Why do Canadians need freezers and refridgerators when it's below 0 degrees outside? ?

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c3pnis

This actually isn't a bad idea. An ordinary compressor-run fridge can run as usual, but with a few basic modifications, like a thermostatically operated valve, and draft fan, the compressor could shut off, while supplying sub-zero air to the freezer (a fan is far cheaper to operate than a compressor). The freezer fan blows cold air to the fridge compartment.

Good, green idea. Any decent handy person should be able to modify his/her fridge to do this. Unless the fridge is located along an outside wall, then the duct from the outdoors will need to be well insulated.

Lollerskates

Shut up man, why waste time on a stupid question? Loser.

Ed P

Not all Canada gets that cold. Do more research By the way few live in igloos

Karen L

This question is so silly that there's almost no point answering it but I suppose if you ask then you need some information and I've got time to waste tonight, so here goes.

I guess you haven't heard the old joke about Eskimos, and I'll use that term since the joke goes back to when Inuit were called that, who bought refrigerators. They used them to keep the food from freezing.

The sort of thing you propose actually has been 'invented', but since the advent of refrigerators and the prevalence of electricity, it's rarely used. It's called a larder. It's a cupboard, usually in the kitchen or perhaps in the pantry, which has doors on it like all the other cupboards, but it's vented through the exterior wall to the outdoors. With, as you say, screens on the holes going to outside to prevent rodents and insects from getting in. I had a house once which had one.

The trouble with a larder is that its coolness depends on the outside temperature. If it's below 40F, fine, but once it climbs above that it loses much of its value. And it better not be on the sunny side of the house which can get quite warm even when the outdoor temperature is on the cold side. For most of Canada, then, such a thing has limited usefulness since many places have very warm temperatures for 6 months of the year. Why bother having such a thing when you can only use it half the time? Stuff would be too warm for part of the year and possibly too cold for another part. I suppose you never lived without a refrigerator for any length of time. If you had you would know how truly convenient they are.

Seems you don't know much about chimneys or basic physics either. I don't know much physics myself but I do know that warm air rises, and if you give it a narrow place to rise through, it can do so surprisingly quickly. The design you propose has one fault. Okay, more than one, but one major fault. If this device was in a house that was heated, I think the warm air from the house would constantly be trying to rise up through the vent on the roof, passing through this 'refrigerator' on the way. Mostly all you'd get would be warm air passing through this device and out the roof vent. There would have to be a really tight seal on the door. The warm air rising from the heated house would prevent any cold air from getting down through the tube. So there.

petey

ur whacked

scubabob

I guess you've never accidentally left your Molson Canadian on the porch. It's better off in the fridge. Frozen beer breaks the cap seal if not the bottle outright making it a flat, spilled, hard wobbly pop. At least it'll stay liquid and fizzy in the fridge.
Where do ya think my turkey spent the last week? On the porch. I don't need a freezer here, just a box to keep critters out.

old lady

Yes. But when it's below freezing only for one or two days of the year, you really do need a refrigerator or a freezer.

Tyler

we could have tubes connecting to all of our freezers...... but then freezer/fridge manufacterers would have to re-design all of their products.

that isn't practical.

tuppenybitz

and what do we do in spring summer and fall?
summer in canada can be extremely hot

its only cold in winter and not all of canada is that cold

Jeff H

Well for one thing a refrigerator does not freeze items, it merely keeps them cold to prolong their usable life. Many products stored in a refrigerator would be damaged if subject to freezing temperatures. Unless you like frozen milk on your cereal this would not work. You would have to use electricity to regulate the temperature constantly so this would not show any savings in the long run over the modern refrigerator.

As for using the cold temperature to actually replace the freezer in your house it may be feasible however the idea of venting through the roof would probably not provide adequately regulated temperature inside the unit. Constant temperature is better when storing food, whether it be fresh or frozen, so any device that is subject to external temperature variations would possibly reduce the storage life of any type of food. As in the above case, some form of electrical device would be required to monitor temperature. This would reduce any savings that you could expect and, although it may save money in the long run it would have to be balanced against the life expectancy of the product itself. I am sure that there are people who take advantage of cold weather already to store their food however the chances of a device such as this making a significant difference are slim.

isotope2007

something Americans could consider as well given the low temps in the northern states in the winter, except the Washington coastal areas. Should be mandatory in Alaska.

This winter is unprecedented all over the world for extreme weather and low temps. Most winters my annuals just winter over and dont freeze and die - and yes I live in Canada.

It has gotten colder here this winter then it ever has before, horrendously cold !!!

Mug R

This is one of the silliest things Ive seen to suggest for energy savings. Really Laughable.It would be small saving for a small amount of people. It would be much smarter to find a way to convince Canadians to downgrade from Giant Deep freezes to a smaller version and to buy less frozen garbage to feed their families.

Dead Day Afternoon

What if you put your food outside and a polar bear gets it?
Or your neighbours help themselves to your s hit!

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