how to make a simple fridge !!!! ???

[andy a]

this goes out to all you techno bods.

think i read somewhere that you can make a simple "fridge" by making a frame, covering it in a cloth and sitting the lot in water. The cloth soaks up the water, the water evapourates taking the heat inside with it.....now i`m no boffin, but i know about wind chill and i know why we sweat, it`s the bodies way of cooling us down. But could this actually cool a pack of beer ??..Maybe aiming a fan at the "fridge" may help the evapouration process....

Any thoughts wellcome !!

I`m off to the shed to see what I can knock up !!
 

[Fran]

this goes out to all you techno bods.

think i read somewhere that you can make a simple "fridge" by making a frame, covering it in a cloth and sitting the lot in water. The cloth soaks up the water, the water evapourates taking the heat inside with it.....now i`m no boffin, but i know about wind chill and i know why we sweat, it`s the bodies way of cooling us down. But could this actually cool a pack of beer ??..Maybe aiming a fan at the "fridge" may help the evapouration process....

Any thoughts wellcome !!

I`m off to the shed to see what I can knock up !!
 

If you have the leccy to run a fan you could run a fridge!!!  Or were you proposing to fan it yourself?   (My how you have changed since moving to MB Andy - all this talk of fancy cooling systems, I bet you wont even flash your ar*e this year!!!!)

F

[andy a]

Chears Fran 

[dukla]

Hopefully the Physics teacher will be along shortly to help with the formulae. Your statements, assumptions etc are all fine except the one about cooling beer. the basic 'flaw' is that sweating cools us by a couple of degrees, even in a stiff gale wind chill is 10 degrees or so. But you are trying to get your beer from 30 (or more degrees) ambient to around 5. In reality another technology would be a better starting point.

[clkgtrlm1]

Assuming the water is already cold?? I might suggest that either the cloth would dry out in the sun, or indeed the water would get warm, insulate the contents, resulting in pressure cooked, sundried beer!

Previous two years experience of cooling beer with the proper kit - a keg of Carling and a 240v Pub Chiller !

- 240v Chiller - Capable of reducing the temp of beer by an average of 25 - 35 degrees (C) (Say -30)
- Ambient air temperature at Le Mans in June - Between 25 - 35 (C)
- Temperature inside unventilated van - 45  (C)
- Liquid temperature of solid state beer inside keg, inside van +45 to 50+ (C)!

AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF DRINKING BEER AFTER CHILLER HAS BEEN ON GENERATOR FOR 1 HOUR - NO MORE THAN 15 DEGREES (C)

Stick with cool boxes and ice - tried and tested method.
Have invested in ice cube maker this year to negate trips to Carrefour.

[Big G]

Assuming the water is already cold?? I might suggest that either the cloth would dry out in the sun, or indeed the water would get warm, insulate the contents, resulting in pressure cooked, sundried beer!

Previous two years experience of cooling beer with the proper kit - a keg of Carling and a 240v Pub Chiller !

- 240v Chiller - Capable of reducing the temp of beer by an average of 25 - 35 degrees (C) (Say -30)
- Ambient air temperature at Le Mans in June - Between 25 - 35 (C)
- Temperature inside unventilated van - 45  (C)
- Liquid temperature of solid state beer inside keg, inside van +45 to 50+ (C)!

AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF DRINKING BEER AFTER CHILLER HAS BEEN ON GENERATOR FOR 1 HOUR - NO MORE THAN 15 DEGREES (C)

Stick with cool boxes and ice - tried and tested method.
Have invested in ice cube maker this year to negate trips to Carrefour.

Thats why we use a chest freezer (top loading so cold air doesnt escape when the lid is opened). A freezer usually has the capacity to chill by 40-50 deg celcius, so with an ambient of 35 you can easily get beer down to a nice icey cold drinking temp.
Only thing is that the freezer really need to be run non stop, so this year we are experimenting with a DC/AC inverter, a couple of monster batteries and a fast charger. Doing the maths, we recon that running the genny for an hour a day will be enough to keep the batteries juiced up and our beer frosty cold without annoying the neighbours with a noisy genny all hours of the day & night 

[Lorry]

What dedication to the cause.  I'm impressed.

