Topic 'Re: Using Dry Ice for Cooling backup for refrigerator?' in forum 'Home Improvement' - dslreports.com

Re: Using Dry Ice for Cooling backup for refrigerator?

Mon, 15 Oct 2012 06:27:24 EDT

Bob posted :

said by dennismurphy:

I want my power company to live up to their obligation in providing reliable power.

1. That will cost more money.

2. There is no uptime guarantee. (Just like your Internet service.)

Re: Using Dry Ice for Cooling backup for refrigerator?

Mon, 15 Oct 2012 04:57:02 EDT

dennismurphy posted :

said by Bob:

Funny how people always want something for free.

No, I don't want something for free. I want my power company to live up to their obligation in providing reliable power. Just as the other incumbent in NJ does.

I'm done. You can argue the cost chestnut all you want - it doesn't hold water and you know it. I've repeated several times why but each time I show you why you're wrong, you change your argument.

Re: Using Dry Ice for Cooling backup for refrigerator?

Mon, 15 Oct 2012 04:48:05 EDT

Bob posted : Funny how people always want something for free.

Re: Using Dry Ice for Cooling backup for refrigerator?

Mon, 15 Oct 2012 04:46:47 EDT

dennismurphy posted :

said by Sc0tt:

enough troll bait. IGNORED

Re: Using Dry Ice for Cooling backup for refrigerator?

Mon, 15 Oct 2012 04:41:22 EDT

Bob posted :

said by Sc0tt:

said by Bob:

OK, how much more do you want to pay?

what PSE&G customers pay. and i want the same reliability they get.

Sorry, you ain't gonna get it for that price.

Re: Using Dry Ice for Cooling backup for refrigerator?

Mon, 15 Oct 2012 04:10:32 EDT

Sc0tt posted :

said by Bob:

OK, how much more do you want to pay?

what PSE&G customers pay. and i want the same reliability they get.

did i mention to you my MIL pays LESS than i do for her PSE&G?

enough troll bait. IGNORED

Re: Using Dry Ice for Cooling backup for refrigerator?

Sun, 14 Oct 2012 20:52:42 EDT

Bob posted :

said by dennismurphy:

So answer the question: How much more do you want to pay?

what pseg customers pay ... No more than that.

Then you'll never get the improvements you want.

Re: Using Dry Ice for Cooling backup for refrigerator?

Sun, 14 Oct 2012 20:27:24 EDT

dennismurphy posted :

said by Bob:

Urban areas have more customers and fewer trees per street mile. So PSE&G has more money and fewer trees. OK? You got it? Understand? It's not complicated.

Because Mahwah is urban, right? Understand? Not complicated.

If urban areas = more money = more maintenance, explain why jcpl's system in Morristown keeps exploding.

So answer the question: How much more do you want to pay?

what pseg customers pay ... No more than that.

Except the the east coast blackout several years ago (2004??), power here has never been off more than 4 hours.

8 days, October 2011.

Oh, and your beloved PSE&G kept me in the cold for two days with natural gas trouble. It was JCP&L's electric and a couple portable heaters that kept us warm.

Not talking about gas.

Pseg covers much more than Newark, you know.

Re: Using Dry Ice for Cooling backup for refrigerator?

Sun, 14 Oct 2012 20:08:43 EDT

Bob posted :

said by mityfowl:

I can't remember how many days people went without power but at least 4.

In 1998, some people in Quebec went without power for 6 WEEKS.

Re: Using Dry Ice for Cooling backup for refrigerator?

Sun, 14 Oct 2012 18:02:59 EDT

mityfowl posted : In 1978/9 new years we had one of the worst ice storms you can have.

The point here is that DFW became a model of tree trimming around power lines.

I can't remember how many days people went without power but at least 4.

People get so possessive about their trees but they rarely realize how it affects others, It's a chain.

I honest believe there should be rules about any power lines with trees.

People here complain and whine on TV because their tree(s) were trimmed too much. THESE THINGS GROW BACK

»www.google.com/#hl=en&sclient=ps···&bih=704

Re: Using Dry Ice for Cooling backup for refrigerator?

Sun, 14 Oct 2012 17:56:55 EDT

Bob posted : OK, how much more do you want to pay?

