Meatlocker???
 

I am thinking of making a meatlocker. With an oct. 1st opening it would be nice to have a place to let a deer hang rather than have to skin and butcher right away.

So, has anyone built one before? Does a ac unit work for them? I wake up mornings freezing in the summer but wondered if it would be cold enough to hang a deer in that temp. Any feedback would be great.

Self made meat locker, possible. Using an ac unit no. AC units if i remember correctly blow at a constant 55. While it can get the room cold it will shutoff at that temp unless you bypass the sensor then it will constantly run. That would be expensive to maintain. Industrial fridges would do the trick though if you can get one. Constant temp at 35-38 is what you need.

Hey! Finally a thread where I can apply some engineering! LOL..

But first, why not just use a chest freezer? You can find a good used one on your local craigslist for about $100. For an additional $35 or so, you can purchase an auxiliary thermostat that would convert the freezer into fridge.

Concrete floor, 2x4 walls with foam spray insulation. Use skin of choice diamond plate etc. You can use a window unit with a modified t stat and an air defrost timer. A refrigeration system is a refrigeration system the way its controlled is whats different.. Most walk in coolers are r22. A freezer you can not make with a window unit. I reccomend finding a r22 window shaker as most new units are 410 and well I have not tried it with 410. To maintain 35/40 degrees is easy for a window unit

Hvac is my living. And we have a 8x8 that I built at the farm for butcher shop. Works great.

I am with murby...why not get a used freezer or frig instead of making one. Should be easier and cheeper on craigs list.

my .02

CVG Ohio

He is talking about something you can hang a deer in. The op that is.

As someone who designs things for other people, I have learned to listen to what the customer wants, not what they say.
If you read his post carefully, I think you would agree he is interested in just cooling the carcass off so he doesn't have to skin and process it immediately after the kill.

While hanging in a cooler, as opposed to laying it down in the cooler, does have its advantages, I do not think those minor issues outweigh the significant additional costs of building something from scratch.

We're talking about $150 vs. $1000 or more.

And a tip to the OP...
If you do insist on building it, use FRP panels to line all the inside except the floor. Be sure to seal the concrete floor with epoxy sealer and make sure you slope it to a drain in the middle. Also, if you use 2x4 construction, put down a single row of cinder blocks and fill them with cement as the base for the wall so that your wood structure is completely isolated from any spray and bleach cleaning episodes.

As the other poster said, a refrigeration unit is a refrigeration unit.. its all in the control.

Thanks for the ideas. as far as a chest freezer, I want to hang the deer and more if possible.

That's what I got out of your op.

I disagree with your analogy. I myself that designs things for other people for a living tend to listen to what they want and what they say...