Walk-in fridge pros/cons
mordors_eye
| Posted in General Questions on
I’d like to know the GBA community’s thoughts on walk-in refrigerator pantries ( “RootCellar” is a better known brand).
Its a small room in a (typically) new home with insulation in the walls, and ceiling (I don’t know if the floor has insulation) used to take the place of a fridge. 8’x10′ is a common size, and a freezer is often included as a “side room” with its own commercial refrigeration unit.
I’m intrigued by the concept of an extremely well insulated box cooled by a commercial unit. Fridge walls may have ~2″ of foam in its exterior, but site-built can utilize much more. When a fridge can’t be repaired, functional parts like doors and shelves are discarded, but when a walk-in has a broken cooler, only that is replaced.
I’m also concerned about the door seal with walk-ins, but I’d like to hear from others. Additionally, instead of a vendor product, does the group have any thoughts about just constructing one during a new home build?
Or is the whole concept a solution in search of a problem for people with $?
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Replies
mordors_eye,
The main advantages of conventional refrigerators are their price, their quietness - and that they are a discrete piece of equipment that can be moved or replaced easily.
I've done a lot of work on two commercial kitchens. The cost of one service call is the price of a good refrigerator. A 8'x10' cold room also uses a lot of energy to cool. None of the equipment used on commercial coolers is particularly efficient, and that size room is about right for a restaurant to use. I can't imagine any household having enough things to cool to justify it.
A couple of decades ago FBH did an article on site-building refrigerators, with standard components - compressors, coils, etc - in a room behind. I think it didn't catch on because there is no advantage to doing so.
One of my favorite devices is the CoolBot: https://www.storeitcold.com/
It allows you to build a walk-in fridge around standard air conditioner.
I've never actually seen one in operation, but reading about it, the inventor seems like a hacker after my own heart.
I know a few farmers who have or have had Coolbots and they seem to work well.
+1 on previous comments, especially a typical household needing that much refrigerated space.
I've done some walk-ins for liquor stores and such, and one very important design factor is that the inner skin of these spaces is generally air and vapor tight and therefore a very good condensing surface. And, since it is always cold, there is no drying, ever. It must either be surrounded by dry, conditioned spaces (never happens in a liquor store warehouse), or it must be built with moisture-proof materials and sometimes must even include drains for the condensed moisture. They can be done with exterior air and vapor tight skins with vapor open interiors, but that is sort of non-standard. Door seals are notorious for wearing out and not being fixed. I've gotta think that the same issues will affect a residential unit.
I also question their claims of energy efficiency. Yes, the walls can have thicker insulation. But that's just factor in the energy equation. Surface area is just as important as R-value, and these rooms have many times the surface area of a refrigerator. Adding the volume necessary to have walk-in standing room increases the surface by the equivalent of a few standard fridges, and that space isn't even used for storage. I bet you find that these units use several times the energy of a fridge, or oven two or three fridges.
The only time I would think that you might break even on energy or overall cost is if you have a very large family and/or you are vary far from shopping and you need several fridges.
"Cool" idea, but definitely a luxury item. Probably not very green by any definition.
Great idea for when all your neighbors have huge Sub Zeros you can make them jealous with a ridiculous large and expensive fridge.
Walta
I owned and ran restaurants for decades. You'll never need all that space.
Unless you live in a mansion, it's a ridiculous idea.
Thanks everyone for the replies. Astute as always.
Sounds like a full-sized standup fridge and neighboring independent freezer are a much more pragmatic solution for larger families.
I did see the Coolbot. Several Youtube videos were hunters storing larger dressed animals or people with small businesses hanging curing meats.
I read that as "storing larger dressed animals or people" and thought, man, YouTube!
As a former attempted homesteader living in a rural area, I can easily imagine having and using a walk-in refrigerator. Root cellars are a traditional way to store the food you grow, but they aren't good for everything, and the warmer and shorter our winters are, the less effective they are. You may not need all of the storage space all of the time, but when you slaughter 50 chickens, harvest many bushels of apples or shoot a deer, you need a cool place to store them.
I have advised on a couple of custom walk-in coolers. I recommend putting all of the foam insulation on the interior side of the studs, since vapor drive will be strongly toward the interior. Don't use any wood on the interior; fiber reinforced plastic or stainless steel panels are better. Shelving should be stainless steel or plastic.
Doors are challenging. My projects were on tight budgets and I recommended regular, insulated fiberglass doors, with the doors and jambs fully painted.
Michael,
That's true. I have friends with hunting cabins, and locally we have families who have flocks of ducks and chickens, both of which need large coolers. But because the use is short term and occasional, they all use a dedicated shed when necessary. Maybe it would make sense to locate that in a basement as opposed to a dedicated structure, but I don't think it does well doubling as a domestic refrigerator, or occupying an area in the main living space.
The ones I have seen or consulted on were all for small, "beyond organic" farmers. Two were in their basements, one attached to their barn, and one in a shipping container. Oh, one other one was going to be in a barn but they ended up buying commercial walk-in coolers instead. I agree that having a WIC take up living space would not be ideal!