Freezer For The Garage

[Rockett69]

Hey everyone, so I have a relatively old and small chest freezer in my garage. After a successful few hunts at the beginning of this year, I'm realizing my freezer no longer suits my needs. I'm looking into vertical freezers in particular. I only have space for a freezer in my garage, so i'd like a small footprint to give me as much space as possible for my tools and epuipment. I also like the idea of having everything on shelves and readily accessible and organized. Not opposed to the chest freezers though. Never shopped for one before, only bought out of opportunity and truly don't know what to look for. I'm a bit concerned with power usage, but it is what it is. What do you guys and gals look for? Is there a certain option I should look for that will keep a freezer happy in a Texas garage? Thanks!!!!

 

[Keel]

get a stand up freezer not the chest type.. the vertical use much less power..
Also.. when not full, I have a set of old pots that get filled with water.. a full freezer uses much less power than the same unit half full.. also frostless eat more power than the manual defrosting type..

 

[gungatim]

get a stand up freezer not the chest type.. the vertical use much less power..
Also.. when not full, I have a set of old pots that get filled with water.. a full freezer uses much less power than the same unit half full.. also frostless eat more power than the manual defrosting type..

Wrong on both counts.

chest freezers use LESS power than uprights.

it also takes the same amount of energy to keep an empty freezer cold as it does a freezer full of ice. and it will take more energy to freeze the ice to begin with as well as more energy while you shuffle the ice around to find what you need...

 

[My Old Tools]

Counter depth uprights are available.

 

[Rockett69]

I always thought chest freezers used less power, especially when compared to frost free freezers. Thats probably a neccessary evil though, I hate defrosting my chest freezer. I feel like one day its just got gonna cool back off haha.

Most uprights I've been seeing are 32" or less in depth. What is considered counter depth?

Technically once full and frozen, less energy should be used just to "Maintain" temp, No? Thats just pure speculation, I could be talking out of my ****

 

[Captain Spaulding]

With an upright you need a larger freezer to store the same amount of stuff. Though the shelves make it easier to find things, they waste some space.

The deal with ice in the freezer is only important if you frequently open or close it or if you lose power. The ice gives the inside of the freezer more thermal mass, making it slower to warm if the door is opened or power goes out.

I put gallon jugs of water in our chest freezer when space is available. Even if it uses a little electricity to get them frozen, it's helpful if the power goes off and is useful when I camp and the cost savings then wipes out the initial cost. It doesn't cost any more to keep a lot frozen than it does a little once it is frozen.

Somebody will probably tell you that a freezer won't work if it gets cold in a garage. This is one of those "grain of truth" things. Some refrigerator/freezers may have issues in a garage because of the way the thermostat is driven by the refrigerator side. A straight freezer won't have an issue.

 

[Keel]

Wrong on both counts.

chest freezers use LESS power than uprights.

it also takes the same amount of energy to keep an empty freezer cold as it does a freezer full of ice. and it will take more energy to freeze the ice to begin with as well as more energy while you shuffle the ice around to find what you need...

Wrong my boy..
Everytime you open a empty or 1/2 full freezer, you close it with warm/hot air in it that needs to be cooled.. When it is full less warm/hot air gets in and you have more frozen area to cool it..
Chest coolers that I looked at. and I looked at allot.. used much more power per their rating card.. of average energy use per year.. when divided by cubic feet of space..

you can't compare a frostless upright to a manual defrost chest.. and most of the chest are manual defrost.. with a drain plug..
Go look at frostless to frostless, or manual defrost to manual defrost..

 

[Dr Stan]

Wrong on both counts.

chest freezers use LESS power than uprights.

it also takes the same amount of energy to keep an empty freezer cold as it does a freezer full of ice. and it will take more energy to freeze the ice to begin with as well as more energy while you shuffle the ice around to find what you need...

That is also my understanding of vertical V chest freezers. Your new freezer should consume less electricity than a new one 2X as big. Efficiency has vastly improved.

