Hmm, not clear on how concentrating the load into short strong bursts helps manage load.
Furthermore, my understanding of home air conditioning systems is that they are most efficient when sized small to run all the time at peak demand. Using oversized compressors designed for freezers seems like it wouldn’t be the most efficient way to make a refrigerator.
Any advantage from top-load keeping cold air from falling out is surely counterbalanced by the extended opening time to take everything out when you want the item you think is on the bottom.
Reminds me of when I was in hot Panama City and stopped in a neighborhood corner store. The ancient chest freezers with the ice cream novelties didn’t have glass tops so you have to open the lid to see what is inside. It seemed like just a few seconds after I opened it, the shopkeeper angrily snapped at me to close it so the cold didn’t go out. It ended up being a “no ice cream for you” situation.
If you want to hack your fridge for maximum efficiency, just cover it with insulation. I suspect that most of the efficiency advantages of chest freezers are simply from thicker insulation. Camping has taught me that keeping my sleeping bag wrapped around the cooler easily doubles the time before ice melts. Fridge snuggies for the win!
The air in your fridge has negligible thermal mass compared to that gallon of milk… Thermal mass - Energy Education. Air 0.0012 (MJ/m3K) compared to water at 4.18. I think the units are mega joules per (cubic meter * degrees kelvin) but please correct me if I’m wrong. Anyway, if you’re worried about air loss just pack the fridge full of stuff that is not air.
My parents have a Fridgedair fridge and freezer both from the 60’s still trucking along. The fridge used to be their main one, but now lives on as the basement\overflow fridge
Some people have a lifestyle that requires a true chest and with no compromises; I recognize that.
We were fortunate to already have a wide variety of freezer-safe storage containers and of various sizes; that makes our use of the bottom freezer easy as far as loading and dipping into, especially since both of us work, so we freeze a lot of stuff for ready-meals to have on hand, but nothing stays in there for more than about a month. Now, if we had 5 or 6 children in the house, then Hello, true freezer chest!
I imagine that some fridge designs make it near to impossible to clean the condenser coils without having to move the fridge. Dirty enough coils can impede the cooling process. Not working properly? Check the coils.
I actually wonder if it would be more efficient, double or triple glazed can be pretty good, and not having to open the fridge to see what’s inside would save a lot of energy?
No, when it comes to appliances, they most certainly do not last like they used to. The last fridge that lasted me any length of time was a Kenmore I moved from one house to another in 2002. It was already pretty old and it went for another 10 years. The Samsung that I replaced it with had to be fixed under warranty (I bought the extended one) like 4 times. It was still there when we sold that house in 2019, so I don’t know if it still works.
But I’ve personally had to replace washers 4 times in the last 20 years, dryers 3 times.
I love lower drawer freezers, but I agree this is a real problem (for certain values of “real”). I like my giant whisky ice cubes and have one of those fancy silicone trays for them. However filling them and placing them just so in the drawer and carefully sliding the door closed to it doesn’t spill before they have a chance to freeze is not ideal.
I assume that this would more or less tank the efficiency; but a chest refrigerator with raise/lowerable vertical racks, like they use for cryogenic freezers, would offer both accessibility and style.
I don’t use one because Boston apartments (especially apartments in triple-deckers) aren’t designed for them. There is usually a space in the pantry specifically designed for a vertical fridge.
When my Mom (RIP) got one, a horizontal freezer that is, we had to have an electrician come in to install a special socket for it in the back of the pantry. YMMV
