Broken Freezer Question

[Richard]

I have a broken Chest Freezer which I have deemed ideal to put my Chicken Feed in.
Brilliant brainwave I thought, just a couple of air holes so it doesn't get damp etc.

However, I am worried. I know these should be disposed of correctly. So is the danger in the motor not being on, or is it how it rusts on a Rubbish Tip?

Should I take the motor off and take it down the Tip?

Don't want to reduce Earth's time as we know it by any more seconds.

Thanks, Richard

[wendy]

You have to dispose of it properly because of the gas, CFC I think, in it or something like that.
Wendy

[ged]

Hi Richard,
I concur with Wendy,it's the gas that is the problem.
atb
ged

[Richard]

I presume the gas comes from the motor? So if I took that off I'd be OK?

[wendy]

I think it goes around the freezer in pipes
How do I know that ???
Wendy

[mikey]

Hi Richard,
It is the gas thats the problem, saying that there are tousands of old freezers and fredges waiting to be sorted as only a few places can remove the gas. As long as you do nothing to let the gas out can't see it been a problem using it for a feed store. Seem to remender a Bob Flowerdew article about using old freezers as stores.
Mike

[Richard]

Thanks Mikey. I did a search and it seems that Farmers use them as Larders and Feed Stores, but it didn't say if you have to do anything first.

So I guess that as long as they're complete, they will be OK. It's only the disposal which has the gas problem.

Thanks, Richard

[Gwenoakes]

On a lot of livery yards they use old freezers to keep their horsey things in, including feed etc. You can even put a padlock on them, so everything is safe.
We were told by a rag and bone man just recently that if you burn freezers and fridges, then they are allowed to take them away for you. Didnt ask why though!

[Mo]

Not only the refrigerant in the pipes, but the foam can also contain nasties, I think.

[Effie]

As a child, we had a huge chest freezer as a water butt, my job was to suck the rancid water up the pipe to syphon it off. Such a rounded childhood - no wonder I'm a bit wierd.

This was all before the time of CFC awareness though, can the council not advice you on safe disposal of de-commisioning?

Effie

[seahorse]

We use an old one for keeping the wild bird food in and it should come in handy for the alpaca feed. keeps out any unwanted creatures!!

[saint-spoon]

o.k engineer head on… in some older freezers the insulating foam contains CFCs (very much in the same way as aerosols used to until someone discovered that it’s not very nice stuff) disposing of this can release the nasties into the atmosphere which isn’t good. The refrigerant gas in the copper pipes will almost certainly be CFC although some really old machines use ammonia. More modern refrigerant gasses are generally a mixture of conventional refrigerants and inert gasses to minimise the damage to the ozone layer. Any machine claiming to be CFC free is referring to the insulation and not the gas.

As for the bit about burning a freezer, not the best plan in the world; if you burn certain gasses that were previously used in fridges and freezers you produce phosgene which is a choking agent that can kill (ask the poor folk in the first world was trenches). To destroy the CFC content the insulation has to be incinerated at ultra high temperatures so by just burning it you’ll release all the ozone depleting stuff. Deliberately releasing certain gasses into the atmosphere is in direct contravention of the Kyoto protocol (all to do with ozone depleting substances not green house gasses)

The environmentally best plan is to recycle or dispose of at a council run recycling centre.

[Richard]

Very informative. Many thanks.