As to brand much of that is personal preference. However there are ones I will not buy such as Haier, Sears, LG, & Whirlpool. We have a Sears made by Whirlpool and are very disappointed with its performance. About every 2 years I have to replace the ice maker due to its design. Haier recently bought out Whirlpool which should be enough said. LG use to be called Gold Star. They changed the name in order to create a new "brand" that was not tainted with the bad reputation of GS. Just the other day I saw a Haier in the clearance aisle of Lowes. It was there as a return which needed a new compressor and a power cord.

When we replace any of the kitchen appliances Amana will be #1 on my list. There was a Sears dishwasher that came with the house that failed shortly after (6 months or so) we moved in. Bought an Amana from HD on clearance and its be performing quite well for about 8 years.

 

[tjdux]

More full seems to make some sense especally for a verticsl freezer. When you open the door on a vertical the cold air will drain out the bottom (phisics 101 cold air falls) so the more things inside to displace air the less air the freezer needs to cool down.

Second note on that thought. Aluminum pots filled with frozen water will have huge amounts of thermal mass and decent heat transfer properties. They will actually help cool the air and not really change in temp quickly.

A full freezer should theoretically be more effeicent than an empty one for the concept of door opening and closing. If the door stays shut 90+ percent of the time its probably a wash.

For the same physical property of cold air falling does imoh make chest freezerd more efficient because the cold air doesnt spill out when its opened.

As far as auto defrost any extra cost is likely worth thr convince in my book. Sure you gotta heat thr evap coils but it beats freeze ups that spoil all the frozen food.

Signiture; Check out my garage progress http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=352703

 

[Voi]

We buy entire Bison and fairly large quantities of frozen raspberries and have two upright freezers in our garage. Actually one is a convertible refrigerator/freezer so when our meat stock gets low it becomes our beer fridge.

It's Frigidaire and approximately 21 cubic feet, IIRC.

I was skeptical but we have used it for months on end in both modes and it has been great.

Our other freezer is another upright Kennmore. I don't recall the cubic feet off hand but it's taller than the Frigidaire.

The Kennmore does not have a reversible door. That's been a bit of a pain given its location in the garage. Something to keep in mind if you have a specific spot for it.

The Frigidaire does have a reversible door.

Our garage has minimal morning sun exposure and is mostly below grade so I don't have to deal with Texas garage conditions.

 

[Rockett69]

very interesting stuff, I hadn't thought of loss from opening the doors on vertical vs chest style. I would think the full vertical when closed couldn't lose too much, due to less air space for the warmer air to settle in when the door seals shut. I do like the idea of the reversible door. It would have little effect on me now, being in the garage. However, we intend on moving in the next couple of years, and would like it to be easier to fit what random spaces are available for it. I'd say that we really don't open the freezer much, but the ability to organize and fit more stuff in our new freezer, I'm thinking we may find ourselves doing it a bit more often. The location that our current freezer is in, doesn't see sun (up on the front lip of the garage by the inside door/garage faces north), but ambient heat in Austin, Tx can be a bit cruel. I'm expecting it to shorten its life a bit, but maybe the new house will have a mudroom or something of the like to put it in. It just needs to survive a couple years in the Texas garage furnace

 

[Casey69]

chest freezers (unless they've made changes) are the most efficient freezer design.

i had an upright freezer in my garage & it ran ALL THE TIME in the summer, & TX would be worse for heat. you could see the frosty cold air pour out of it when you opened it in the summer. plus, unless you get a frost-free version, you'll be defrosting it more often.

 

[Rockett69]

Ya, I'm thinking frost-free is going to be the only way to go. I hate defrosting, and I think I'd do more harm than good, and create more work for myself only to save a few bucks here and there.

 

[Nowater]

I assume you are worried about the "footprint" of the freezer on the floor as opposed to any other measurement. If so, compare how many square inches the different models are, and I think you will find the difference from a smaller freezer to a larger freezer is fairly small.

I suggest getting a 15 or 16 cubic foot freezer (self defrosting) unless you are really careful about opening the door, then a manual defrost is fine. this size freezer is quite popular and thus less expensive per cubic foot than some others. And when you need more room, you need more room!

