gas fridge

[coup]

can you still buy natural gas fridge and freezer.,,,cost compared to electric?

would it pay to buy a gas fridge if you have free gas over already owning a regular fridge.? thanks

[haypoint]

Yes you can buy them Lehman's Hardware and most Amish hardware stores. RV fridges are also available in many sizes and run on propane.
They are costly. Would take a long time to pay off with free gas.

[texican]

I lived with a gas fridge for 14 years, till it sprang a leak, venting ammonia, and dying. Luckily, I'd finally been able to hook onto the grid, and get a real refrigerator.

I had/have free gas, and would dread going back to a gas fridge... unless the world ended. You cannot have ice production And ice cream at the same time. They work by sucking heat out of the fridge, not by forcing cold air in, as it is with traditional fridges. If you put warm food in the fridge, everything in it already will get warm.

You can still get them.... Lehmans and a few alternative energy stores stock them.

Oh and you will get black soot thrown into your house... I'd notice it when I brushed up against a window. Screw the crap out of your lungs, in the long run.

IF I got another one, it'd be in an outbuilding.

[Bob Huntress]

They are pricy, but yes they are still available. If I had free gas, I would seriously think of getting one.

[katlupe]

We used an old Serval for years, but instead of replacing it with a newer one, opted to live without one till we can add more power to our system. I hate living without one, but do not want to spend the money buying another gas one. Our Serval was really old, but once our kitchen was insulated, I was getting sick from fumes. We should have just put it out on the porch, but instead sold it. One reason we did that was because I want to cut out the propane eventually.

About the gas refrigerator, except for what texican said about the ice cream and ice, we loved it. I liked that it was constantly cold. Not running constantly. It kept food much colder than a electric one (or so, our experience is that it did). I wish it could have handled the ice cream though! Our freezer was one of those tiny ones and I learned to pack meat in it. It was hard as a rock when I dug it out. You will have to defrost it and many people do not like that job. It was worth it for us at the time. Now, we are older and re-evaluating our life here and not sure what our future is going to be. But I would use one again in a minute because I thought it worked better than an electric one. I never put warm food in or use plastic containers in any refrigerator so I had no problems with it warming up the refrigerator as texican did. Maybe it depends on the brand of refrigerator?

[Nimrod]

I have a fridge I salvaged from a camper. I use it when I go on extended camping trips. I recently bought a piece of land that is off grid and will use it there.

The RV fridges are set up to run on propane, not natural gas. The flame is small. Check with an RV dealer but I bet the gas to air mixture could be adjusted for natural gas.

Mine vented through the camper's wall to the outside. You could vent the exaust through the cabin's wall and not have the soot and combustion gasses inside the house. Soot formation is indicative of incomplete combustion and shoud be at a minimum.

The one I have is dorm size. We rented a houseboat that had a bigger one and it worked fine.

They do take longer than an electric one to cool down. You don't want to be opening the door a lot. It's probably not a good match to a large family.

Try finding a camper that's being junked. Craig's List may have one listed from time to time.

[Gianni]

Any new fridge will be listed which gasses it will run on.It is currently illegal to convert one to another gas not listed. 2002 or 1998, I forget which. Most gas fridges should have an option to be vented outside. I would highly recommend doing that. A large gas fridge will have 8-10 cu ft capacity. Compare that to a 27 cu ft elec. and see if that meets your needs.

[vanet]

If you do the maintinance they dont put of any soot or fumes. The 2 we have freeze ice cream and make ice fine. They come in sizes as large as any electric fridge. The prices are about double that of an electric, BUT they cost a lot less to run even if you are buying gas, and they last forever, there are literally no moving parts. I know of several Servels from the 30's that are still in use today. Most with the original parts. How many electrics can you say that about. I have a BIL who sells gas stoves, who got into the restoreing gas fridges. He said they cost very little to fix and bring top dollar. He regularly has 3or 4 for sell that he got for nothing and fixed. He says that 90% of the ones he gets dont need anything but maintanince and cleaning to work perfectly. It also really helps a gas fridge to add insulation. The new ones are well insulated, but keep in mind most older ones come from a time before modern day foams and such that super-insulate todays fridges. If I were you I would have 2 or three and freeze all my food storage if I could get free gas.

[GoldenCityMuse]

They are absolutely quiet when running, and can also run on 12V, so if you have a few PV panels, you would be set.