nose. The Pilchard's thing is interesting too. I was about to ask my Vet' about that. Tinned in Tomato sauce??
Regards as ever....................Rover!
|
Just had a browse on the net. Quite interesting.
The young Lab had her first difficult retrieve tonight. Passed 9/10. Chuffed to bits.
Regards...Martin.
|
>> Just had a browse on the net. Quite interesting.
>>
>> The young Lab had her first difficult retrieve tonight. Passed 9/10. Chuffed to bits.
>>
>> Regards...Martin.
Good to see you are working the dogs Martin.
|
The only thing that keeps a dogs teeth clean are BONES.
Hard bones and sometimes some soft bones. Raw chicken wings are ideal as are fish heads.
Remember a dog is designed to eat dead rats.
|
I gave up on regular dog food years ago. Too much money, too much poo, and bad teeth/breath. You're paying for a 15kg bag of flour/maize/rice, and a whole bunch of other things added to try and bring the nutritional content up - mainly because there's little or (in many cases) no actual meat. It's very expensive wheat/maize/rice, and most of it comes out the other end un-digested.
I don't really buy the vegetables in the preys stomach thing either. Dogs are meat eaters, and any prey that wolves eat won't have a stomach full of vegetables, probably just grass and twigs. Ha, cynical I may be, but a book that says just feed your dog raw meat and bones would only be one paragraph long, and not a good seller.
The bottom line is, dogs will thrive on just about anything really. I just want to save money!
|
|
I'd say what do people suggest about cats' diets.... and then think the thread is about a freezer. :-)
|
The Pilchard's thing is interesting too. I was
>> about to ask my Vet' about that. Tinned in Tomato sauce??
Sardines too, and in oil, not Tommy sauce....you'll end up scoffing them.;)
There's a later book too, The Barf Diet or something similar, probably much the same.
Swap yer after?
Woof...Tilly....Vizsla, who's retrieving skills are OK if she's in the mood, putting some previous maltreatment right and getting her back to what passes for normal in this house.
Last edited by: gordonbennet on Thu 14 Apr 11 at 08:24
|
Well the old freezer finally bit the dust. I wrapped it in a couple of old duvets, but it was till dripping wet on the outside. As a result, the compressor was running nearly 24/7. I think it added about £25/month to my electric bill.
It popped the fuse, and then the replacement went straight away. Fortunately it was almost empty at the time.
So now I have a nice new shiny 300litre chest freezer, recently stocked with 120kg of turkeys. It's A+ energy rated, so should save me a little leccy as well.
|
A nice, new, shiny freezer is probably a good idea, given what happened here:
www.car4play.com/forum/post/index.htm?f=5&t=7037
|
"So now I have a nice new shiny 300litre chest freezer, recently stocked with 120kg of
turkeys. "
sounds like Christmas come early :-)
|
>> Well the old freezer finally bit the dust. I wrapped it in a couple of
>> old duvets, but it was till dripping wet on the outside. As a result, the
>> compressor was running nearly 24/7. I think it added about £25/month to my electric bill.
I hate to say i told you so, but....
|
Insulating a freezer - FotheringtonTomas
