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Walk In Cooler 6X8

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    Walk In Cooler 6X8

    Some might not say this is DIY but we definitely did it ourselves... just happen to run a home building company as well.
    6'x8'X 10' tall

    Started with 2X6 walls and base. The base is sheathed on both sides of the 2X6" with 1/2" CDX and insulated with 5" of styrofoam.



    The floor and walls are insulated with a piece of 2" and 3" styrofoam. We used the same stuff, Dryvit, that is used in E.I.F.S. applications. We used Tyvek on the outside walls.





    We used 2X12"s for the roof framing with 1/2" coolply decking. The actual roofing is EPDM with all the necessary flashings to make sure it doesn't leak! Next we put down pond liner from the floor to about 3 feet up the walls. Then we laid 3/8" hardi-board on top to make sure the pond liner isn't penetrated. now we can wash the cooler out without getting any any of the framing wet.


    Instead of the coolbot I used the Johnson A419 controller. Concept is the same except cheaper but takes little more wiring skill( still not hard by any means). Stick the temp probe in the middle of the coil and set the cutoff temp at 32F. Set the "cut in" temp at 39F and the Anti-start feature at 3 minutes, which is the mininum amount of time my A/C unit takes to be able to restart. That way if the coil reaches 39F before 3 minutes is up, it wont restart ( prevents hard starting ) . Hard wire the fan so it is always on, that way it defrosts the coil when the unit cycles off. We fired her up for the first time yesterday, it was about 80F outside at about 4:00 in the afternoon and in the Texas sun. Window unit is a 17,500 BTU (220V) Whirlpool R22 coolant made in 2001. It took about an hour to get to 42F and then another 30 minutes to get to 37F. It fluctuated perfectly between 37F-39F. We opened the door for 10 minutes after it reached operating temperature and the shut the door. The unit went from the high 60s back to 37F in about 20 minutes so there was a lot of residual heat in the the cooler itself prior to the first start.



    It has since been painted tennis court green and is strikingly similar to our 2 rifle blinds...


    Setup and delivery this Saturday, so I'll post more pics of it in place.

    #2
    so it is very well insulated and using a window unit with a temp controller?

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      #3
      Yes, well insulated, a little more than R-30 Value, and Air tight. Uses a window A/C unit.

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        #4
        Looks good man

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          #5
          That is real nice, gonna have to start saving dimes to build this at the ranch. where did you get your temp controller? How much you have into it?

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            #6
            that is very nice. we hunt on a ranch in luckenbach that has a walk in cooler made of cinder blocks with a cement floor and wood roof with a window unit. It was built about 30 years ago and it works very well.

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              #7
              Very nice... Great work

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                #8
                Made a 6x10 for our lease 6 years ago.Cools down quick and maintains 35-38 in any kind of weather!

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                  #9
                  what type of cost does this thing run

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                    #10
                    I couldn't tell you what the cost is as the only things we had to purchase were the 2X6s for the framing ($245.00), Johnson controller (85.00). We already had the rest of the materials and we got the styrofoam for free from our stucco subcontractor for all the business we've given him. I have no clue what that costs. I would guess this thing would be around $1500 if we had to purchase everything.

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                      #11
                      Cool, I bet you need a forklift for that bad boy. Hope to see some in-use pics. Did you put some meat hooks in it?

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                        #12
                        Any pics of how you set up the inside for hanging? Who wouldn't one like that. Sweet.

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                          #13
                          Great idea using pond liner so you can wash it out. Nice looking cooler.

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                            #14
                            We left the Lake Travis area on Saturday morning around 9:00am and made it to Willow City around 11:15 @ 45 mph the whole way there.



                            A giant forklift would have helped tremendously to get this thing off the trailer, but all we had was a John Deere with a front loader bucket. We built the cooler on 4X4 skids so it can be dragged and pushed anywhere with a tractor, just had to get it off the trailer first.



                            No pictures of the inside hanging system yet but we welded up some 2" angle in a 4X2 rectangle and mounted it 6" below the ceiling. We are going to mount a pully system at the door to hoist the gambrel up and then hook some homemade S hooks around the gambrel then hoist and hook to the angle iron up top. That way you can slide your animals around the inside if you need to. The whole purpose is to be able to lift any animal in there by yourself. I'll takes some pics of it installed in 2 weeks at the start of gun season.

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                              #15
                              That is pure awesomeness! Great looking project

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