Re: Using Dry Ice for Cooling backup for refrigerator?

Sun, 14 Oct 2012 17:47:52 EDT

Sc0tt posted : read: JERSEY CITY power & light.

2 days isn't 10+ without power.

Re: Using Dry Ice for Cooling backup for refrigerator?

Sun, 14 Oct 2012 17:33:35 EDT

SmokChsr posted : What I have and use is not gallon jugs, but 2 liter bottles for ice ballast. They fit a bit better and work just fine. One thing to also do to prevent them from splitting (this goes for the gallon jugs as well) is to fill them to about 1.5" from the top, then squeeze them to expel the extra air and cap.

Also if you add 1-2 oz of denatured alcohol to them it will reduce their freezing point causing it to stay below freezing as it thaws out. this will help keep frozen food frozen. If you do that just be sure to mark the bottles so you don't use them for drinking water after they are thawed.

Re: Using Dry Ice for Cooling backup for refrigerator?

Sun, 14 Oct 2012 17:19:51 EDT

Bob posted : Urban areas have more customers and fewer trees per street mile. So PSE&G has more money and fewer trees. OK? You got it? Understand? It's not complicated.

So answer the question: How much more do you want to pay?

Except the the east coast blackout several years ago (2004??), power here has never been off more than 4 hours.

Oh, and your beloved PSE&G kept me in the cold for two days with natural gas trouble. It was JCP&L's electric and a couple portable heaters that kept us warm.

Re: Using Dry Ice for Cooling backup for refrigerator?

Sun, 14 Oct 2012 17:01:20 EDT

Sc0tt posted :

said by dennismurphy:

I stand by my statement - JCP&L is a third-world energy company. They absolutely suck.

you are being too kind LOL.

Re: Using Dry Ice for Cooling backup for refrigerator?

Sun, 14 Oct 2012 13:48:16 EDT

dennismurphy posted :

said by Bob:

Oh, because Union County looks just like Sussex County, right?

I'm in Morris County, but thanks for playing.

No excuses. JCP&L has spent many years running at bare minimums and delaying necessary improvements. It's now coming home to roost.

Meanwhile, PS&G continually invests in infrastructure, and it shows.

I stand by my statement - JCP&L is a third-world energy company. They absolutely suck.

Re: Using Dry Ice for Cooling backup for refrigerator?

Sun, 14 Oct 2012 12:35:00 EDT

Sc0tt posted :

said by Bob:

Oh, because Union County looks just like Sussex County, right?

thank God, no. but to each their own.

»wall.patch.com/articles/jcp-l-re···itteeman

»newjerseyhills.com/madison_eagle···87a.html

»www.northjersey.com/news/171284921_JCP.html

»hillsborough.patch.com/articles/···ovements

»newjerseyhills.com/hunterdon_rev···87a.html

»articles.philly.com/2012-09-16/n···ustomers

...............and the list goes on. i guess you're the exception to the norm. By the way, my entire area had the chainsaw weilding masses come through, and reliability still sucks. i thank them for all the free firewood though :D

anyway, back on topic...................

Re: Using Dry Ice for Cooling backup for refrigerator?

Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:03:20 EDT

Bob posted : Oh, because Union County looks just like Sussex County, right?

Re: Using Dry Ice for Cooling backup for refrigerator?

Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:00:08 EDT

anon posted :

said by Bob:

How much higher do you want your electric rates to be to pay for what's necessary to avoid such outages?

A vast majority of the outages in our area are caused by trees or limbs that fall on power lines. The lines seldom ever fail on their own.

The cure to power outages is a Stihl chainsaw but most people don't find that acceptable.

Re: Using Dry Ice for Cooling backup for refrigerator?

Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:16:08 EDT

Sc0tt posted :

said by dennismurphy:

said by Bob:

said by Sc0tt:

did you not see the huge shitstorm on the news about their storm response and the week plus outages last October?

Sure, and my question is: How much higher do you want your electric rates to be to pay for what's necessary to avoid such outages? Having extra people and equipment available to handle once-in-a-decade outages costs a lot of money.

