My drying Fridge


 
S

steve jordan

New member
CURINGCHEST.jpg

I NEED A BIGGER FRIDGE
 
Do you use a secondary temp control, or does it hold >40* on its own, since its a wine fridge?

do you circulate air?

is that ice along the back?
 
Originally posted by j biesinger:
Do you use a secondary temp control, or does it hold >40* on its own, since its a wine fridge?

do you circulate air?

is that ice along the back?
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It holds between 55 and 60. It came with a temperture gage.
It has a fan in the back that helps circulate the air, a little.
That is ice, haven't seen anything negative from it yet. Can u think of anything to make it better?
 
Steve,

hard to recommend how to make it better, you don't indicate if you're having any problems with it...

if it's working, there's no need to change it imo.
 
how's the humidity? I've seen small (personal) humidifiers that would work great in there but the humidity controllers are pretty expensive.
 
Originally posted by j biesinger:
how's the humidity? I've seen small (personal) humidifiers that would work great in there but the humidity controllers are pretty expensive.
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I just got a new freezer chest that my humidifer will fit in. Once it is up and running I will post some pictures. Needs a little tlc!
 
Looks great Steve,

Do you do anything for air circulation? I would imagine with the fridge that crowded you would have some pretty significant localized humidity issues.
 
Originally posted by Dave from Denver:
Looks great Steve,

Do you do anything for air circulation? I would imagine with the fridge that crowded you would have some pretty significant localized humidity issues.
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For now, I fan them twice a day and move them around ever couple a days. Seems to be working, just a pain!
 
Yeah, that does sound like a pain, I guess that's why I'm trying to get a fan set up inside to do the work for me so I can just leave it alone for a week at a time.
 
Ice on the condenser in a wine fridge is usually an indication that it's running at too cold a temp for too long, or the thermostat is broken and unable to manage the temperature. I had this problem with the cooling unit in my wine closet, and had to replace the thermostat. It sounds like you've been running it this way for a long time, but I'd expect that over time you might have problems with the condenser or motor.
 
I should have said that I cure a lot of charcuterie in my wine closet, which holds at 55-57 degrees and about 65-70 percent humidity. When I'm making fermented sausages (like sopressata), and using collegen casings rather than natural ones, I find that the humidity needs to be nearer 80-85 percent for the first two weeks or I get case hardening, especially on casings larger than 60mm. When I make a Genovese salami in a 100mm or 120mm casing, the problem of case hardening can be especially common if the humidity gets down too low when it is first hung to cure.
 
Originally posted by StevenH:
Ice on the condenser in a wine fridge is usually an indication that it's running at too cold a temp for too long, or the thermostat is broken and unable to manage the temperature. I had this problem with the cooling unit in my wine closet, and had to replace the thermostat. It sounds like you've been running it this way for a long time, but I'd expect that over time you might have problems with the condenser or motor.
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Steven,

I tend to agree with you partially regarding stress on the motor, but during the summer my chamber runs with ice on the condenser as well.

Because it's so hot where I have my chamber (garage) the condenser has to run all the time. I had to add a humidifier to the chamber because the condensation caused by the condenser running all the time removed too much water from the air. The extra water added by the humidifier ends up as ice on the condenser before too long.

The problem is once the condenser is covered in ice it's not as efficient at cooling since its evaporative power is lessened. But it doesn't necessarily indicate that there's something wrong with the thermostat, it could just be environmental factors.
 
Dave,

I agree, but have a suspicion that the motor will run more and work harder to compensate, shortening its lifespan. But we all end up making modifications as we go. My wine cooling unit is a breezaire. Does a terrible job of draining out the water that accumulates on the condenser. It is supposed to go through a small tube onto a plate that is warmed by the motor, causing evaporation and raising the humidity in the wine closet. Twice, the drain clogged altogether, water leaked from the unit, and I had to repair some drywall. So I had my contractor drill a drain in the front of the unit. But that does such a good job of draining off the water that the humidity levels in the closet fell. So I bought a small humidifier! Trial and error and corrections seem to be the name of the game
 
The condenser is on the outside of the cabinet where the the heat is removed, where the cooling takes place is the evaporator. If your evaporator is icing up at the inlet you may have a refrigerant leak. One way to tell is if the compressor is running continious and not maintaining temperature.
 
Apropos to this discussion, I had to de-ice my drying fridge as it had gotten out of hand - the layer of ice on the evaporator was at least 2 inches thick and the fridge was neither cooling efficiently nor evaporating any of the humidity put out by the humidifier inside. There was so much extra moisture available in there that all surfaces were wet, and water was running out from the front door of the fridge.

I removed the salumi in there to some zip lock bags and put them in my normal fridge, then unplugged and let the fridge warm up until I could pry sheets of ice off the evaporator. I probably removed a gallon of solid water.

Now the fridge is back to normal, cooling quickly and pulling moisture from the air. I think during the peak of next summer I might just have to take a couple months off from drying; this is a pain in the tukkus.
 
I wonder if thermal mass has something to do with it. I doubt the wine fridge is designed to run empty for long periods of time. A bunch of bottles of wine will have a lot more thermal mass require a lot more thermal energy to cause changes in temp that will trip the thermostat.
 
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