Chest freezer in garage or basement?

We are contemplating buying a high-eff. chest freezer, about 18 c.f. It would be a lot handier to have in our attached garage, but I have no idea how an unheated garage will affect efficiency....summer gets pretty hot in garage, but can leave it open on hottest days. I'd like to hear experiences of others, especially if they have operated the same freezer in both places. We are in Indiana, so hottest days can be 100+ and coldest (this winter) minus 22.

Reply to
Norminn
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I wouldn't worry too much about the efficiency part; that's the least of your worries. The biggest problem in an unheated space if it gets and can stay below 40F or so there's a real likelihood the freezer cooling will never kick on and you can actually lose product in dead of winter. Happened to daughter in Olympia, WA, and it's not all _that_ cold there. Turns out newer units are far more susceptible than older as they had had an ancient unit for years but the new replacement one was the culprit the second winter.

You can solve the problem by building a closet area around it and keeping either a small heater or perhaps as small as a 100W (incandescent) bulb.

Reply to
dpb

Hi, Our upright freezer stays inside the insuslated but not heated garage. Works fine. I am in Calgary, AB much colder than Olympia, WA. Maybe high humidity there has something to do with it? Our winter time relative humidity ia often below zero %.

Reply to
Tony Hwang

You're not encouraging the OP to be a criminal smuggler of illegal bulbs?

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

my wife insited on a freezer, so we got a chest type. it saved no money at all and just cost money for the electric. we got it, she did a big shopping trip then didnt use the stuff before it got freezer burn. ultimately we to ssed nearly everything in that freezer. I have several friends who had the same experience...

!YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Reply to
bob haller

In SE Iowa we have one in an unheated and uninsulated attached garage with absolutely no problems. Been there since we moved here about eight years ago...think we bought the freezer at the same time. Don't know what the temps in the garage get to but outside it can be as cold as -15 degrees F and as high as 100 degrees F.

All in all, I don't think that you should have any problems either.

Don

Reply to
IGot2P

The data sheet for the freezer will have the operating temperature range. Personally, I would buy an upright unit. Much easier to access, see what's inside, etc. And definitely get one that self defrosts.

Reply to
trader4

If you lose power in the summer, in an unheated garage, and nobody checks it for a couple of weeks like happened to my neighbor,

you really do not want to smell the results.

Probably want to have some kind of pilot light setup for wherever you put it. In this case one breaker tripped, and the garage lost power but the rest of the house did not.

Reply to
TimR

And if you lose power in a _heated_ garage things would be better?

I can only speak for myself, but unless I was on a vacation, it wouldn't be more than 8, maybe 10, hours before I knew that the power was out in my garage. I'm in there every day, usually multiple times a day.

I wonder how many people would go a couple of weeks without knowing the power was out in their garage.

Survey says?

Reply to
DerbyDad03

Chests are more efficient than uprights. When you open the lid the cold stays inside. When you open an upright a lot of cold air falls out.

I don't know the numbers, maybe they're insignificant, maybe not. I guess it would depend on how often and for how long the upright was opened.

Reply to
DerbyDad03

Ours, and I think most, have a loud buzzer that goes off if the temperature goes over a certain point. I need to check and see if that is battery powered or powered from the AC. If powered from the AC it obviously would not do a lot of good.

Don

Reply to
IGot2P

Every year when I go on vacation for 2-3 weeks. Multiple times a year for 1 week between lawn mowings. Doesn't make much difference if you don't visit the freezer for 2 weeks.

Reply to
Vic Smith

I agree with the advice to contact the manufacturer and find out what temperature range they specify for the freezer. While colder temperatures will increase the efficiency of the condenser in getting rid of the heat removed from the food, the oil in the compressor is going to get more viscous with colder temperatures and may not lubricate the moving parts in the compressor sufficiently.

Chest freezers are inherently more efficient than upright freezers because cold air is denser than warm air. So, when you open a chest freezer, the cold air remains inside as Derby Dad says.

Never ever never buy a used chest freezer if it's been turned off. That's because chest freezers are built differently than refrigerators. In a chest type freezer the evaporator coils line the inside of the freezer side walls and the condenser coils line the outsides of the freezer side walls. That's why the walls of a chest freezer will feel warm, just like the condenser coils on the back of a fridge when it's running. Because chest freezers don't have a automatic defrost like fridges, over the course of several years, frost will accumulate on the evaporator coils of the freezer. This space is sealed off and so you don't get the kind of frost accumulation that you get on a manual defrost fridge, but it will accumulate with time.

The problem is is that space is sealed off. So, if you turn off or unplug the freezer, that frost melts and forms a puddle at the bottom of the freezer. That water won't do any harm at all to the aluminum evaporator coils on the inside of the freezer walls, but in time it will cause corrosion of the STEEL condensor coils on the outside of the freezer walls. That corrosion will make the steel rough, and that results in what engineers call "stress raisers". If you have a notch in a steel tube, and you continuously pressurize and depressurize that tube, a crack will propogate from that notch because the stress on the steel is highest at the notch because the wall thickness of the tubing is smallest at the notch.

So, if you plan to sell an old freezer, put your ad in the paper, but leave the freezer plugged in and running until it's sold. Otherwise, knowledgable buyers won't want to buy it for fear it's not going to last long.

Reply to
nestork

Every since I put a freezer in my garage, I don't think we've gone more than a day or two without getting something from it. Bread, ice cream, a frozen burrito for breakfast, etc. Different strokes...

Reply to
DerbyDad03

Now that's a new one - you will loose food because it's too cold for the freezer to run???? No reason a freezer won't run at 40F.

Reply to
clare

Perhaps the writer meant refrigerator / freezer. In household refrig, the cold control is in the refrig. So, a refrig in 40F would never run.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

Hi, I understand upright uses little more power than chest type but wife hated chest freezer we had first, bending down and digging out stuff she needed. After we bought upright we use it more. She is happy.

Reply to
Tony Hwang

Hmm, Some freezers have temp. warning indicator light our new one has it.

Reply to
Tony Hwang

That can be avoided, but you have to be willing to do the extra work to be sure things are properly wrapped and used in a timely manner. There are ways to save a lot of money on meats. A Foodsaver can keep wrapped meat for a couple of years.

Also, an upright is much easier to find things in than the chest.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

I have a 10 or more year old freezer - it has a power out alarm. I would assume all new freezers have one.

As for cold temps hampering the operation. Being a skeptic I would really like dto see the reasoning behind that. Mine sits on an unheated, enclosed porch in a climate that commonly sees temps below zero in winter - no trouble at all with the freezer.

Harry K Harry K

Reply to
Harry K

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