That's a complete BS answer ... PSE&G has no problem providing extra equipment and manpower.... And indeed, they are (rightfully) proud of their reliability record.

I'm stuck in JCP&L territory, and they are a third-world energy company. Wish it were PSE&G.

exactly. my M.I.L. has PSE&G and pays lower rates for much better service.

.........and these outages aren't "once in a decade". they are several times a year. i can recall at least 15 times where i have lost power for a day or longer in my 7 years in JCP&L' s crappy service.

and just for the record, i am in a development. not in a shack in the middle of nowhere.

Re: Using Dry Ice for Cooling backup for refrigerator?

Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:40:33 EDT

dennismurphy posted :

said by Bob:

How much higher do you want your electric rates to be to pay for what's necessary to avoid such outages?

Same rate PSE&G customers pay. Why can they achieve it at a similar rate but JCP&L can't?

Re: Using Dry Ice for Cooling backup for refrigerator?

Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:27:17 EDT

Bob posted : How much higher do you want your electric rates to be to pay for what's necessary to avoid such outages?

Re: Using Dry Ice for Cooling backup for refrigerator?

Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:15:43 EDT

dennismurphy posted :

said by Bob:

said by Sc0tt:

did you not see the huge shitstorm on the news about their storm response and the week plus outages last October?

Re: Using Dry Ice for Cooling backup for refrigerator?

Sun, 14 Oct 2012 08:51:13 EDT

Bob posted :

said by Sc0tt:

did you not see the huge shitstorm on the news about their storm response and the week plus outages last October?

Re: Using Dry Ice for Cooling backup for refrigerator?

Sun, 14 Oct 2012 08:28:40 EDT

Sc0tt posted :

said by Bob:

JCP&L customer here. We don't have any significant problems.

congratulations. the rest of us do. especially in the northwest.

did you not see the huge shitstorm on the news about their storm response and the week plus outages last October?

Re: Using Dry Ice for Cooling backup for refrigerator?

Sun, 14 Oct 2012 00:07:49 EDT

norton posted : when dry ice melts it makes a great deal of gas and the fridge door would have a great deal of pressure on it from this melting.

I like the idea of a frozen milk jug or too.

Re: Using Dry Ice for Cooling backup for refrigerator?

Sat, 13 Oct 2012 17:43:01 EDT

Bob posted : JCP&L customer here. We don't have any significant problems.

Re: Using Dry Ice for Cooling backup for refrigerator?

Sat, 13 Oct 2012 16:04:44 EDT

fifty nine posted :

said by Sc0tt:

we regularly have power outages that last hours, if not days. i HATE JCP&L.

either get a generator, or just go out for a few hours.

if you decide to stay and you open it two or three times, you'll be fine. maybe pack the fridge with coors light to...... uhhhhh.....keep everything else cold? :D

I am so glad we don't have JCP&L here (Sussex REC is our poco).

Re: Using Dry Ice for Cooling backup for refrigerator?

Sat, 13 Oct 2012 14:58:07 EDT

Sc0tt posted : we regularly have power outages that last hours, if not days. i HATE JCP&L.

either get a generator, or just go out for a few hours.

if you decide to stay and you open it two or three times, you'll be fine. maybe pack the fridge with coors light to...... uhhhhh.....keep everything else cold? :D

Re: Using Dry Ice for Cooling backup for refrigerator?

Sat, 13 Oct 2012 14:32:22 EDT

AsherN posted :

said by Mr Matt:

The problem is keeping the door closed from when. The power company will not tell what time they intend to interrupt power nor will they tell me which day the 16th or 17th.

When the power goes off in the house, stop opening the door. When it comes back, you're OK.

Notice their windows are for when most people are at work.

Re: Using Dry Ice for Cooling backup for refrigerator?

Sat, 13 Oct 2012 14:31:10 EDT

Tig posted :

said by Mr Matt:

The problem is keeping the door closed from when. The power company will not tell what time they intend to interrupt power nor will they tell me which day the 16th or 17th.

Turn a lamp on. Place it on top of the fridge. If the lamp is not lit. Do not open the fridge.

Re: Using Dry Ice for Cooling backup for refrigerator?