 

[theoldwizard1]

Having owned a chest freezer and now an upright, I will tell you that the upright is much easier to defrost. I have even defrosted on shelf using a hair dryer (and multiple towels underneath) without emptying the rest of the freezer.

 

[DCarr2]

I own 2 uprights and a chest.

the chest i bought new and is currently not in use, in my shop atm.

the one stand up is an older unit, but i accidentally tripped the breakler in the garage one night and the whole thing defrosted on me with out me knowing, prob this week ill empty that freezer into the trush... losing 3 turkeys some chicken, and frozen veggies - not worth the risk of food poisoning.

the other stand up is smaller it came wiith my house and is in the laundry room.

the stand ups are definately easier to browse for dinner... but for long term storage the chest is nice esp if your buying large qaunities of food to store for longer periods... which i failed to do for somereason last summer

I usually buy all my meat over the summer freeze it, then my grocery bill over the winter consists of $4 a week for creamer and $2 for eggs.

 

[UpstateNY]

Wrong my boy..
Everytime you open a empty or 1/2 full freezer, you close it with warm/hot air in it that needs to be cooled.. When it is full less warm/hot air gets in and you have more frozen area to cool it..

Um, yea..........no.

1 cubic foot of air at standard temperature and pressure assuming average composition weighs approximately 0.0807 lbs. Do the math, (re)heating a few pounds of air doesn't take much energy.

Water weighs a whole lot more and thus takes considerably more energy to initially cool AND keep cool. And a freezer full of water-filled buckets will still "heat-up" when the door is opened.

It's all about the mass you're trying to cool, and keep cool.

Fill the unused portion of the freezer with buckets of water if you like to waste money .

 

[555]

We have a vertical freezer in our garage. We bought it when we lived in Mesquite, TX in 1998 and moved it to Atlanta, GA in 2001. It does not "run" all the time and has been efficient for 17 years. We open it once or twice a week and we have never noticed any loss of cooling. The door "seals" when it is closed and we keep it locked with the factory installed lock/key system. We also have a chest freezer in a storage building in Arkansas. It is around 25 years old, continues to work just fine and is pretty darn efficient for it's age. When the chest finally quits, it will be replaced with a vertical due to space requirements.

 

[gungatim]

Um, yea..........no.

1 cubic foot of air at standard temperature and pressure assuming average composition weighs approximately 0.0807 lbs. Do the math, (re)heating a few pounds of air doesn't take much energy.

Water weighs a whole lot more and thus takes considerably more energy to initially cool AND keep cool. And a freezer full of water-filled buckets will still "heat-up" when the door is opened.

It's all about the mass you're trying to cool, and keep cool.

Fill the unused portion of the freezer with buckets of water if you like to waste money .

Some people just don't understand physics

when I camped, I would keep ice in the freezer, but that was so I didn't have to buy it. same argument at the campgrounds, should you empty the melted water out of your cooler or keep it in...

I've had both types of freezers, started with an upright, went to a chest. the chest is cheaper to run and more efficient at storing food--much less wasted space. as far as defrosting, I used to have to shut down the upright and melt it out shelf by shelf.

the chest--I only have to raise the lid and hit the edges with a hair dryer and scrape it off...10 minute job vs. hours on the upright.

 

[Showkey]

Some people just don't understand physics

when I camped, I would keep ice in the freezer, but that was so I didn't have to buy it. same argument at the campgrounds, should you empty the melted water out of your cooler or keep it in...
.

According to YETI coolers keep water in but keep the food store stuffs out of the water, cans bottle ok. They explain why in their FAQ.........but the simple answer the water is almost the same temp as the ice and more cold is better n the cooler. Not all ice has equal in cooling capacity. Coolers are keeping the cool and not making colder so.

My vote chest freezer manual defrost.

Sounds like a test for myth busters.....

Maybe a google test:

As usual plenty of info.......

