Refrigerator Rebuild

[Conan]

Has anyone recently rebuilt or replaced their refrigerator? I currently have a top loading ice box with a cold plate. It appears that a previous owner attempted to insulate the ice box by adding insulation to the interior. I now have corner seams filled with caulk that leak and no apparent drain (yuck). I've thought about manufacturing a stainless steel or molded plastic box surrounded with foam insul. and keeping the cold plate. Any suggestions on replacing or rebuilding this unit?

[Steve040]

Depending on how much room you have in the surrounding cupboard, I would sugest ripping out all the old attempt and starting again with polystyrene foam as your insulator, and then for the visable inside of the box you might consider using plywood with a formica lamenated to it, the corners could then be sealed with a silicone sealer and you could fit a new drain in at the same time. You could also utilise your existing cold plate and compressor. This would give you an easy clean, profesional looking fridge and probably work out cheaper than having a stainless steel liner made up. Depending on the average temp's in the area you are, I would sugest at least 3 inches of polystyrene as this would give you a good insulation which would mean the fridge unit would have to work less there fore putting less of a strain on your battery's.

Hope this helps

Steve

[budmac]

Go to rPARTS.com. They have ever thing you need to build a box. Great source for frig DIY.

[badsanta]

wow

[roline]

I added refrigeration to an ice box. I did it on the cheep but do not have the ability to freeze. The compressor/evaporator that I installed extends the ice life over what I had, but what I need to do is add insulation. I'm giving VIP's vacum insulated panels a lot of thought. R30+ in an inch thick. The plan is to add panels to the bottom and side to the hull where the foam insulation is the thinnest. I will loose volume from the ice box, but I should have to use less ice and the compressor should have an easier time keeping up to the thermal loss.