Sat, 13 Oct 2012 12:09:56 EDT

Bob posted : You're overthinking this. Just keep the door closed. Things will stay cool all day.

Leave the house. What else are you going to do with the power shut off?

Re: Using Dry Ice for Cooling backup for refrigerator?

Sat, 13 Oct 2012 11:41:37 EDT

Mr Matt posted : The problem is keeping the door closed from when. The power company will not tell what time they intend to interrupt power nor will they tell me which day the 16th or 17th.

Re: Using Dry Ice for Cooling backup for refrigerator?

Sat, 13 Oct 2012 03:54:05 EDT

mityfowl posted : Ever think of keeping the door closed for 6 hours?

Re: Using Dry Ice for Cooling backup for refrigerator?

Sat, 13 Oct 2012 03:50:19 EDT

patcat88 posted : Mix dry ice snow (from a dry ice gun) with alcohol from a freezer (everclear (if any risk of food contamination) or isopropyl) and you have an excellent cryofluid. Initially the slurry will be boiling but it will cool down after a minute or 2 and stop boiling and now you have -100F semi-liquid. It has the consistency of a slurpie IMO. Remember to wear winter gloves with plastic gloves over the that. Dry ice, and especially a liquid at dry ice temperature will burn you as bad as fire. You will have scars and peeling skin. And it hurts longer than a heat burn.

Re: Using Dry Ice for Cooling backup for refrigerator?

Fri, 12 Oct 2012 21:19:58 EDT

garys_2k posted : I've used it for freezing the incoming main water line to a house in order to change the shutoff valve. Worked great!

Re: Using Dry Ice for Cooling backup for refrigerator?

Wed, 10 Oct 2012 18:05:08 EDT

Snakeoil posted : »en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_ice

Wow, dry ice has a variety of uses, some of which I wasn't aware of. I find the idea of plumbers using it to form an ice plug in a pipe pretty interesting, or using it as a bait in insect traps.
--
Is a person a failure for doing nothing? Or is he a failure for trying, and not succeeding at what he is attempting to do? What did you fail at today?.

Re: Using Dry Ice for Cooling backup for refrigerator?

Wed, 10 Oct 2012 16:57:33 EDT

pike posted :

said by alkizmo:

Nunya, but I bet the beer they offer you after the job is done isn't that ice cold.

Perfect.. any beer worth drinking is best served in the 45-55F range anyhow!

Re: Using Dry Ice for Cooling backup for refrigerator?

Wed, 10 Oct 2012 16:43:56 EDT

Tig posted : As mentioned, dry ice is too cold. A few pop bottles of ice will work fine. Move them from the freezer to the fridge each morning.
We always have ice bottles on hand. When long outages hit, some food gets moved to a cooler with an ice bottle or too.
For a four or five hour outage doing nothing would also be fine as long as you don't peek in every 20 minutes to check.

Re: Using Dry Ice for Cooling backup for refrigerator?

Wed, 10 Oct 2012 16:16:35 EDT

ArgMeMatey posted :

said by Mr Matt:

how much did they have to purchase to keep the food cold for 6 or 7 hours?
Was there any problem with Dry Ice lowering the temperature to much in the refrigerator compartment?

1. I've gotten a "chunk" of dry ice for $10 at a local dry ice place. It was not measured carefully, sawed off in a few seconds and given to me in a paper bag. I'm guessing 3-5 lbs.

I put it in a cooler to keep ice cream solid for a few hours for a picnic. The ice cream was so hard I took it out a half-hour early to thaw it a bit. The dry ice in the cooler lasted well into the next day and we had some fun with it the next night.

2. If you have freezer stock that you're concerned about, put the dry ice in the freezer compartment only. I wouldn't be concerned about the fridge.
--
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16TDN2870
Find your USNG coordinates:
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Re: Using Dry Ice for Cooling backup for refrigerator?

Wed, 10 Oct 2012 14:43:50 EDT

itguy05 posted : You could also make the fridge as cold as it will go the night before.
You also have to watch the temps of the food inside and make sure it doesn't get too high or you can cause things to grow. This all depends on the air temperature.

