Anybody out there build a walk in freezer?

The panels I've seen for the walls are just sheet metal sandwiching polyurethane foam.

The door/frame and the chiller would be the expensive part...

 

Cecil, my hunting buddy and I built a cool cell, 12inch roof, 12 inch walls and 6 inch floor 12feet by 12 feet, 8 feet tall inside. This was sprayed by a commercial foam guy, so it is sealed very well.. 30,000 btu window unit with a COOLBOT runs it at -15 even in the hot days of summer. It under his patio deck in the shade. about 1500 bucks in it. Even found a commercial freezer door. Way cheaper than a walk in to run and runs on 120v. He processes a lot of deer for a series of urban hunts. last year about 150. plus hogs and a couple bison. But the coolbot works https://www.storeitcold.com/.

We are currently doing wall insulation on a 6000 sqft building. for something awesome. The HVAC architect , says he was impressed with the cooler and the cool bot.

 

For every inch of Closed Cell foam....whether it is sprayed or bought in 4x8 sheets is a R-7. Look at most coolers...chest freezers...walk in coolers...they`re walls are not very thick. You could get by with 3 -4" of foam easily....on ALL sides. Contact your local lumber yard and ask for info on SIP panels (solid foam glued to OSB sheathing). I believe you once said you had a log cabin...that is what is more than likely on your roof.

 

marking

 

Cecil, I built my walk-in cooler/freezer years ago out of wood, foam and a cooler door and frame. Powered it with a milk cooler unit (Coplomatic ) that ran on 220 power. It ran for eighteen years then finally wore out. New, modern replacement unit cost me $2000 and $200 for electrician. If I had to do it again I would find a salvage company that salvages restaurant equipment and purchase a salvaged unit. I could have bought one for less than $1500 when I built mine but didn't go looking for one like that.....never thought of it. There are units out there that go inside a building like a restaurant basement and were never exposed to the weather and are cheap to buy and run. Could put it inside of your pole building. Good luck,JL

 

If you buy a cooler/freezer unit be sure that it has a melt down cycle built into the evaporator unit...'cause freezers frost up to the point they don't freeze any longer until thawed. I set mine to go on cycle at 2am and melts for an hour. Good luck JL

 

I am a chest freezer guy myself. I can run ten chest freezers cheaper than you can run one walk in freezer. I also think that walk in freezers are very inefficient utilizers of space, with a lot of "dead space" between shelves. Another huge negative is that if you have a chest freezer go down you are at risk of loosing a small percentage of your specimens, or at a bare minimum you have relocate them, if your walk in goes down you are in deep chili!!! You can also divide your chest freezers in half and label them as freezer 1a and freezer 1b which helps in maintaining and simplifying your inventory process (We all hate digging thru freezers, especially when the hunt is fruitless!!!!)
Most guys spend $500-1000 Bucks a month on utilities on a walk in and I can run ten for way less than half that.
Just my $.02 w a lil focus on the opposite end!

 

I agree with Taxiserve. You can organize a stand up freezer to hold many accessible fish under 25 inches or so. Walk in freezers aren't very efficient, especially when they aren't full and, if I'm not mistaking, you shouldn't unplug them for any extended time, as in when they are empty.

 

Off the subject of freezers but still regarding refrigeration. I have thought about building a room and running a regular air conditioner wondering if I could get it down to around 34 degrees for the purpose of defrosting critters without the risk of spoilage. I didn't want to invest the time and money into experimenting (time mostly) also being unsure of what rating of the unit I would. A refrigeration guy told me a house unit would never work for what I was wanting but I still wonder.

 

Seems like we have a mixture of "freezer" and "refrigerator" replies. The 220 run appliance is the most efficient source when using large amounts of electricity. They do not cost hundreds of dollars a month to run, people might be conflating their entire monthly cost of electricity. The problem with modern freezers whether upright or chest is most are "frost proof", which basically will freeze dry whatever is in there. Be it deer ear tips or fish, many taxidermists are having issues with the newer appliances.

 

I made a 6 by 8 walk in cooler for bear season. It's cooled by a 7000 btu air conditioner with the coolbot adapter. All I do is set the air conditioning unit at its coolest setting (60 degrees) and the coolbot tricks the air conditioning into thinking it never gets to 60. My cooler will go from 80 degrees to 34 degrees in well under an hour. Once it's down to temperature the air only kicks on three it four times an hour. I use it a month or so out of the year for chilling warm bear and thawing frozen ones that won't fit in fridge.

 

Cecil, my hunting buddy and I built a cool cell, 12inch roof, 12 inch walls and 6 inch floor 12feet by 12 feet, 8 feet tall inside. This was sprayed by a commercial foam guy, so it is sealed very well.. 30,000 btu window unit with a COOLBOT runs it at -15 even in the hot days of summer. It under his patio deck in the shade. about 1500 bucks in it. Even found a commercial freezer door. Way cheaper than a walk in to run and runs on 120v. He processes a lot of deer for a series of urban hunts. last year about 150. plus hogs and a couple bison. But the coolbot works https://www.storeitcold.com/.