What To Do With That Old Fridge

6.28.19

What To Do With That Old Fridge

So your fridge has gone kaput, has bought the farm, has kicked the bucket–you get it! Before throwing that old fridge curbside, lemme share way to repurpose your fridge and stop wasting money on food going bad too quickly! Before everything, remember to get yourself a great new fridge from Happys Appliances Outlet or Home Depot. You’ll need that new fridge, for sure! Now, what can you do with the old one? Turn it into a root cellar of course!

Step 1 – Remove All Mechanical Parts

Launching this idea requires you to remove the working parts of the fridge. That means ALL parts of the fridge, including the back panel. The mechanical parts should fetch you a few dollars after you take it to a scrap yard or recycling facility! So it’s a win-win. After removing the parts you should just be left with the shell of the fridge.

Step 2 – Make Holes in the back/bottom of the fridge and a insert bug net

This is a step that CANNOT be skipped, it’s completely crucial for this to work. Use a drill and a bit to begin poking holes where the back of the fridge is. The holes allow for air to flow up from the ground where the temperature remains around 55 degrees fahrenheit. The temperature of the ground allows for things to remain cool and fresh without freezing. PRO-TIP: Your root cellar has to be in the ground for this to work. After the holes are done, make sure to cover them with a bug net to keep any creepy crawlies out!

Step 3 – Make larger holes on top/bottom of fridge

Again, this step is crucial if you want something functional. Air flow/circulation is important which means making two larger holes at both ends of the fridge. This will allow you to attach two lengths of pipe into them–with a sealant of course–that leads to above the ground. The length of the pipe is gonna depend on how deep you dig, which should at least be 3-4 ft down.

Step 4 – Dig your hole, place a level foundation of bricks, and lower fridge

With how deep you want to go in mind, go ahead and dig the hole. You can absolutely do it with a few shovels or a backhoe, whichever is easier and more monetarily efficient! Try and make the hold as even as possible so you don’t have to put in more work later, but if you can’t don’t stress! Once the hole is dug, you’ll need to place several bricks in rows with spaces so that your fridge turned root cellar will be able to breathe. After that, you should very carefully lower the fridge down into the hole and begin to fill the leftover space with dirt.

Step 5 – Put in your root veggies and reap the benefits

Now you can take those root veggies that you grew–best idea–or that you purchased and put them into your new cellar! It would be a great idea to store your potatoes, carrots, beets, etc. inside it and free up storage space inside your home!

Conclusion

This is the perfect solution to the problem of what to do with an old fridge. Plus, people without basements really benefit from this idea too! I know that next time a fridge goes out, I’m definitely going to try this and save a few bucks!