Our fridge shows its temp on a display. This summer we had an hour outage and without me opening the fridge but once the temp was already 40 degrees in the fridge and near 0 (we keep it at -2) in the freezer. The inside of the house was about 75 or 77 when that happened.

You could either do the dry ice or pick up one of those under $100 Harbor Freight 900 w 2 stroke generators. Not a lot of $$ and it could help in the future with power outages.

Re: Using Dry Ice for Cooling backup for refrigerator?

Wed, 10 Oct 2012 14:41:40 EDT

alkizmo posted : Nunya, but I bet the beer they offer you after the job is done isn't that ice cold.

Re: Using Dry Ice for Cooling backup for refrigerator?

Wed, 10 Oct 2012 14:31:00 EDT

nunya posted : The best thing to do would be - nothing.
I change out services a lot. The power is out 8-10 hours. Never had a refrigerator or freezer issue other than this: The ice in the ice maker will sometimes clump up.
Empty the ice maker bin if you are real worried about it.
Relax. It's not going to be that bad. Just don't open the refrigerator unnecessarily.
--
If someone refers to herself / himself as a "guru", they probably aren't.

Re: Using Dry Ice for Cooling backup for refrigerator?

Wed, 10 Oct 2012 14:27:30 EDT

averagedude posted :

said by cowboyro:

Fill 4-5 1-gal jugs of water and put in freezer. When the scheduled day comes move the frozen jugs in the refrigerator. Maybe leave 1 in the freezer part.
I prepared 7-8 when Irene hit last year, they lasted for 2 days.
It won't matter if you open the refrigerator few times, the thermal capacity of the stuff inside is orders of magnitude higher than the thermal capacity of all air inside.

^^2nd^^

Re: Using Dry Ice for Cooling backup for refrigerator?

Wed, 10 Oct 2012 14:07:49 EDT

alkizmo posted :

said by cowboyro:

Fill 4-5 1-gal jugs of water and put in freezer.

This
Dry ice is overkill and might actually freeze stuff around it (Don't want to freeze your eggs now do you?).

Also for the frozen jugs, try to find containers with as much SURFACE to volume ratio. It will increase the amount of cold is expels over time, so instead of "somewhat cold", it will keep the fridge properly cold.

As for packing the fridge, ya do that, but don't actually go buy anything to put in the fridge. What you can do is fill up tons of bottles with water. They'll absorb plenty of coldness which will be useful when the electricity is out.

For the freezer section, try to consume as much stuff inside before the power outage. Frozen foods cannot be "re-frozen" so gracefully. Everything will ice/frost on the surface (from the water being unfrozen on the surface during the power outage). Chicken wing bags will become one big clump of chicken wings. Ice cream will have a frozen slab at the top. You might end up having to defrost your freezer after the power outage anyway. (Actually maybe that's where you WOULD use dry ice).

Re: Using Dry Ice for Cooling backup for refrigerator?

Wed, 10 Oct 2012 13:23:36 EDT

DarkLogix posted : I haven't used dry ice for a fridge but it worked for some -40degree deep freezers with dippin' dots in them.

for those it was about one block of dry ice (sorry don't have a real measure of the size.

Re: Using Dry Ice for Cooling backup for refrigerator?

Wed, 10 Oct 2012 13:16:22 EDT

Ken posted :

said by cowboyro:

This is exactly what I was going to recommend. The key is to have your fridge packed as full as possible. The less air space you have the longer the items will stay cold.

Re: Using Dry Ice for Cooling backup for refrigerator?

Wed, 10 Oct 2012 12:36:47 EDT

Bob posted : Even if the outage is twice as long as they anticipate, you won't have any trouble as long as you keep the door closed.

Take this as a cue to go out during the day and have a good time.

Re: Using Dry Ice for Cooling backup for refrigerator?

Wed, 10 Oct 2012 11:53:50 EDT

cowboyro posted : Fill 4-5 1-gal jugs of water and put in freezer. When the scheduled day comes move the frozen jugs in the refrigerator. Maybe leave 1 in the freezer part.
I prepared 7-8 when Irene hit last year, they lasted for 2 days.
It won't matter if you open the refrigerator few times, the thermal capacity of the stuff inside is orders of magnitude higher than the thermal capacity of all air inside.