I'm thinking that even though the cold air spills out of an upright freezer when you open it's door, that may not affect it's efficiency all that much because the mass of the cold air spilled out is tiny. And, realistically, you only open the freezer door 2 or 3 times a day to put food in and take food out.
My thoughts, and many others, self defrosting units will cause freezer burn more than manual defrost. Temperature fluctuations help cause freezer burn. I don't have any full size units right now. I've data logged typical upper freezer refrigerators. During defrost air temperature can go well into the
20s. If it's opened during that period, even worse. I was just reading searches, because I never really worried about it much.I bought my parents a large sears chest, around 1970. It sat in the garage for 35 years, always running. I ended up giving it away still working. It got close to 32 degrees at times in the garage. It was not used that well, mostly empty. Great for large items, and making ice bricks.
I found a problem recently. A self defrosting unit, against a cold wall will condense water vapor, causing mold.
Greg
And if it was on defrost.
How full the unit is might be more concern. Air has little mass.
Greg
I wonder if they sell any mechanical memory devices. Like the turkey pop ups. You can buy cheap battery operated temperature monitors. You could just monitor maximum temp, but an alarm device might cost more.
Greg
I have a detached garage and I don't keep the car in it. Yes, I could easily go a couple of weeks in the winter. I do have the snow blower in their so this winter it was visited often.
!YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
We have three freezers, quite small ones so we can shut some down as they empty. We grow most vegetables in the garden and freeze the surplus. Some of it is in there for two years.
We also buy frozen stuff. You need to learn how to use a freezer and prepare food before you put it in.
There is signifacant heat given offby a freezer. If you have it in the garage,you wont benefit from it.
So garage best in Summer, (but adds to AC load) Basement best inWinter.
I had a garden last summer, which was my first full-scale veggie garden. I planted much-too-much for the two of us, but shared a lot and froze some in the fridge. I think I could easily save the energy cost by freezing more garden produce. And the gas we use to go to the grocery store would be reduced.....got to make more frequent trips just for bread. I really, really miss the fresh garden produce. Just about set up to start some seeds in the basement, hoping spring will arrive by June :o) Looks like another blizzard party this weekend; staying more fit by shoveling snow.....my neighbor keeps trying to get rid of it for me :o)
Our garage is attached and not heated or cooled. Gets pretty hot in summer, and that was my main concern. We can keep the door open during hottest part of the day, but I hoped someone had real data. Our basement gets TOO cool in summer with AC running, just from the heat loss from ducts....not finished and no vents in basement. Could correct it if hubby goes for it.
Mark
I hear the cold temps may kill the stinkbugs.
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