new fermenter

[jcalisi]

So my old chest freezer I was using as a fermenter gave up the ghost.. so I now am using an upright freezer. I have it wired and ready to go but wanted to see if anyone has tried using the defrost heating element for heat. I don't know what the duty cycle are on those but if I could I would like to use it. only really needed during winter months or the occasionally overshoot. otherwise I can use my small space heater as I did before.

thoughts?

 

[day_trippr]

An intriguing idea that I've not seen anywhere on hbt before, and my Google-fu only turns up old posts where the author espoused the concept but apparently didn't follow through.

I don't know what the btu output might be, but given such heaters are usually buried in the guts of the machine I imagine you'd need something analogous to an evaporator fan to run while the heater is on to be effective...

Cheers!

 

[jcalisi]

I tried searching for a while but came up blank as well. However, I did connect it just to see and I think you are right it's actually under the coil and gets really hot fast. Without moving air I don't think it would do much. I think I will just use my small space heater for now. However, I can use its power connections to run my heater so I don't have to create any other holes. It was worth a shot.