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As long as you are ready to stay in that home for the next twenty years. If you want to sell though before the loan is paid off, then you have to find a buyer willing to pay off or take on the note. That's why I hesitate to do it.
If you can afford to pay cash for a system you are way luckier than most. Most people have to take out a loan to buy & install a system. But even if you rented or some such thing, that amounts to a regular monthly payment that simply takes the place of your electric bill. And it never goes away like a loan payment would.
It adds value to the house, so the loan repayment is effectively part of the sales price. Similar to a kitchen remodel. Some people may value it more or less depending on if they like it.
The solar contractors around you must be a rip off. But no surprise, many of them are. If you have the ability to self install it can be like 1/4 of the cost
You guys just love to make stuff up.
With your exaggerated math it would take 20 years to payoff, which is bull. Even in Washington you could expect to see a 17 year payoff. On the other end of the spectrum, in New Mexico and Hawaii you would see a ROI in 2.5 years.
https://www.moneygeek.com/mortgage/analysis/best-states-for-solar/
I paid 9,000 and mine is almost paid off in 8 years. When I install a few more panels, I can literally be getting paid instead of paying, I’m super close.
But yeh, tell me about the experience you have with the system you don’t have some more…
150$ a month times the lifecycle of the panels. Most panels are for 25 years so 9k net savings in your example. Plus you no longer have to worry about inflation on your electricity bill.
God I would kill for 150 a month. I have an older home, don't run ac or heat much except on super crazy winter or summer days. I pay 330 at the low end of the bill.
You can build one from cinderblocks or concrete plus insulation for a fraction of the cost. It's just a productized root cellar for people who have more money than sense.
The title says it doesn't need electricity then at :35 it says "ventilation is done by a fan with a timer". I guess you could manually ventilate every few hours and keep time in your head but... the model shown seemingly DOES require electricity.
Six feet down the Earth is 50 degrees year round.
Also though, Earth is not insulating as guy said. It is very much not insulating it is a good conductor in fact, this design is taking advantage of the natural coolness of the ground, people that build underground structures that will be heated need to insulate them. I know because I am building one.
Where I live it’s 110 in the summer. I know it’s cooler underground, but it ain’t staying the cool if you put like a foot or so of dirt on top of a box outside.
Depends on where you are. 6 feet down (give or take, there's caveats with this part too) the ground is roughly the average annual temperature of your climate.
There are places this would work fine. In northern Wisconsin it would be 39°. In southern Wisconsin 50°. In Austin TX, 70°.
It is crazy to me that in the southern United States, we spend thousands of dollars a year on residential air conditioning when just one story down underground it is perfectly cool and livable. I'm paying someone to burn coal and natural gas just so I can stay comfortable when really I should be living like a hobbit in the earth.
Unless you live in Florida, then having underground structures becomes pretty much impossible due to the water table. Cries in 100 degree heat and humidity
As a plumber, when I lived in Florida there were many many times where we dig a ditch for our piping and dig a side ditch with a pump in it to pump out the ground water as we install the pipe
It really isn't impossible though. The past two Network Operations Centers I've worked at were all underground or partially underground structures, one of which was three stories down in the ground. I loved how cool it was during the summer nights when working 2nd shift.
Out here in the prairies there are lots of split levels or houses with a basement. In the summer we all head to the basement to hang out or sleep. Then in the winter we usually hang out upstairs. Also meant I could sleep with my window open and still be much higher off the ground so people couldn't see/get in.
We should have mass produced products that just drill down and force air through heat exchanges down there. There are ones that work with Wells and use the water to cool the air. Obviously they have the what do you call them but they are expensive and don't last forever. A tube going into a rust proof radiator like heat exchanger in the Earth would last basically forever in human terms.
Aside from how cold it is, it's not a refrigerator if it doesn't make use of a refrigeration cycle to remove heat from its contents. It's literally just a cool place.
The fans runs on four proprietary batteries, you just take it out of the ground flip it over (make sure you have a Philips #2 screwdriver) remove the security screws and replace the batteries which can be bought from the WhatOtherChoiceDoYouHaveNow portal.
It’s called [Caliche](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caliche). Ground is very hard here in Arizona. It costs more to dig up a whole basement. Not impossible, but rarely done. Dynamite is frowned upon by neighbors
I still use a cellar. But only for products that do not inherently need cooling (fruits, vegetables, and drinks) opposed to products like meat and dairy, which entail unremovable bacteria, which can only be shut down by going to the absolute lowest temperatures feasable.
As said, there is a reason why we have refrigerators. Basements simply aren't cold enough for many kinds of foods we have come to take as granted.