Chest Freezer

Pros:
• More energy efficient
• More space efficient inside
• Holds cold inside better

Cons:
• Takes up more floor space
• Inconvenient for viewing and accessing items quickly

Upright Freezer

Pros:
• Takes up less floor space
• Convenient for viewing and accessing items quickly

Cons:
• Less energy efficient
• Less space efficient inside

I like the idea of being able to just open the door and grab something as opposed of having to lift out a lot of cold things to get to what I need. I also like the idea of keeping our electricity bills down. And I like the idea of not taking up too much of our floor space.

 

[tomroblee]

Automatic defrost is good for convenience, but you will be defrosting your food to some extent as well as the ice that you want to eliminate. Comparing the freezer compartment of my self defrosting refrigerator with my manual defrost freezer may not be entirely fair, but ice cubes kept in my refrigerator will shrink and disappear within a few months. Ice cream will get "grainy".

 

[maxpower_hd]

I had a chest freezer for many years. My miniature wife, 5' nuthin, had a hard time getting anything out of it if it were more than half way down inside. Manual defrost wasn't much of an issue because I only had to do it one time. It was at a point where it might need it again but I replaced it so....

The upright one is frostless, it is a used unit but still newer than the ancient, I think Montgomery Ward, chest model. I didn't see much of a difference in electricity either way.

The upright is MUCH more convenient and takes up a LOT less room in the shop. I don't have any issues with it working in winter or summer. I don't bother freezing any water or anything. Just meat. I buy in bulk once a month or so.

My vote is for the upright.

 

[TractorJeff]

Automatic defrost has always been a "down side".
If and when we get a new one, it'll be an upright only for floor plan reasons.
As far as Chest Freezers, my brother had a 1950's International Harvester that finally died in 2005. Surprisingly he maintained it used less power than his new one!

 

[nes999]

After owning both I will now only own an upright. I hated within throught the whole chest of stuff just to find what I wanted was always on bottom.

Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk

 

[dave*99]

Frost free freezers do not preserve the food as well as manual defrost types. If the food is not sealed well(airtight) , the defrost cycle will dehydrate the food and can lead to freezer burn.

 

[Rockett69]

So, I stopped by a Sears Outlet and see what they had on the floor that I could get my hands on. I looked at both even though I am biased a bit to the Upright. There were several scratch and dent sales. Some I was willing to splurge a bit just to get it. I did find a Kenmore upright in mossy oak... I'm in love the Product number is 22040 for those of you whose wife would not kill you for bringing it home (Mine may go for it if the features are there). I'm going to nonchalantly mention this freezer when we go back together and look this weekend. It didn't have much in the realm of features though. Nice LED lights, 20.2cu/ft inside. The door is not reversible, which seems to be pretty common. I was hard pressed to find freezer that did have a reversible door on it. That was a bit of a buzzkill but not really a deal breaker. I did look a power usage between uprights that were frost-free and manual. Manuals seemed to be around the 400kw/hr. Frost free were in the 5-550kw/hr. Per year and a 1-150kw/hr difference @$.06 per kilowatt. So $6.00-$9.00 or so per year difference for frost free vs. manual. I think frost-free is worth it. I'll just buy a couple boxes of ammo out of the sale bin a couple times to save that much

 

[PhantomEB]

I have an upright in the basement, love it as I made it easier to find things than a chest unit. All my shelves have custom sized wooden boxes to contain this and that variety of meat, so it's not all buried at the bottom. Decide what I want, slide out, grab it and done.

 

[Rockett69]

@PhantomEB - Funny you say that, thats exactly what I was thinking of doing. I figured the "Wasted Space" in a upright is between the product on the shelf and the bottom of the shelf thats above the product. Buuuut, it you were to have a couple of properly sized baskets or mini-crates, that would assist in being able to stack up things taller and more organized (Which is also a big reason to get an upright).

 

[maxpower_hd]

Frost free freezers do not preserve the food as well as manual defrost types. If the food is not sealed well(airtight) , the defrost cycle will dehydrate the food and can lead to freezer burn.

You will get freezer burn in either one if the food isn't sealed well. I use a vacuum sealer for the deep freezer.