Climate controlled storage cabinet?

[Steve Mathews]

Every year I have to throw away some of the consumables (glues, paint, etc.) stored in my shop/barn due to either freezing or high temperature. Has anyone put together a climate controlled cabinet to prevent this from happening? Applying heat to a cabinet would be easy with a simple light bulb and thermostat but cooling it has me stumped.

[Lee Schierer]

An old working refrigerator would give you the cooling in the summer with your light bulb and thermostat for the winter months. Set the temp control on the refrigerator to a higher setting than you would normally use for food. You would have to balance the value of the stuff you would throw away if it got too hot or too cold against the cost of power to run the cabinet to see if it is worth it.

[Bryan Lisowski]

You could try building a plywood box lined with insulation/ridgid foam and see if that makes a difference,

[Greg Waits]

I use a old fridge and a timer. In the winter I use a 40watt light bulb and run it 4 hours at night and it stays warm. I'm sure you can just run it during the hot part of the day and keep it cool for a few hours

[Bill Dufour]

A basement should work or maybe a deepwell with a dumbwaiter. Or check out the link below. I think there is one for sale in Arizona
Bill

http://www.missilebases.com/

[Wayne Cannon]

I keep my epoxy from crystalizing using a thin plywood box lined with styrofoam with a 15 watt light bulb and a cheap 120 V thermostat to assure a constant warm temperature. It doesn't help with cooking, but the concept will work for heating in a refrigerator cabinet.

Also, you can get thermocouple-based units that will both heat and cool, but they are not super efficient for large sizes. You can get drink-cooler sized units (e.g., for your car) that will both heat & cool.

[Keith Westfall]

I took a small "you build" melamine type, put together cupboard and lined it with 1/2 inch pink foam. Put a light bulb (small 40 watt appliance bulb) in for the cold months and it worked just fine. In the summer, with out the light, it helps keep the heat out.

[Charles Lent]

An old refrigerator worked well for me for many years. If the shop temperatures will be going below freezing for more than a few hours at a time, add a 40 watt light bulb and a thermostat to control it. Run the refrigerator set at about 50-60 if the shop temperature will be above 80 for more than a few hours. I don't do this any more because I now keep my shop HVAC unit on 24/7 if it will be hotter or colder than this outside because I'm retired and in the shop more often.

Charley

[Jim Becker]

As much of a pain as it is for the "back and forth", I store my finishes (all water borne and shellac) in an under-stairs closet in the house, at least for the winter. I haven't had issue in the summer as my shop generally stays at a reasonable temperature when closed up due to the block construction of the building and insulation I installed when building out the shop. I just can't justify using extra power for conditioned space in the shop, itself.

[Charles Lent]

Jim,

An old refrigerator or freezer (not plugged in) will be insulated well enough to keep the temperature inside very stable when the outside temperatures fluctuate. In PA I would add a thermostat controlling a 40-100 watt bulb inside it, just to keep a little heat in it so the temp inside doesn't go below 40 deg. I did this for a few years with an old refrigerator when I lived in NY State and never had a problem. The light bulb made sufficient heat to keep the inside of the refrigerator at about 40 deg by only being on a few hours a day when the shop temperature was well below freezing. There was no noticeable change in my electric bill (separate meter on the shop).

My shop here in NC has a heat pump and I leave it turned on and set to 40 deg during the Winter. When it's too cold for the heat pump to be effective it has built-in electric heaters that take over. It draws much more power than a 60 watt bulb, but I am retired now and in the shop most days now so the shop temp is set at 70 when I'm working there and 40 when I'm not. I've never decided to go with another refrigerator "temp safe" box because I don't think I need it here.

Charley

[Jay Nossen]

Homebrewers modify fridges all the time for this. If you search for "home brew fridge fermentation" you should find a bunch of ideas and cheap electronic controls.