Let's talk about freezers

[BWR1953]

I'm in the market for one and will be buying a home freezer in the not too distant future. My prior chest freezer I bought for $40 from an online buddy and it worked just fine, but at 5 cubic feet it was small. And, it was an old design and eating electricity at the rate of $30 - $35 a month. Expensive!'

I'm looking for something larger and am considering an upright. Easier to retrieve stuff and more cubic feet of storage per square foot in the kitchen. I have a small home, so space is at a premium.

Yesterday I looked at a few while out and about and saw several that have evaporative shelves instead of regular old wire. Looks like those evap shelves would really keep things cold.

And advice about shelf types, upright vs. chest, or anything in general?

Thanks!

 

[j_martin]

Re: Let's talk about freezers

An upright freezer will naturally use more juice just because all the cold air dumps out every time you open it, where gravity keeps most of it in a chest freezer.

A 20 cubic foot chest freezer less than 20 years old in good operating condition should use less than 90 KWH/month. A new one will use about half of that. There are extreme efficiency units that will use 1/3 of that. At 11 cent electricity, that's well beyond reasonable return on your investment. If things go as planned, it may well be worthwhile at some point.

hope it helps
John

 

[mike243]

Re: Let's talk about freezers

they work well,they need to defrosted once in awhile depending on how often there opened.i like a frost free unit for lack of defrosting but you cant beat simplicity of the plain jane models.a thermostat compressor & start relay is as simple as you could want.no defrost timer, fans,heater or bimetals to quit working.i have a fairly new 5cf & a 30cf or so very old 1.it still works & is about 8' long & 4' high,its time for me to let it go as i dont raise a garden or buy beefs by the herd ,it also uses way less energy than a self defrost model.also dont buy any fridgidre units made over 2 years ago,they had some sealed system issues that they have service flashes on & will be repaired free of charge but are not worth the chance of failure/food loss.mike243

 

[BWR1953]

Re: Let's talk about freezers

Sold my little chest freezer last year. I liked the small footprint and it worked just fine for holding 1/2 a hog and with just me living here.

Nowadays, I'm thinkin' in terms of putting a couple whole hogs plus a deer or two, maybe a couple turkeys plus as many fish as I can fit in there. I have a 32" x 30" footprint to work with and larger chest freezers won't fit there. Hence, the upright search. Plus, getting stuff outta the upright is clearly easier.

Looked online at larger freezers yesterday, in the 16 - 20 cu. ft. range, then measured and realized they were the same size as my side by side fridge. Such a monster freezer would completely dominate my small kitchen, so now I'm thinking something smaller, like 11 cu.ft. or less. Might have to get down to just one hog in there!

Deer season is coming up fast and I'm also planning on going hog hunting as soon as my car gets fixed and back on the road again. Need a place to put all that pig meat!

Got the starter fixed on my fishing boat, so once the car is running, I'll be bringing home tons of fishies too!

My other home appliances are Whirlpool, so that brand would fit right in around here. I did see a smaller Danby model, which looked good.

Sears, HHGregg Home Depot, Lowes and Best Buy are all close to home here. So, getting something that can be serviced locally would be good too.

 

[rbh]

Re: Let's talk about freezers

+1 on the chest style.
If the power goes out it will stay colder than the upright as the cold won't slip out if there is a leak in the gasket.

 

[mike243]

Re: Let's talk about freezers

theres only 2 companys that make frezzers but a lot of different names get put on them,look for a better warrenty along with price when shopping,dont take a salemans word for it ask to see the printed paper!,fridgidre is the biggest out there,all stores sell them,sears will have 1 made with something nicer on it & have kenmore put on it,the latest fad is to buy 1 that sez commercial ,them stickers dont cost much ,mike243