School me on freezers

[PaPaG]

We want to pick up a freezer for the garage.
I’ve read upright, I’ve read chest style.
A chest would fit better with minimal re-arranging.

The goal here is to get a freezer then hit up @wash11 so I can play with their meet too

Any brands one should avoid or perform better than promised?
I’m looking at an area 30-36 wide, but I’d like to keep the depth at about 2 feet, 26” max.
A stand up would have me removing stuff higher up on a wall which I’d rather not do.

And, Go!!

We got a Frigidaire Garage Model I think 21' stand up from HD, bought 1/2 a cow from Joel, had plenty of room for ALL our other frozen stuff plus some more room, so easy to open the door and grab what you want without searching, had a chest freezer and it was a pain to dig through.

 

[pronstar]

Frost Free - pulls the moisture out of the items being stores resulting in freezer burn after awhile. I found that back in the 1980 when I was going a lot of long range fishing and beef buying the non frost free freezers I had were much better storage units. The down side of them is once in a while then need to be defrosted......no biggie.

vacuum sealing eliminates freezer burn

 

[pronstar]

if you put your freezer in a garage or shed that doesn’t have climate control, consider getting a unit that’s garage rated. It’ll say in the name of the fridge, it’s a selling point.

They’re designed to work in very hot or very cold places, versus the typical kitchen.

Info here and elsewhere

Is a Garage Fridge Practical? Everything You Need To Know.

There are pros and cons to running an extra fridge in the garage. Get all the facts you need to know about garage fridges.

www.garageliving.com

 

[rivermobster]

So so far....

A stand up, garage rated, non frost free, at least 21 sq ft?

 

[Waterjunky]

Vote 287 for an upright.........

 

[Gramps]

one small thought about chest vs upright.................if you are opening the freezer a lot an upright looses the cold air faster than a chest.....

 

[Justfishing]

My upright has a fan that circulates the cold air. One time the fan went out and everything in the top half thawed and was ruined. I now have a remote thermometer that i keep in the kitchen. It will alarm if the temp gets out of range.

 

[Rajobigguy]

one small thought about chest vs upright.................if you are opening the freezer a lot an upright looses the cold air faster than a chest.....

This is true but by the time you completely unpack the coffin to get what you’re after on the bottom you have lost as much, if not more, cold air.

 

[Gramps]

This is true but by the time you completely unpack the coffin to get what you’re after on the bottom you have lost as much, if not more, cold air.

I try to organize everything in the chest by using plastic milk crate type "boxes" so I just lift the crate out if I need to get something from the bottom

 

[Gelcoater]

So so far....

A stand up, garage rated, non frost free, at least 21 sq ft?

On a non GFI circuit

 

[rivermobster]

On a non GFI circuit

Definitely

Probably should be on its own breaker too if possible!

 

[mash on it]

So so far....

A stand up, garage rated, non frost free, at least 21 sq ft?

I'd imagine it would be cubic feet.

Dan'l

 

[rivermobster]

I'd imagine it would be cubic feet.

Dan'l

DOH!

 

[Ladsm]

I have a chest freezer and whatever I want is always on the bottom. I think there is still a turkey from a couple years ago frozen to the bottom

Update it died yesterday and I just emptied 100lbs of fish and fish marinated turkey. I will be replacing it but with a smaller one just for ice.

 

[Done-it-again]

Business Costco in Ontario had a few freezers, chest and upright styles yesterday.

 

[shan]

Lots of good intel here. I have been going through the same considerations. It seems like you would always be pulling off the top (newest) with a chest freezer. I add a date on all my stuff with a Sharpie, but if you can't see it...

 

[Rajobigguy]

Lots of good intel here. I have been going through the same considerations. It seems like you would always be pulling off the top (newest) with a chest freezer. I add a date on all my stuff with a Sharpie, but if you can't see it...

Gramp’s idea of stacking things in crates should make getting to stuff on the bottom a little easier. And if you’re one of those people that is so organized that you irritate the crap out of everyone around you, you could even post an inventory sheet next to the freezers and update every time something goes in or comes out.

 

[shan]

Gramp’s idea of stacking things in crates should make getting to stuff on the bottom a little easier. And if you’re one of those people that is so organized that you irritate the crap out of everyone around you, you could even post an inventory sheet next to the freezers and update every time something goes in or comes out.

I'm irritating, but not that irritating.

 

[mjc]

Gramp’s idea of stacking things in crates should make getting to stuff on the bottom a little easier. And if you’re one of those people that is so organized that you irritate the crap out of everyone around you, you could even post an inventory sheet next to the freezers and update every time something goes in or comes out.

My wife has the list mostly so we can figure out what to have for dinner. All shelves are organized by food type. Meat then veg then my ice cream then breakfast stuff.

 

[Rajobigguy]

K XO

My wife has the list mostly so we can figure out what to have for dinner. All shelves are organized by food type. Meat then veg then my ice cream then breakfast stuff.

I'm envious, my wife just buys bulk foods to take up space in the freezer.

 

[Canuck 1]

Get both, then you don't have to stress over the decision.

 

[JDub24]

Turns out the brand is a Galanz? hasn't skipped a beat in 2 1/2 years

View attachment 1268107

That looks like some Rameys carne asada in there…

 

[Flyinbowtie]

Just a couple of thoughts to add...for 20 plus years we had two Frigidaire upright commercial 20 CF freezers in the shop. This is when I was raising beef...one of those freezers was taken out by a P,G&E brown out about 5 yrs ago, prior to a 12 hour power failure. Cooked everything electric in it and it was not repairable. The other Frigidaire is still cruising along out there...I have acquired some spares for it over time...analog defrost timer, ets.
- I sent the claim form in to PGE, they denied it. I had the report from the tech and the itemized value of the 465lbs of beef we lost.
It also killed our Fridge in the house...they denied that. We bought another cheaper unit, also Frigidaire, for the shop, and keep pork and other various stuff in it.

Don't count on whatever power company you are hooked to to follow through with there "plan" to "reimburse" for problems their system cause.
They won't. Most folks in my neighborhood lost at least a Fridge, some lost TV and other gear...obvious brown out issue prior to failure.
Not one of us saw a dime.
The utilities have programs in place for this, but they don't really do a damn thing.

- Have the temp minders that Wash11 suggested...if you lose a freezer and don't know it until it gets warm it is game over. Have a plan to get your generator power to the freezers.
We now have a third freezer out there...it is simply a backup. It isn't plugged in. (Yes, I tested it) I picked it up at a moving sale. You might think this is overkill, but we now buy our beef and pork from FFA kids, and it's not cheap, so if we lose a freezer I want to be able to plug the spare in and transfer contents asap.
This spare cost me $600 right before the covid crap began.
I think it is $ well spent.
My eldest son manages 29 techs who repair and service these things. He will always suggest buying the unit with the least amount of electronics in it. Simple, dial operated temp controls, etc, if you can find them. He got our Frigidaires at commercial businesses that were closing or upgrading...