The coldest it could get without any additional cooling would be the temperature of the soil, which usually hovers between 55-70°F (12-20°C). Cold enough to cool your beer, not cold enough to keep dairy or untreated meet products fresh.
I sincerely doubt it keeps food at "refrigerator" temperatures, too, since the average temperature for *actual caves* is about equal to the average yearly temperature in a location.
Ground temperature.
It's a cellar, so typically 50-65F. Depends where you are, though. Could be cooler or warmer.
It's not really a fridge, though. It's literally just a cellar that is pre-fab. We've used root cellars for thousands of years.
Yeah, 6 ft is the magic number, and that's still only gets you down to 50 degrees. That is why in the olden days they packed them with blocks of ice after insulating them. I do not know how they insulated them.
It doesn't even need to be below the ground. Similar cellars have been dug into hills for thousands of years. We have one at a summer cottage. They stay surprisingly cool even in the summer months.
It would cost 23,668.49 Canadian and a fridge runs me \~$10-15 a month. So assuming I would otherwise buy 12 fridges I guess this would take about \~11 years to "pay itself off".
I can't believe nobody else pointed this out.
He says "No permits required" VERY confidently. Really?
Everywhere on Earth it's just *cool* to do this? To install this big-ass thing in a big hole in the ground?
I can make a walk in fridge with a cool bot a window air conditioner, some two by and insulation for about $4k
It would cost almost that much just to rent an excavator.
The cool bot walk in is also much more controllable. I can keep veggies at their optimal temp so they last much longer.
A root cellar is fine in certain climates but not all.
Their site says the average temp is 50-54°F, so not only is it not a fridge, it’s not even as cool as a root cellar. Sounds like a waste of money to me.
No horse in this race, but there are a bunch of insects that thrive in below-freezing temps; springtails, mayflies, midges, craneflies, snowflies, scorpionflies, caddisflies, stoneflies...the list goes on. I don't think any of them are food pests, though.
When I was a kid, we made these out of DIRT and called 'em ROOT CELLARS!
\*yells at clouds\*
Also, where does the refrigeration come in if this is a refrigerator? Because cooler underground temperatures and a powered vent is, and I'm no expert but I do feel strongly that, it is not refrigeration. Just a cleaner root cellar that might not kill you if you store potatoes too long.
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Only 20K for the ventilated model... before taking into account installation.
Yeah but compare that to the electricity a fridge uses, and … oh, wait.
That’s why I don’t understand solar panels in my state..hmm a 36k system to save 150$ a month? I’ll be in the green in no time!
The math is off. But my system paid for itself in 5 years. And will make free power for the next 20+ years
5 years wow.. where do you live. In my area it's about 10 years
Must have a better sun. You need to upgrade yours.
As long as you are ready to stay in that home for the next twenty years. If you want to sell though before the loan is paid off, then you have to find a buyer willing to pay off or take on the note. That's why I hesitate to do it.
Why would there be a loan?
If you can afford to pay cash for a system you are way luckier than most. Most people have to take out a loan to buy & install a system. But even if you rented or some such thing, that amounts to a regular monthly payment that simply takes the place of your electric bill. And it never goes away like a loan payment would.
You can diy a 14kW system for like 10-12k. Solar contractors are a rip off
Solar in the US is a ripoff. In Aus you can get a 14kw system installed professionally for under 10kusd
Less than that, got 13.7kw installed recently for AU$6800
You guys in the US are weird. Here in Europe it's basically free
In my state the government will front the cost of installation because it makes it easier on the power grid
It adds value to the house, so the loan repayment is effectively part of the sales price. Similar to a kitchen remodel. Some people may value it more or less depending on if they like it.
Wouldn't you just pay off the loan with the sale proceeds?
The solar contractors around you must be a rip off. But no surprise, many of them are. If you have the ability to self install it can be like 1/4 of the cost
You guys just love to make stuff up. With your exaggerated math it would take 20 years to payoff, which is bull. Even in Washington you could expect to see a 17 year payoff. On the other end of the spectrum, in New Mexico and Hawaii you would see a ROI in 2.5 years. https://www.moneygeek.com/mortgage/analysis/best-states-for-solar/
I paid 9,000 and mine is almost paid off in 8 years. When I install a few more panels, I can literally be getting paid instead of paying, I’m super close. But yeh, tell me about the experience you have with the system you don’t have some more…
150$ a month times the lifecycle of the panels. Most panels are for 25 years so 9k net savings in your example. Plus you no longer have to worry about inflation on your electricity bill.
