I got my 50W aquarium heater and have installed it inside the small disconnected fridge.... I filled the crisper drawer with water, placed the heater in that, plugged it in, and I'm letting it heat up to see how long it will take to get the inside of the fridge to 86*F.... I'm sure it will take some fine tuning of the thermostat on the heater to get what I want, but it looks like the idea is going to work OK.... The fridge (and the water) is heating up about 2*F every 1/2 hour....
Mike, as lovely as a vacation to Japan sounds, and I am sure I would enjoy your hospitality, I don't think that's in the cards unless I win a lottery.... Oh, yeah, that's right.... you have to buy a ticket to win!....
Update.... After 4 hours the water temperature has stabilized at 86*F and the air temperature in the fridge is 84*F.... I'm going to leave it longer to see if it equalizes, before I raise the temperature of the heater 2 degrees....
Update #2.... After another 3 hours, the water was at 87*F and the air was at 84*F, I assume it has reached equilibrium.... I still have not touched the thermostat.... I put a pot of water (about 2 litres, what we use for Cream Cheese) on the shelf, with the water temperature adjusted to 86*F.... I want to see if it goes up or down after a few hours....
Update #3.... After 4 hours, the pot of water on the shelf in the "fridge"/oven is still at 86*F.... I am going to leave it overnight, to simulate the 14 hours we ripen our Cream Cheese for.... So far, so good....
Update #4.... The temperature of the pot of water was down to 84*F, so the thermostat on the aquarium heater has to be increased just a bit to get that to stay at my 86*F target.... I have increased it slightly, and will leave it for the day to see where it stabilizes....
Bob