flower shop cooler

[pudgybear]

My daughter is moving her flower shop business to her garage, the utilities/costs are eating her up, my question is she wants me to build her a cooler and i am wondering should i build it out of 2x6's and what type of insulation should i use,,,,, 2" foam board ( 3 pieces thick ) or use fiberglass wall insulation or can i use a combination of both?

 

[Warrenator]

Just 2" thick foam board ought to do it. You don't see fridges built with 6" thick walls. A nice big box out of 2X4's and foam, what are you going to do for a cooler? You might carefully remove one from an old fridge, if you don't break the lines the coolant stays inside.

 

[pudgybear]

Hay! can we use an old freezer unit to cool the cooler? its not really that big and i don't want to buy a whole new cooler unit, i have a friend who is in the business of building new freezer units and he will probably hook it up for us!

 

[Gravedigger]

Coolbot controller. They have building info on web site. I've been close to building one just haven't done it. http://www.storeitcold.com/

 

[where2]

Also keep in mind the thermal transfer through the floor. Coating the walls and ceiling with 2" of foam, and ignoring the floor could be an expensive oversight if there is no insulation below the floor. If the garage slab does not have insulation below it, you might consider putting down 1" of poly-iso foam on the floor, and covering it with some inexpensive remnant interlocking flooring, or thin plywood. You basically just need something to distribute the weight.

For reference, my 150qt igloo cooler will keep ice for 5+ days in 90°F heat, if you keep it in the shade, and the walls on it are not even 2" thick.

 

[70C-10]

Hybrid insulation system. An inch or two of spray in foam for a complete thermal break & some 2" blue or pink.

 

[Garage Coffee Roaster]

A while back I studied how the walk in cooler was fabricated on site at a coffee shop/café that I work at. They used 2" thick foam sandwiched between plywood and the plastic wall panels.

 

[nehog]

Stagger 2x3s (five inch wall then) with foam? That way there is no heat path from outside to inside.