HI Will, Here are my recommendations
1. try to find out how loud it is. Most new ones are much louder than your old SF. Fans and all that. And they do run a lot of hours per day due to small compressor size. 2. get one that is repairable locally, much higher failures today than 10 years ago. 3. energy star 4. features that you want. The only features we’ve got are ice maker. Love it and wouldn’t get one without it. 5. As to defeating the defrost, if its even possible I would argue against doing that. While yes it uses more energy on any given day for auto defrost, overall unless you defrost often, ice is a wonderful insulator and it can and will end up using more energy to keep the freezer cold with an ice build up. And you won’t be able to turn off the door seal heaters, defrosters in the fridge part etc. And heck isn’t that also part of the fun of the new fridge, no defrost? Happy shopping jay peltz power > On Sep 8, 2018, at 10:25 PM, Tom at wagonmaker <t...@wagonmaker.com> wrote: > > Almost 25 years ago, when we built our off grid home, we looked at the > limited options then available one of which was the Sunfrost. After looking > into things like relative efficiency, initial purchase cost and system > requirements, it became pretty obvious that the Sunfrost was an overpriced > option that had too many problems. For half the cost we bought a Vestfrost > and then simply added a bit more generating capacity to our array at far > less than the difference in cost between the Vestfrost and the Sunfrost. It > was the best decision on appliances we ever made. The 120 vac Vestfrost was > a bit less efficient but since we were generating our own power that > difference was irrelevant as the cost to provide the necessary capacity to > handle the efficiency difference actually resulted in us saving money and > also gaining a very reliable appliance. > > That was then and the Vestfrost was massively more efficient than the > standard refrigerators then available. Now, that model of Vestfrost is > nowhere near as efficient as the newest Energy Star compliant refrigerators > available at most appliance stores. Don’t waste time or money searching for > another DC refrigerator, there simply isn’t any benefit. It will be cheaper > to buy off the shelf and if you have to add a bit of generating capacity > getting another panel on your system will be way cheaper than than it was for > us back in the day...and back then it was still the better option. > > Tom > > > > From: Will White <> > Sent: Saturday, September 8, 2018 3:20 PM > To: RE-wrenches <> > Subject: [RE-wrenches] Off-grid refrigerator > > Hello Off-grid Wrenches, > > After 10+ years my Wife is finally sick of our Sunfrost RF-12. We'd like to > upgrade to something a little more modern that doesn't leak water all over > the floor when it's humid > > For you off-grid installers what's your go to refrigerator recommendation? > I'm going to go through the energy star website but I thought I'd consult > with the experts too. I'd like to find something that has a form factor > similar to the Sunfrost although I know that's going to be hard to find. > > Thanks, > Will White > > > > -- > Will White > Curriculum Developer > > > e: w...@solarenergy.org <> > w: www.solarenergy.org <http://www.solarenergy.org/> > p: 802-272-3092 > > PV Installation Professional > # 093006-34 > > FACT: If we covered 0.33% of the earth with solar panels, we could power the > world with renewable energy. > Do you envision a world powered by renewable energy? Be the change > <http://solarenergy.org/donate>. > > >
_______________________________________________ List sponsored by Redwood Alliance List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org Change listserver email address & settings: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List-Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/maillist.html List rules & etiquette: www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm Check out or update participant bios: www.members.re-wrenches.org
