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Do you love your freezer?


Abra

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My pre-antique upright freezer is crapping out. It's glacial in there now, with huge mounds of thick ice, and I fear the torrential drainage of all its frost when we wheel it outside to a slope conveniently located above the neighbor's house. Food is getting icy and I'm getting cranky. It's time for a new one.

It lives in the garage, so looks aren't important. History has shown that I will never defrost, so I think it has to be frost-free. Big is good, since I like to put up summer stuff in the freezer every year. Other than that, I have no firm idea. I've searched around and see scattered references to freezers, but no one thread recommending what to buy. Do you have a freezer you'd be proud to be seen with?

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Last year I bought a Wood's upright freezer. Very large. It's similar to this one. It's frost free and I love it. I can see everything that's in the freezer without having to dig around and move a lot of stuff.

Marlene

Practice. Do it over. Get it right.

Mostly, I want people to be as happy eating my food as I am cooking it.

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Abra, you might want to check with your local utilities company and see what they say. When I replaced a very old upright, the rebate for the chest was more than worthwhile, A chest freezer, while not as convenient as an upright, using less electricity, and should electricity go out for several days (as happened to us) is easier to keep under control. I store things in the chest freezer in milk crates and it is very organized.

Susan Fahning aka "snowangel"
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as an aside... how much energy do those boys suck up & what is the price range?

my employers are slaughtering a cow soon and i want in, but mt current fridge can't handle it.

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I have had both types of freezer and much prefer the upright types. I have had several different brands and sizes and I believe bigger is better.

I have a huge 32 cf with the Kenmore label, however Sears no longer carries these big units (12 years old) which were made by a commercial freezer mfg. It is totally frost free.

A couple of months ago, I went along with one of my neighbors who bought this freezer from Lowe's

They ordered it, and it took about 3 weeks, as I recall, they rented a truck with a lift gate for half a day, which was cheaper than the delivery charge, which I think was $75.00. Since it went into the garage they didn't need an appliance dolly (although I have one, which everyone around here uses).

We split a steer and he brings whole wild pigs back from Mexico and does some hunting.

The freezer works very well.

It is an Energy Star appliance and they got a rebate from Edison. - All power companies offer rebates for any Energy Star appliances and it is a money saver.

In addition they took their old freezer, which like yours, still worked and cooled, to SCEs recycling center and got a check for $50.00 for it plus they got a $50.00 rebate from SCE for buying an Energy Star freezer.

If my freezer dies, I plan on replacing it with a 2-door commercial one made by Cold-Tech that is about the same size volume, but is wider and not as deep from front to back.

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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Hey, you know, I never even though of a rebate, although I always do think about energy efficiency. I am so checking with my power company!

I know the chest freezers are more efficient, but my back doesn't want one. Lifting stuff from the bent-over position is something I try to avoid. But I'm loving the multi-door ColdTech concept. Now there's a trick solution! I don't see any prices on their website, nor do I know if they sell to home users, but they sure look cool, and expensive.

I've never heard of Woods before, but I see that they are available here, so that's something alse to explore.

I really don't see the need for door baskets and shelves, to me they're just a waste of space and the stuff in them is prone to melting. I wonder if there's an upright without door storage.

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Sorry about my error. I have talked to Star Restaurant supply about getting a freezer and initially we talked about ColdTech and Traulson. I dug out my folder and went through the brochures and the one I found that would work best for me is this one made by Green World, more energy efficient than any of the other commercial freezers.

It is bigger than the one I have now but I also have a side by side in the kitchen (Maytag wide-by-side) which I love but am pretty sure I am going to swap out for a fridge-only unit so the bigger capacity will take up the slack.

I am getting rid of my commercial oven as I have a buyer for it, and putting in a regular oven/ovens and since that area has to be re-configured, I want to move the fridge also and I want one that has two doors but is all refrigerator, no freezer, made by Klondike in a wood cabinet to match my cabinets.

Here's a better picture.

This site lists almost all of the commercial freezers and fridges with prices so it's easier to compare them.

freezer specs and prices

Edited by andiesenji (log)

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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Hey, you know, I never even though of a rebate, although I always do think about energy efficiency.  I am so checking with my power company!

I know the chest freezers are more efficient, but my back doesn't want one.  Lifting stuff from the bent-over position is something I try to avoid.  But I'm loving the multi-door ColdTech concept.  Now there's a trick solution!  I don't see any prices on their website, nor do I know if they sell to home users, but they sure look cool, and expensive.

