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Post by olebama on Aug 4, 2012 20:32:45 GMT -7
What with the drought and loss of corn crop, etc. and the expected price increases, we are planning on getting another chest freezer. the wife bought up $120 or so of meat and that has just about filled our current freezer.
Anyone have insight on brand, etc.?
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jamiboy
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Post by jamiboy on Aug 4, 2012 21:03:50 GMT -7
I butcher a couple of pigs a couple of weeks ago and filled mine also and I need to get another. I'm going to get a upright. Seems anytime I need something it's always at the bottom.
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Post by Redneckidokie on Aug 4, 2012 23:30:19 GMT -7
We are going to Lowes tomorrow to pick up one. But the wife also wants an upright. With deer season coming on and a 6+ limit I plan to fill one full of bambi. I have family with big chest freezers and they never see the bottom of them and eat mostly off the top layer. Good luck.  |
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Post by tjwilhelm on Aug 5, 2012 9:07:29 GMT -7
I understand the inconvenience of having to dig to the bottom of a chest freezer; BUT, I think it's important to keep in mind that a chest freezer is functionally more efficient than an upright. As soon as you open the door of an upright freezer, the cold air starts spilling out onto the floor. When you lift the lid of a chest freezer, the cold air stays trapped inside. Thus, the chest freezer will use less electricity, and electricity might become a precious and limited resource.
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jamiboy
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Post by jamiboy on Aug 5, 2012 10:25:36 GMT -7
Yes, good point on energy lost but I know sometimes it takes me a good while to dig to the bottom of mine by the time I pull everything out just to get to the bottom. I would think I would use less energy in an upright because I could be in and out of there in a flash with frozen turkey wings in hand. If I was a better organized person I would have everything in some kind of order in my chest so it would not be so bad.
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Post by olebama on Aug 5, 2012 12:02:15 GMT -7
For the reasons that TJ mentioned is why I am looking at a chest freezer. I also think that I can get more into a chest freezer than the same size upright. I know that it is difficult to get into the bottom, we have had to dig to get to certain things.
Does anyone have any stories of particular brands of freezers that have been problems?
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jamiboy
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Post by jamiboy on Aug 5, 2012 13:15:53 GMT -7
I have a GE that I've kept outside in a shed for the past ten years and never had a problem with it. The shed is not insulated and in the summer temps can get 100+ in there. Other than it always putting what I want on the bottom I've been happy with it.
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Post by geron on Aug 5, 2012 14:39:24 GMT -7
I always went for the chest type for precisely the reasons TJ suggested.
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Post by alex on Aug 5, 2012 17:39:28 GMT -7
Careful with uprights and frost! I know most of them now a days don't frost up as bad as older ones...but we lost EVERYTHING in an Upright. The door seal on the upright was broken a little due to a freezer bag being between the door and the door seal...this allowed the upright to begin to frost up on the inside...thus pushing the door open just enough to thaw EVERYTHING. It had been about a week or so since anyone had gone down stairs to get something from it...when we got down there...total loss! I've got a chest freezer and that's what I'll always have...my parents are the same way...they've got two chest freezers.
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jamiboy
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Post by jamiboy on Aug 5, 2012 18:58:12 GMT -7
Careful with uprights and frost! I know most of them now a days don't frost up as bad as older ones...but we lost EVERYTHING in an Upright. The door seal on the upright was broken a little due to a freezer bag being between the door and the door seal...this allowed the upright to begin to frost up on the inside...thus pushing the door open just enough to thaw EVERYTHING. It had been about a week or so since anyone had gone down stairs to get something from it...when we got down there...total loss! I've got a chest freezer and that's what I'll always have...my parents are the same way...they've got two chest freezers. That has always been a fear of mine since it's outside. If it went out it wouldn't take long to lose everything. I'm always in and out of the shop and as soon as I walk in the first thing I do is glance at the light on the chest to make sure it's still working. |
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Post by solargeek1 on Aug 5, 2012 21:29:42 GMT -7
We have had both and never liked the chest freezer. Now we have 2 uprights. Love them. But Alex is right, you do have to pay a little attention to frost.
I put all my stuff in the freezer into coolers right before I make a big purchase of a steer, goat or such, and just defrost it.
Takes about 2 hours, drains into a drain and it can go for another year or so. Not a hassle and so much easier to stack, sort and find stuff.
Hated the chest freezer as I always lost stuff in it. JMHO
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 5, 2012 21:51:24 GMT -7
Between our 2 places, we have 1 small, 1 medium and 2 giant deep freezers. We use pieces of cardboard an divide the freezers up, then use wire baskets with zip tie labels for marking the contents as beef, pork, vineson, fish, coon, squirrel, whatever that basket may hold. We only use from the oldest section when its empty, we move to the next one and start filling the empty with fresh meats and such, and just keep rotating. It stopped all waste and freezerburn loss. Thats for the 2 big ones. The medium one is divided up strictly for rabbit, poultry and lamb with baskets and labels. The small one is for flour, grains, seeds, fruit, ice, and such. We use wire baskets with ziptie labels marking the contents, so we can just rearrange the baskets to get what we need instead of rummaging through frozen packages. Scuts down on the amount of time the freezer is open, too. The zipties labels are dated and nothing new is put in a basket until it is emptied. If we buy something odd, have organ meats, homemade popcicles and such, we put them in the refridgerator freezer. I hate uprights.
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Post by missasip on Aug 6, 2012 4:58:22 GMT -7
Labor Day 1985, Elania came thru MS. From Mon at 11am till Thru at 8pm no power. Perpared 15 cuft chest freezer with extra bottles of water for ice. Covered everything with two blankets. Closed it and didn't open till power back on. Still frozen hard, including bottles of water. Could have gone maybe two more days. Everyone I knew with an upright lost them....
Simular to Dink, I use milk cartons to hold stuff and keep things easily accessable.
Jimmy
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Post by olebama on Aug 6, 2012 17:46:44 GMT -7
Wow! a lot of good info. One of the HVAC guys at work recommended a temperature alarm be put in my old freezer. That would give me some warning that it had quit.
Dink, how thick cardboard did you use? I would think it would have to be pretty thick.
Missasip, where do you even get milk cartons these days?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 6, 2012 22:41:16 GMT -7
Wow! a lot of good info. One of the HVAC guys at work recommended a temperature alarm be put in my old freezer. That would give me some warning that it had quit. Dink, how thick cardboard did you use? I would think it would have to be pretty thick. Missasip, where do you even get milk cartons these days? We went to a furniture outlet store and they gave us the boxes from a few recliners that were floor models, we just cut them to the width (front to back) of the freezer, and made them twice as long (top to bottom), folded them in half and duct taped the ends together...wahlah.... it is a heavy duty cardboard double thickness. As a section empties and we need to keep them from falling down, we just use a few 1 gallon water jugs (with some room for expansion to prevent busting) set around them to hold them up. Then as we fill it, we just remove the bottles and let them thaw in the fridge for having ice cold water on hand for drinking. |
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