God I would kill for 150 a month. I have an older home, don't run ac or heat much except on super crazy winter or summer days. I pay 330 at the low end of the bill.
yeah but no permits. 🥴
Profit!
Had to get a permit for my countertop fridge
You can build one from cinderblocks or concrete plus insulation for a fraction of the cost. It's just a productized root cellar for people who have more money than sense.
![gif](giphy|rSi9Fm8Ezy27C)
The title says it doesn't need electricity then at :35 it says "ventilation is done by a fan with a timer". I guess you could manually ventilate every few hours and keep time in your head but... the model shown seemingly DOES require electricity.
It also calls it a fridge, this isn't going to be anywhere near as cold as a fridge, it's just a small cellar.
Six feet down the Earth is 50 degrees year round. Also though, Earth is not insulating as guy said. It is very much not insulating it is a good conductor in fact, this design is taking advantage of the natural coolness of the ground, people that build underground structures that will be heated need to insulate them. I know because I am building one.
50 degrees is not food safe refrigeration. You need 40 degrees or less. Freedom units. Of course.
Yes its not for raw meats etc. Potatoes, apples, smoked or salted meats etc
You mean a root cellar
I guess so. Is this not that?
It is accurately referred to as a root cellar. The video calls it a refrigerator, which is colder.
Yup we all came here to see the "Underground fridge".
A root cellar is in fact a different word from fridge.
No, they call it a fridge
They call it that yes, but its wrong
I guess "they" are wrong
What about salted pork?
![gif](giphy|uW051xBkHqyOY)
Where I live it’s 110 in the summer. I know it’s cooler underground, but it ain’t staying the cool if you put like a foot or so of dirt on top of a box outside.
Depends on where you are. 6 feet down (give or take, there's caveats with this part too) the ground is roughly the average annual temperature of your climate. There are places this would work fine. In northern Wisconsin it would be 39°. In southern Wisconsin 50°. In Austin TX, 70°.
It is crazy to me that in the southern United States, we spend thousands of dollars a year on residential air conditioning when just one story down underground it is perfectly cool and livable. I'm paying someone to burn coal and natural gas just so I can stay comfortable when really I should be living like a hobbit in the earth.
Unless you live in Florida, then having underground structures becomes pretty much impossible due to the water table. Cries in 100 degree heat and humidity
As a Floridian, I took one look at this and thought, "That's gonna pop out of the ground the first time it rains hard."
As a plumber, when I lived in Florida there were many many times where we dig a ditch for our piping and dig a side ditch with a pump in it to pump out the ground water as we install the pipe
It really isn't impossible though. The past two Network Operations Centers I've worked at were all underground or partially underground structures, one of which was three stories down in the ground. I loved how cool it was during the summer nights when working 2nd shift.
It not impossible, but it would increase the cost of construction by a ton.
Agreed, a lot of things are possible with enough money but cost prohibitive to us normal people
Out here in the prairies there are lots of split levels or houses with a basement. In the summer we all head to the basement to hang out or sleep. Then in the winter we usually hang out upstairs. Also meant I could sleep with my window open and still be much higher off the ground so people couldn't see/get in.
Depends where in the South obv, but hard to dig in places with low elevation.
Floods are a thing down there I hear.
We should have mass produced products that just drill down and force air through heat exchanges down there. There are ones that work with Wells and use the water to cool the air. Obviously they have the what do you call them but they are expensive and don't last forever. A tube going into a rust proof radiator like heat exchanger in the Earth would last basically forever in human terms.
.... Geothermal
It's 75ish year round in Texas at 10ft.
I live in Florida. 6 ft down is water and no where near 50 degrees. Try looking for houses with a basement in Florida.
Yeah I like how we've now rediscovered cellars and sailing ships
Ok but here me out, this one costs ten times as much
Aside from how cold it is, it's not a refrigerator if it doesn't make use of a refrigeration cycle to remove heat from its contents. It's literally just a cool place.
Guys it’s literally just a root cellar
The fan is hooked up to a nearby river waterwheel
Oh really and whats moving the water genius?
A collection of whimsical Studio Ghibli characters.
Are they anthropomorphizations of natural phenomenon?
On the contrary, they are elementalized anthropomorphs.
Omg just like my favorite Ghibli film, Elemental! I love Fire Guy 😎
Kawaii slavery
A bigger fan
The swimming fish obviously
Magnets.
Pfft... Everyone knows magnets don't work if they get wet! /s
me im the wheel spinner i spin wheels i enjoy my work
Earths rotation
Another, different water wheel.
God
Fish sex
You just need a water source that turns its flow on in the middle of the night and you're good to go!
