Walk-In Cooler

With East Texas hunting season coming up, our hunting bunch is interested in building a walk-in cooler on the lease. We have 220V power. Planning something about 8 x 12. We will only use it a few weeks a year to hang the whitetails until we can get around to processing them, so ultimate efficiency should take a back seat to initial expense.

Have any of you had any experience with building a homemade cooler such as this?

Pointers and comments will be welcome.

Ben R. Ogletree, Jr. Livingston, TX

'Ben R. Ogletree, Jr.' < This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it > wrote in message

Look for used store cooler like a milk display case, and look up commercial refrigeration in the yellow pages. They may know of some for sale or a way you can rent one for the season Consider this A used cooler in a straw bail house. Get rice straw at 1$ to 2$ a bail and billed walls up 8 feet. Some boards for a roof and a layer of bales on top and you have insulation that will surprise you. The straw my cost 100$ and this is a cheep and temporary way to go. I hope this helps

When I was a kid, I worked for a guy who built a walk-in on his farm. He put it inside a barn, so he didn't have to worry about it blowing away or being water tight. It was just a 3/8' plywood box with a foot of insulation and hardware screen over the insulation to keep the mice out. The only part that had any strength at all was the front, where he hung the door. I don't know where he scavenged the compressor, but it was a real antique ammonia cycle with a fan across the coils inside the box. The coils outside just ran by convection. It was very low power, and worked fine to get things down to about 40 degrees, even on very hot

Just a couple of thoughts to investigate.

Check out what a rental would cost.

Build a small storage building using standard materials insulating with rolled R-19 fiberglass and foam sheeting. Then use it as a storage building during the off season. Cool with an old window unit. Possibly pickup a used portable and do the same.

Look for a restaurant going out of business, or surplus restuarant equipment sales place...

Poole