I've never heard of Woods before, but I see that they are available here, so that's something alse to explore.

I really don't see the need for door baskets and shelves, to me they're just a waste of space and the stuff in them is prone to melting.  I wonder if there's an upright without door storage.

Woods is a pretty popular brand in Canada. I have the basket and door storage and nothing ever melts in them. The basket gets used to lay frozen bags of stock in, and the doors get used for boxed frozen stuff that my son likes (pizza pops etc, ice cream bars, frozen concentrate for pink lemonade and such.

Marlene

Practice. Do it over. Get it right.

Mostly, I want people to be as happy eating my food as I am cooking it.

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Hey, you know, I never even though of a rebate, although I always do think about energy efficiency.  I am so checking with my power company!

I know the chest freezers are more efficient, but my back doesn't want one.  Lifting stuff from the bent-over position is something I try to avoid.  But I'm loving the multi-door ColdTech concept.  Now there's a trick solution!  I don't see any prices on their website, nor do I know if they sell to home users, but they sure look cool, and expensive.

I've never heard of Woods before, but I see that they are available here, so that's something alse to explore.

I really don't see the need for door baskets and shelves, to me they're just a waste of space and the stuff in them is prone to melting.  I wonder if there's an upright without door storage.

The reason I like the commercial freezers is because they have no door shelves.

I have baskets that sit on the shelves for holding stuff - it makes it easier to rotate foods and much easier to clean inside. Also it saves the cooling. Pull a basket out, close the freezer door and search the basket instead of standing with the door open for five minutes while hunting for something.

Like these

Edited by andiesenji (log)

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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I'm pretty Woods is the manufacturer of about half of all freezers -- other companies just slap their name on some variation of a Wood's model.

That said, we have a GE Upright non-frost-free. Went without the frost-free to avoid the damage to the food that occurs in the daily frost-free defrost cycle.

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That's interesting, Dave, because I'm pretty sure it's cycling in my current freezer that's depositing so much ice inside well-wrapped foods. Once I pre-scooped out ice cream balls and set them on a tray in the freezer, which normally freezes stuff rock hard. I checked them once, they were solid. When I went to serve them they were puddled, which just about made me cry since it was for an eGullet party. And yes, the door had been shut tight.

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This is from a year ago regarding Wood freezer/refrigerators.

Amana has lost market share and since being sold to a conglomerate a few years back has a very poor customer satisfaction rating.

Copeland/Emerson and Carlyle make most of the compressors for commercial freezer/refrigerators, from 5 cf to huge "drive-in" refrigerated warehouses. (I know someone who works for Copeland)

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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That's interesting, Dave, because I'm pretty sure it's cycling in my current freezer that's depositing so much ice inside well-wrapped foods.  Once I pre-scooped out ice cream balls and set them on a tray in the freezer, which normally freezes stuff rock hard.  I checked them once, they were solid.  When I went to serve them they were puddled, which just about made me cry since it was for an eGullet party.  And yes, the door had been shut tight.

Hmmm. My non-frost-free stays pretty solidily at 0 degrees F. We open it about once every couple of days to grab something. Frost build up isn't a problem -- we usually have to defrost it every 18-24 months. And we've never found ice buildup or freezer burns on anything in there...

Sounds like the thermostat is gone and is now starting up the compressor at too high a temperature, resulting in a virtual defrost cycle but without the ability to remove the moisture.

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  • 2 months later...

I'm getting ready to actually buy a freezer, and wanted to bump this up for any new opinions, plus more discussion on frost-free vs. not. The Green Worlds, and I suppose most commercial freezers, don't claim to be frost free. Yet I can't imagine anyone putting up with a ton of frost in a commercial environment, so perhaps Dave is right and the ice age that has dawned in my freezer is an anomaly.

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One thing you might want to look into: some freezers now seem to have the capacity to freeze more or less instantly or at least more quickly. I saw it somewhere on the Sears site.

"Half of cooking is thinking about cooking." ---Michael Roberts

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I bought a commercial freezer a while ago - the brand is Artic Air and it is perfect for what I need to store. No door storage. The other alternative I was thinking of is a used True, but the new Arctic Air was a lot cheaper and not much more than a household appliance would cost. You can have any color you want as long as it's white! :biggrin:

Here's a link to their site for more info: www.arcticairco.com or click

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