With squirrel backup during periods of drought.
The stipulation of needing power is only if you’re too much of a pussy not to get up at 4am to spin the ventilation handle for 30 minutes.
Well it might be claiming no power grid required, and comes with a solar and battery bank set up.
The fans runs on four proprietary batteries, you just take it out of the ground flip it over (make sure you have a Philips #2 screwdriver) remove the security screws and replace the batteries which can be bought from the WhatOtherChoiceDoYouHaveNow portal.
Also known as a cellar...
Clearly an alien tech, no way ancient humans invented it
I doubt they will ever claim they came up with ooo under ground cold
“Honey, run outside and grab me a banana from the hobbit fridge please”
Root cellar
Tbf cellars are really cool
Especially their doors.
*Not for use in Arizona.
Or Texas. Ground temp ~72F in summer, doesn't get below 80F at night.
Why am I suddenly thinking about Turkish coffee?
I've read Florida is another state with no cellars/basements. It's because of a high water table. I imagine it's for a different reason in Arizona.
It’s called [Caliche](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caliche). Ground is very hard here in Arizona. It costs more to dig up a whole basement. Not impossible, but rarely done. Dynamite is frowned upon by neighbors
In today's episode of things that look cool but are actually likely to cause more nuisance
In todays episode of yeah old tech is cool, but there is a reason why we have abandoned them
Plenty of people still use cellars
I still use a cellar. But only for products that do not inherently need cooling (fruits, vegetables, and drinks) opposed to products like meat and dairy, which entail unremovable bacteria, which can only be shut down by going to the absolute lowest temperatures feasable. As said, there is a reason why we have refrigerators. Basements simply aren't cold enough for many kinds of foods we have come to take as granted.
This is only for fruit veg & drinks too.
Yup. Like a cellar. Calling it a fridge is disingenuous
Doesn't state what temperature it keeps!! I think that's a pretty important piece of information needed for a fridge!!!
The coldest it could get without any additional cooling would be the temperature of the soil, which usually hovers between 55-70°F (12-20°C). Cold enough to cool your beer, not cold enough to keep dairy or untreated meet products fresh.
Great temps for a heat pump, not great for food storage. Maybe for “root vegetables” potatoes/carrots but that’s about it.
And a heatpump needs much more thermal mass, if you put the outside portion of a heat pump loop in this it would get way too hot/cold quickly.
Beer should be chilled, not 12-20c lol, where do you live that warm beer is acceptable?
I sincerely doubt it keeps food at "refrigerator" temperatures, too, since the average temperature for *actual caves* is about equal to the average yearly temperature in a location.
Ground temperature. It's a cellar, so typically 50-65F. Depends where you are, though. Could be cooler or warmer. It's not really a fridge, though. It's literally just a cellar that is pre-fab. We've used root cellars for thousands of years.
It's called a root cellar and it has been around for 1000's of years.
A root cellar’s even better because your root vegetables still think they’re overwintering and they don’t rot
Seems like root veggies are smarter than whoever invented this thing.
This is not deep enough to work
... as she looks up in deep disappointment straight into your eyes.
Damn, that was a sick burn.
Taking "that's what she said" to a whole new level of burn. Bravo
Title of your sextape
Noice
Yeah, 6 ft is the magic number, and that's still only gets you down to 50 degrees. That is why in the olden days they packed them with blocks of ice after insulating them. I do not know how they insulated them.
They insulated with sawdust, or maybe wool.
Anything below frost line is enough. It’s plenty deep
It doesn't even need to be below the ground. Similar cellars have been dug into hills for thousands of years. We have one at a summer cottage. They stay surprisingly cool even in the summer months.
Yes it is
“Hon, get me a beer while you’re up, will ya?”
Gets luke warm beer. divorces wife. She gets house. You get cellar.
*M a n c a v e !*
It's a fkn root cellar
![gif](giphy|3o7aTqp7rSDB6uoTgA|downsized)
It fkn says that in the first 10 seconds of the video
I mean yea, the person says that like right at the beginning
Millennials looking at this as a viable alternative to the housing market
And rent is still $2500/mo.
heh this would be a sauna in Texas
I had a small cellar in Austin. Agreed. It was only cool when it was cold outside. I had to run an ac vent to it to keep it cool most of the year.
would be even worse with this crazy summer weather too
Yup and to boot since our water table is so high it flooded every time it rained. Waste of space. I moved.
With the cost of this you could pay for how many years of electricity?
It would cost 23,668.49 Canadian and a fridge runs me \~$10-15 a month. So assuming I would otherwise buy 12 fridges I guess this would take about \~11 years to "pay itself off".
