I have read that one can bury a refrigerator in the ground to store root crops such as potatoes. Any suggestions as to how deep it should be buried, how to insulate the top, etc. Thanks for the suggestions.

-- Randall E. Ingram (Parsonrei1@aol.com), February 03, 2002

Answers

I use plastic 55 gallon drums buried in the side of a hill.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), February 03, 2002.

Bury it at just above ground level (to keep water,and so forth out) cover it with a tarp to keep the lid clean, stack hay bales (the square ones) on top and around the lid. As the weather gets cold check the inside for any frost, a little is ok, but more means it needs more hay stacked around or on top.

-- Thumper/inOKC (slrldr@yahoo.com), February 03, 2002.

Randall,

A 25 cubic foot freezer is what I used (chest type). It is in the ground up to the top of the sides so that the lid is just above the ground level. I have never had anything freeze in it with just the insulated lid for cover. We live in Southeast Ohio where the temperature will go a little below zero once in a while during a normal winter.

Moisture sometimes gathers in the bottom of the freezer, so I use a couple of 1" boards in the bottom as a spacer. The freezer had a drain in the bottom so I hooked that to a hose when the unit was buried. There has never been so much moisture that there has been a flow as far as I know, but just a bit inside sometimes. I think that it has been in use for 4 or 5 years now, and works fine.

-- Ed Copp (OH) (edcopp@yahoo.com), February 03, 2002.

Ed, Where did you run the drain hose to? Underneath the freezer or what? And didnt it get all plugged up w/dirt as soon as you buried it? Please enlighten, as I too, am considering a buried freezer as a root cellar. And do you lay anything on top of the freezer? Thanks, Sam

-- Sam McFarland (sammc0@yahoo.com), February 03, 2002.