So where did you nick the milk float from

[Lazy B'stard]

Big G, great minds think alike- this is also our plan of attack although we were hoping that the freezer would only need running in short blasts- 30m on 30m off etc.  We have a little digital thermometer to help monitor temp, would recommend getting one. We have a 2000watt inverter wired into the van to power it and have fitted a huge truck battery. As the van is running about most of the time the battery should keep charged nicely. We also plan to get freezer and contents nicely chilled before departure.

[Big G]

So where did you nick the milk float from

As the group I go with includes Robbo_28 whos' company deals in control gear for electric vehicles (fork lifts mainly) he has managed to procure the necessary electron storage devices 

Big G, great minds think alike- this is also our plan of attack although we were hoping that the freezer would only need running in short blasts- 30m on 30m off etc.  We have a little digital thermometer to help monitor temp, would recommend getting one. We have a 2000watt inverter wired into the van to power it and have fitted a huge truck battery. As the van is running about most of the time the battery should keep charged nicely. We also plan to get freezer and contents nicely chilled before departure.

sconefinger I think I remember seeing a thread where you were in discussion with my good buddy Robbo_28 about this very subject. We tried running the freezer in bursts last year, but given the amount of energy that needs to be extracted from a case of beer, and the high turnover that a group of 10 gets through we really need to run it 24/7. We roughtly do 1 case pppd, so thats 10 cases per day to be chilled from 30 deg+ to 5deg. If I had the time and inclination I could work out the amount of energy that equates to but I take enough stick from my mates about my geeky scientific background as it is, and if they get a whiff of this then it'll make the week hell. I can see it now...bloke goes to freezer, extracts a beer and yells "so how many joules was that then Big G?" would get a bit boring after a while 
We will moderate the temp by adjusting the temp control on the freezer itself...flat out during the day, half that at night . Should be OK, otherwise we will be having beer lollipops for breakfast 

[Lazy B'stard]

I'm wary of exploding Stella, makes a right mess. I'm going to see how it goes then with the power duration.   
On the subject of being geeky- i'm getting it because this year i've written down directions!

[Big G]

I'm wary of exploding Stella, makes a right mess. I'm going to see how it goes then with the power duration.   
On the subject of being geeky- i'm getting it because this year i've written down directions!

Surely the directions are just to follow anything with a UK plate from any of the freey ports. Where else in France would anybody be going that week in June???!!!

[Lorry]

As the group I go with includes Robbo_28 whos' company deals in control gear for electric vehicles (fork lifts mainly) he has managed to procure the necessary electron storage devices 

Thank god he's not in Submarines

[Piglet]

I'm wary of exploding Stella, makes a right mess. I'm going to see how it goes then with the power duration.   
On the subject of being geeky- i'm getting it because this year i've written down directions!

Surely the directions are just to follow anything with a UK plate from any of the freey ports. Where else in France would anybody be going that week in June???!!!

I tried this coming out of Auchan at Bolougne a couple of years ago - realised I was behind a car full of blokes with a LM camping pass on their window and being the world's worst (bar one) navigator I thought I'd just follow them....

Two circles of the roundabout later I realised I found the one person in the world worse at navigating than me 

[Fran]

Two circles of the roundabout later I realised I found the one person in the world worse at navigating than me 

They were probably trying to get behind so they could follow you!!  After all, its not as if they would actually stop and ask for directions is it? 
F

[Piglet]

Two circles of the roundabout later I realised I found the one person in the world worse at navigating than me 

They were probably trying to get behind so they could follow you!!  After all, its not as if they would actually stop and ask for directions is it? 
F

LOL!!  Good point, I hadn't thought about that