Cold is the sailor, cold in his attic
And he wants to get colder.
Jim is trying to get a cooler in his attic.
Now, it’s possible to get a walk in cooler as a kit, and you can get them through just about any opening. but they are spendy:
some are over 5k, and even a cheap one will cost around three grand.
I’m not sure what Jim means when he talks about the cost of a freezer in a garage; a freezer costs the same to operate wherever it is- if it’s hot, it still has to move heat from inside the unit to outside, and an attic will be as hot as a garage. Plus, the idea of having a garage mounted generator makes it a double benefit to have the freezer out there.
A couple of wall mounted freezers, or even a small chest freezer in the rafters, will work perfectly, and cost a couple hundred dollars. Additionally, an electric fan in the garage roof will make it more efficient, and a couple sheets of styrofoam glued aroud the outside of the freezer will make it keep cold longer even in the event of a power failure. Any other ideas for Jim in comments?
Jim, do me a huge favor and take a pic of the opening from the ground level and from the inside of the attic, plus give the opening’s current measurements and the freezer’s measurements.
I promise. It can in that hole for under two hundred bucks.
Dick, I’ll e mail Og some pics tomorrow. Measurements, too.
Freezer isn’t purchased yet. One of the smaller chest freezers as sold at Lowe’s, Home Depot or Sears.
The pics will prove the problem. I’ll also take pics of the insualtion system in the attic. The whole of the attic is within the insulation envelope of the house. Attic never gets over mid 80’s even in 100+ weather.
One way or another, there’s gonna be a freezer up there.
Jim
Sunk New Dawn
Galveston, TX
I just don’t know about the concept of a freezer in an enclosed attic. Down here in God’s Country our attics get HOT. REAL HOT. WAY hotter than our garages or barns. Not even close. Maybe if he puts some exhaust fans in the gables to remove most of the heat build up. I can go into my attic in summer and within a couple minutes I’ve got sweat dripping off my nose, runnning into my eyes and running down into the crack of my arse. Not so in the garage or barn.
I’d be afraid that an elcheapo freezer unit would run constantly and be a fire hazard during summer.
Well, basic energy efficiency is more than an enviro-whacko concern.
The attic sounds difficult to access and probably warmer than it needs to be to start with. If there’s literally no other space available, it could be done, but otherwise, why?
I’d go with a crawlspace under the floor first. Even dig it into the ground and make a concrete liner. (Concrete is only a couple bucks a bag.) With the cooling unit above ground, and storage below, you get a lowered initial temp from ground conduction and better heat exchange for the unit.
Walk-in coolers may cost several grand when you have them installed, but the basic pieces aren’t too bad, and they can be done by pretty much anybody who takes care to seal them well. You have to deal with moisture issues from the temperature differentials, but that’s no worse than sealing a shower.
You could even get sheet styrofoam and some flat shower stall panels, rather than the bonded aluminim and styrofoam sandwhich your average commercial unit is made of. Glue the pieces together yourself. 4″ insulation-grade styrofoam is available in 4’x8′ sheets at Home Depot. This is a little thinner than commerical walk-ins, but better than the normal home applicance. Silicone caulking is 3-4 bucks a tube at most. Now you’re talking a few hundred bucks, max. The cooling unit is the most expensive part this way.
Alternatively, you could frame the enclosure with hardy-backer board, and tile it inside. Anything that allows you to rinse it down with a hose on occasion. Insulate the hell out of the outside, again with one or two layers of 4″ styrofoam panels from Home Deopt.
As a side note, there are even passive A/C systems designed by putting a long enough loop of air pipe buried ~6 feet down in your back yard to take advantage of the earth’s natural average temp (varies a bit by latitude and depth). Put a solar tower (black tube exposed to sunlight) on one end and an air intake with a filter under the floor somewhere for the other end, and you have a naturally-circulating passive system that cools your air in the summer time. In the winter, feed the intake into you furnace so that you get your average ~50 degree input air going into the furnace rather than whatever freezing temps you see in the air outside, and you have only ~20 of temperature difference to make up with your electric bill.
When I eventually build my own home (the one I own now is far less than optimal), I’ll be designing in some of these features. Having been a commercial cook at one point, I was totally spoiled by the equipment available to even poorly thought-out commercial kitchens.
Guys, let me reset the scenario a bit.
1. The attic in THIS house is within the insulation envelope. Iceliene foam is applied to the underside of the roofing deck itself. Even in mid-summer (TEXAS mid-summer) attic temp doesn’t exceed mid 80 range. There is NO insulation in the traditional ceiling joist location.
2. Hurricane Ike pushed 5′ of water at my address. Means anything sub-grade is right out.
3. My un-insulated garage can see 120+ interior degrees mid summer. My attic sees only 80s in mid-summer.
4. The garage, being (unlike the house) at ground level, saw 5′ of water inside from Ike. I lost a ton of gear from Ike, not going to make that mistake twice. Believe me, everything below that line is NOT a permanent installation. Tools are set to go in garage rafters or otherwise evacuated.
Og now has pictures, which he is free to post.
Fabricating a freezer in the attic may become necessary, unless I can find a way to hoist an existing chest freezer up there without too much mayhem to existing structure.
And, at only 1,400 sq. ft., there’s really no place to locate a freezer in the house proper.
It’s why I came to Og, cause this crew will know how to “think outside the box”. In order to do that, y’gotta understand that this is NOT a standard house with a hot attic. The attic is temperate, and useable.
Assimilate that fact, and constructive solutions are highly appreciated.
Again, thanks Og, and everyone!
Jim
Sunk New Dawn
Galveston, TX
“The attic in THIS house is within the insulation envelope.” – Jim
Well, that’s a horse of a different color.
Post the pics and we’ll figure out something. Even if it’s wrong.
Then I’d go with fabricating the enclosure either using shower components or tile- just make damn sure the moisture barrier is good and tight. You definitely don’t want moisture trotting out your roof or your ceiling, especially if you’re adding significant weight to said ceiling.
A good, sturdy set of drop-down attic stairs for safe access. Get the heavier duty ones. The hevier the btter, trust me you won’t feel like it’s overkill once you have them inplace. I put the 300lb capacity one in my garage, and wish I’d gone with something even heavier. With my ~240 plus whatever I’m carrying up the steps, they just seem flimsy.