Moving freezer, keep upright essential?

[Jonathan G Campbell]

I'm moving a chest freezer to another house about 10 miles away. The problem is that it will not fit upright into my hatchback. It would fit if placed on its side.

I've been told that I must keep it upright at all costs. True?

[There is no food in it and it has been unused (power off) for two years. Dunno if that has any bearing.]

TIA,

Jon C.

[jonathan]

Seem to remeber when I bought a Zanussi fridge freezer to leave it upright, after moving, for two hours. Sold it to a friend who had to lay it flat to move it and it still works.

Cheers Jonathan

[Andrew Gabriel]

In my experience, yes. Even after shaking it around, most instructions say leave it standing for a day before switching on. I turned one on its side for half a day and then left it standing upright for many days, but compressor burned out within 20 minutes of so of being switched on.

Hotpoint (and someone here) suggested that it might have been recoverable if I had run it for perhaps only 30 seconds every

10 mintues over a day. However, I'd already damaged it past that point.

[Danny Monaghan]

[e-mail] (Jonathan G Campbell) wrote in news: [e-mail]:

I've moved two in the last few months with no problem and both were laid on their sides. I thought the only think was to stand them for a while to allow the coolant to settle back into the compressor. I plugged one back in within 20 minutes of unloading it and had no problems. Dunno if the instructions say keep upright because I've not got them!

[Christian McArdle]

If it is of little value, so not worth transporting by other means and you won't be too disappointed if it is broken:

1. Lay sheets under it in case of leaks.
2. Move it.
3. Stand it upright for 2 days in its final position.
4. Turn it on for 30 seconds. Turn it off for 15 minutes.
5. Repeat (3) about ten times, very slightly increasing the "on" time each time until you leave it on permanently.

This process will hopefully separate the lubricating oil from the refridgerant before the compressor burns out. Note the word "hopefully".

Christian.

[Jonathan G Campbell]

Many thanks all. I decided to play safe and kept it upright. It is now in it's new home via a Mercedes A170 -- it's amazing what you can get into one of those, especially through the rear passenger doors.

Jon C.