"Don Piven" wrote in message
t...
wrote:
Which nationaly known/brand name stores sell those solid state
refrigerators that are about four to about five something feet
high/tall? The kind of solid state refrigerators that use a heat sink
looking thingy that has fins on it is what I am talking about.I want to
buy a refrigerator like that.
Why? Conventional refrigeration systems are about 8-10 times more
efficient than a Peltier cooler. The only plus to the Peltier is that you
don't have a compressor and circulating fluid, unless you count the need
for airflow over the heatsink to keep the hot-side temperature low enough
so the cold side of the Peltier device has a chance to cool something
other than itself.
I have a small wine-cooler-size Peltier fridge, and that's about all it's
good for (well, substitute soft drinks for wine in my case). The
particular unit I have can't be set to cool below 44F, and practically
speaking, it won't cool more than 15-20F lower than ambient temperature.
During the summer when our kitchen is typically 75-80F, the "cooler" won't
get lower than 60F, and in order to manage THAT, I need to pull it off the
shelf about every other week and give it a good once-over with an air can
to get rid of the dust bunnies that collect on the fan and heat sink. It
also pulls more current than a "dorm-sized" conventional fridge.
When that thing craps out, I'm definitely not replacing it with another
Peltier unit... what good's a cooler that can't keep beer cold?
Wow...
We have one that we take on long road trips that will actually freeze
bottles of tea (not so much my Pepsi, since it's under pressure). I've seen
it get as low as -4C, with the temperature inside the car around 70-75. It
does, admittedly, force a lot of air past a pretty large pair of Peltier
junctions (it draws enough current that I've had to repair the internal DC
power connection once, and the accessory cigar-lighter socket in the car
once.) It's not a really large cooler, about .4 cubic meter or less, so
there's a good ratio for cooling. Biggest hassle I have with it is if the
lid is not tightly sealed, the panel inside the cooler that contacts the
Peltier (to transfer the cooling) will frost up and it gets very inefficient
in a hurry.