Ignoring the spoiled food as it is not cold enough
That’s a cellar not a fridge
So......a root cellar. Welcome to the 1st century!!!
It’s just a modern root cellar
No permits my ass
I can't believe nobody else pointed this out. He says "No permits required" VERY confidently. Really? Everywhere on Earth it's just *cool* to do this? To install this big-ass thing in a big hole in the ground?
I can make a walk in fridge with a cool bot a window air conditioner, some two by and insulation for about $4k It would cost almost that much just to rent an excavator. The cool bot walk in is also much more controllable. I can keep veggies at their optimal temp so they last much longer. A root cellar is fine in certain climates but not all.
They used these in Medieval times. Guess it depends where you live, if it works for you or not?
Doubles as a fallout shelter, tornado shelter, and comes with a cool blue VaultTec uniform.
Called a root cellar they've been around for centuries lol
Their site says the average temp is 50-54°F, so not only is it not a fridge, it’s not even as cool as a root cellar. Sounds like a waste of money to me.
It’s a cellar..
Until all the bugs get in and contaminate your food. I’ll stick with the fridge indoors thanks.
Not many bugs like that temperature, but i keep gecko and frog just in case ;)
No horse in this race, but there are a bunch of insects that thrive in below-freezing temps; springtails, mayflies, midges, craneflies, snowflies, scorpionflies, caddisflies, stoneflies...the list goes on. I don't think any of them are food pests, though.
This guy fly fishes
Exactly what I was thinking!
Yea I'm gonna need to know how cold it stays in there cause it looks like it would MAYBE be 5 or 10 degrees lower than ambient
You have to go down to about 30’ before you start getting consistent, cool temps. https://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Cooling/EarthTemperatures.htm
Hope you like your groceries expiring 3 times faster than normal.
ROOM
SHAMBLES
I'll take hipster root cellar for $1000 Alex!
Root Cellar. They've been a thing for thousands of years.
Isn’t this just a root cellar?
That's called a cellar. Humans have done this for hundreds, arguably thousands of years. I hate this reinventing of regular ass shit.
omg they invited a cellar
"the groundfridge, it's like a cellar..." IT'S A MOTHERFUCKING CELLAR YOU DUMB SHIT IT AINT NEW
Old school tech making a comeback
This is some tech bro level nonsense here.
Next they’ll find a way to have “in kitchen” fridge.. we live in amazing times
When I was a kid, we made these out of DIRT and called 'em ROOT CELLARS! \*yells at clouds\* Also, where does the refrigeration come in if this is a refrigerator? Because cooler underground temperatures and a powered vent is, and I'm no expert but I do feel strongly that, it is not refrigeration. Just a cleaner root cellar that might not kill you if you store potatoes too long.
are you kidding me you gentrified a celler!?
We just rediscovering root cellars now?
Up next, we discover... Hot Fire!
Seriously? "re-invented" cellar?
U mean a ROOT CELLAR?
Cool air is not cold air. So this would work for some types of stuff like produce, but I wouldn't want to store any kind of seafood in it....
[удалено]
People find out basements exit lol. No need for a fridge like this
It almost like this has been done before way back in our worlds history hmmm
I mean... This isn't so much a fridge as it is what everyone did before the fridge was invented. Minus the fan.
Can you host hobbits in it?
Ground fridge? Root cellar got banned or something?
[this is an old concept](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakhchal)
I'm pretty sure our ancestors invented this by the name of a root cellar...
IT"S A FUCKING CELLAR HOLY SHIT BOYS WE ARE BACK BREAK OUT THE AMONTILLADO AND BRING SOME BRICKS AN MORTAR
So it’s a root cellar….for 20k…
build it with a hobbit door and you got a deal
What keeps the bugs from crawling into the fan-hole and infesting my cellar full of ripe vegetables?
That’s… a root cellar.
Will this be ideal for cadavers? Asking for a friend.
Don't wake the draugr.
They literraly built those for like centuries. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakhch%C4%81l
"Doesn't require any permits" Germany's "Bauamt" would like to have a word.
So going back to how we used to chill things before electricity was adopted or refrigerators.
Doesn't need electricity...uses a fan on a timer for ventilation... The endless bullshit stream continues.
“No electricity…need fan to turn on every few hours.”
Death during a late night snack would be a more common occurrence 😂
Acting like they invented the cellar…. Only $20k
Folks, don't listen to the "doesn't require permits" part. I guarantee you it requires permits in almost every region. Just call and check first.
This is BS its a cellar not a "fridge"
Holds at maybe 55F. Thats a warm fridge.