Any ideas on a temperature controlled device for a cabinet in a garage?

Question

I have a cabinet in my garage that I use to store dry food, except it gets too hot out there and food spoils. I don't have the cabinet space inside. Any ideas on how I can keep the inside of that cabinet at 68 or 70 degrees?

Answer 1

I'd almost suggest buying sterofoam insulation & insulating it.

That would most likely work.

Answer 2

How about trying to get a large used fridge, and replace the internal thermostat with a house room thermostat.  The fridge one wont go warm enough, but a room stat should be settable to the sort of temperature you need.  You will have to a 3 contact termostat as it needs to switch on when it is too warm and off as it gets too cool.  If you cannot get the right thing from a DIY store, try maplins or radiospares websites  If you want something bigger, you could make a large well insulated cabinet and put fridge innards inside it.  If it was well insulated you might get away with the peltier effect cooler you get in active car coolboxes - about £40.  It will need to run more, but as it is solid state that should not matter.  You could even leave that running all the time as the power consumption is very low, or put it on a time switch if the thermostat idea is not appealing.

Answer 3

get a freezer or fridge off of craigslist and get a thermostat interupter from a home brew store this allows you to set the thermostat as high as you like

Answer 4

Time to shift some of the contents of your Cabinet space inside the house. Move large pots and pans, special occasion glassware, china and silver (or other bulky seldom used items) to the Garage cabinet and put the foodstuffs in the space you have created. :-)