What did you do in the garden today?

[BReeder!]

That's the kind I was thinking of, but the way you said it, it sounded like you didn't have a place to run the lines.

I should be able to get them out through the side wall. I have about 12" down from the ceiling that is above grade. Basically running it out between the floor joists and through the side wall. That's how our a/c lines run for the HVAC as well, which is also in the sub-basement.
There's not room for a window a/c though, let alone a window to put it in.

 

[BReeder!]

I did a thing...
I started another gardening thread. While I know everything is fair game here, I wanted to have a thread focused on preserving the harvest from our gardens so there's a place to look for ideas just on this topic. I hope some of you add to the conversation. Don't forget to keep chatting on this thread too though!

The Preserving Your Harvest thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/preserving-your-harvest.1485715/

 

[TJAnonymous]

yes cool bot is what we use with their recommended a/c unit 12,000 BTU. we custom framed and filled ours with 4-6” styrofoam but they make prefab R24 panels that are much easier to put up. cost difference is actually not much when you account for labor savings. we had to a bit of troubleshooting and maintenance this summer but otherwise zero problems. ours is 4x6 and stays at 37*

Hmm....your room is 4' x 6' and you are using a 12,000 BTU? I was going to build a 4' x 8' (32 SF) room. According to the CoolBot page, a 6' x 6' (36 SF) only requires an 8,000 BTU? Of course, I live in the Deep South and it tends to get really hot down here. This will be located inside a garage which is well shaded by giant oak trees.... Still, I have a newer refrigerator that I keep out in the garage right now for soda, eggs, etc... I have a problem with the heat & humidity causing the refrigerator to crank itself up to compensate which makes my eggs freeze. Very annoying.... I'm hoping to use the walk-in cooler to keep my eggs at the proper temperature (under 45 degrees) and possibly for produce too.

 

[muddy75]

Hmm....your room is 4' x 6' and you are using a 12,000 BTU? I was going to build a 4' x 8' (32 SF) room. According to the CoolBot page, a 6' x 6' (36 SF) only requires an 8,000 BTU? Of course, I live in the Deep South and it tends to get really hot down here. This will be located inside a garage which is well shaded by giant oak trees.... Still, I have a newer refrigerator that I keep out in the garage right now for soda, eggs, etc... I have a problem with the heat & humidity causing the refrigerator to crank itself up to compensate which makes my eggs freeze. Very annoying.... I'm hoping to use the walk-in cooler to keep my eggs at the proper temperature (under 45 degrees) and possibly for produce too.

Yes, we went with the larger unit so that it would not have to work as hard during the heat waves. I have similar issues with the extra fridge in the shed…..it freezes everything on the top shelf. The walk-in temp averages 36-37* with our setup even on the 100* days. We try to keep it like that for optimal temp of the other contents that make it my “_EER” cooler.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Morning Gardeners. We may see rain here later this week

 

[Acre4Me]

Garden is producing lots of tomatoes!

My FIL built a garage attached to his house bc there wasn’t one-about 20 years ago. Made it 10’ or so wider than needed, added an insulated cold room since he has over 100 apple trees, and a big garden, and other fruit trees (but only a few of each), so needed a cold room. He also used a window a/c unit that he altered the thermostat on. Has worked well for him all these years, and has replaced the a/c unit once. He is in the high and dry desert of Eastern WA, so isn’t dealing with humidity. His cold room is approx 8’x 10’ is my guess.

 

[BReeder!]

This walk-in cooler idea really has me intrigued. Eventually we went to finish our sub-basement and turn it into more living space rather than just storage. I need to do some concreate and drainage work first so it's a while out, but I could see have a walk in cooler down there the size of a closet. That would be awesome! And it would replace the extra fridge we have in the garage that goes on the fritz often enough to be annoying. Wondering if I can DIY a walk-in freezer even. Now that would be SUPER AWESOME!

 

[pennyJo1960]

Think I can settle with the two fridgerators and a stand up freezer but just the three of us here..

 

[TJAnonymous]

Think I can settle with the two fridgerators and a stand up freezer but just the three of us here..

I can understand.... My youngest child is a junior in high school. Before long, we will be empty nesters. But I'm a big proponent of 'waste not, want not.' I really do try to save, store, and repurpose. I also like to stock up... Unfortunately my house has very little storage space. I currently have two 25 cf refrigerators and a very large deep chest freezer. All are full. So is my pantry...lol. I'm hoping that this little walk-in cooler idea will give me some place to store all the eggs I sell in a way that they won't freeze....but also my extra produce and animal feed. All basically things I will still need even after the kids are gone.

 

[Isadora]

I killed a lot of squash bugs. I hate them.