For residents of our country, the usual thing is to stockpile fresh vegetables and fruits for the winter. In the cold season, the price of seasonal products is much higher. Such stocks can not only provide themselves with the necessary amount of vitamins, but also significantly save on products.
Private home owners store fruits and vegetables in the cellar or basement. But what should residents of urban apartments do?
The solution to this problem is simpler than it might seem. Equip the cellar on the balcony.
Storage Conditions
For the long-term storage of fruits and vegetables, special conditions are necessary. You can save natural products at a temperature of 1-5 degrees above zero, in rooms with a relative humidity of 90%. In apartments, the air is often dry and too warm, and refrigerators do not have enough storage space, and the humidity in it is not normal. To place a pair of bags of potatoes, a heating cabinet is suitable for storing vegetables or, as it is also called, a cellar.
The principle of operation of the balcony cellar
This is a hermetically sealed box, which consists of insulated walls, a bottom and a lid. A good cellar designed for very cold winters should be equipped with heating elements. They will not allow the contents of the cellar to freeze and deteriorate.
For convenience, the storage is equipped with a temperature sensor, with which the internal temperature is monitored. When it reaches the upper limit, the sensor turns off.
Types of cellars
The role of the cellar on the balcony is performed by the following structures:
- A heating cabinet for storing vegetables. It is sold ready for use. It looks like a box. It has a metal case, and inside - a galvanized box. Thanks to the built-in thermostat and electric awning, it can be used at an air temperature of -40 ° . The device is connected to the mains, and the microclimate inside the cabinet remains unchanged, and your stocks are not subject to freezing. The average volume of this design is 300 liters.
- Soft electric container. It has a great external resemblance to a thermal bag, only significantly different in size. Such a cellar is made of two layers of water-repellent material, between which a sintepon layer is laid. The thermal container leaves the vegetables safe and sound at temperatures from -40 ° to + 5 ° due to the built-in wire heaters, which operate automatically. The soft thermal container is lightweight, which is one of its advantages. To place such a cellar on the balcony or loggia is not difficult.
- Home-made vegetable storehouse. The most budgetary way to save food is with your own home made cellar on the balcony. A home-made oven is insulated, and inside they put boxes in which cabbage, onions, potatoes and other things will be stored. The casing allows you to maintain a favorable microclimate for vegetables, not allowing them to freeze or dry.
Features of the finished cellar for the balcony
Now to purchase and install a cellar on the balcony is not difficult. A variety of models allows you to choose the option that meets your requirements and financial capabilities.
The design features of ready-to-use cellars include the presence of heating elements that are distributed around the entire perimeter. Many modern models are equipped with temperature control and a screen on the thermostat. This allows you to configure the perfect microclimate to meet storage conditions.
Such products have a wide range. Models from 100 to 300 liters are available on the market. The product is unpretentious, it can be installed in any corner of the balcony, protected from moisture. Equipment connected to the power supply consumes up to 1.5 kW per day. This is a rather modest indicator, in comparison with other household electrical appliances.
With the onset of heat, it is enough to wash, dry and fold the cellar. The thermocontainer is a rather unpretentious unit that allows you to preserve the freshness of products throughout the winter.
Do-it-yourself cellar
A self-made home cellar most often resembles a wooden box. Inside, it is well insulated and able to maintain a positive temperature. When the thermometer column drops below zero, the electric heating is turned on, if the master took care of it in advance. The dimensions of a home-made cellar depend on your wishes, possibilities and dimensions of the balcony.
What do we make a cellar from?
To make a home cellar on the balcony, you can use ordinary boards, plywood, particleboard and more. The frame is recommended to be made of bars 20 * 40 mm. To protect against fire and durability of the cellar, treat all materials with a protective compound against fungus and mold and a refractory mixture.
After you sheathed the frame with the selected material and you get a kind of box, we turn to thermal insulation. Foam, mineral wool or ursa, in general, any materials that can retain heat inside the box, is suitable for this. During severe winters in your area, additional use of foil insulation, known as Isolon, will be required.
Thermostat in the cellar
Installing a thermostat is the final stage in arranging a home-made thermal box. To some, the thermostat may seem like pampering or luxury, and an erroneous opinion is created that they do not need to equip the cellar on the balcony. The reviews of the masters and numerous users speak differently. The temperature regulator allows you not to worry about the safety of the crop, you no longer need to regularly look into the oven to control the microclimate.
The device can be bought ready-made or made with your own hands. And if you have a temperature regulator lying around from an old refrigerator, you can also use it. The temperature regulator is installed in the circuit of heating devices, then with the help of a special sensor there is automatic control: turning the heating on and off. In order to make the thermostat yourself, just find the transistor circuit.
The most affordable way to automatically turn on and off heating and temperature control in a heating cabinet is a zero sensor. This is the name of the device, which works on the basis of the physical properties of water. When the air temperature drops below zero, the liquid freezes and expands, due to this there is an open-circuit of the power supply circuit. Such a water sensor is installed in the coldest place, it is recommended to use no more than 200 ml of liquid, otherwise the heating and cooling of the box will take much longer. And this can adversely affect the safety of vegetables, and the cellar on the balcony will lose its meaning.
User reviews
To solve the problem of storing fresh vegetables in the apartment, the cellar on the balcony is excellent. User reviews are a confirmation of this. Such a cellar is used not only for apartments, but even for country houses, where there is no basement at all or it is often flooded. After more than five years with proper use of the equipment, there is not a single gripe.
As you can see, the cellar on the balcony is a great way to keep food fresh and unharmed.