Chest Freezer

[Badger]

Anyone know why nobody has chest freezers available to sell. You can find other large appliances (washing machines, dish washers, refrigerators, etc.) but no chest freezers. I check everywhere like Home Depot, Lowes, Best Buy, even Costco and some local independent large appliance stores. They all say they probably won't get any until the new year. I even checked with a restaurant supply store but no luck. I have been looking since February.

Befuddled!


Cheers!

 

[njhowie]

Have you checked Amazon? They seem to have a variety in stock.

 

[brewer12345]

This is part of the grocery hoarding. Gotta have a freezer to keep the stuff you buy. I would love to replace my upright freezer, but I know that isn't happening. Defrosted the bastard last night and it puked melt water all over the floor.

 

[Souschef]

Defrosted the bastard last night and it puked melt water all over the floor.

I have a little 6 cu ft upright freezer, and when I defrost it I use a few large pots of hot water and wait about 15 minutes.
That loosens the ice so I can take it out in sheets with very little melt water.
I use a plastic spatula to help it

 

[sengsational]

Wim Hof

 

[Souschef]

Wim Hof

Wim Hof, also known as The Iceman, is a Dutch extreme athlete noted for his ability to withstand freezing temperatures. He has set Guinness world records for swimming under ice and prolonged full-body contact with ice, and still holds the record for a barefoot half-marathon on ice and snow

 

[sengsational]

And his followers buy chest freezers to take polar plunges (to exercise their endothelial cells).

 

[easysurfer]

Anyone know why nobody has chest freezers available to sell....

People still preparing for the apocalypse .

The bright side is seems the toilet paper shortage has let up.

 

[rk911]

if you're in the Chicago metro area check at ABT.COM. their website indicates they have chest freezers in stock.

 

[always_learning]

As said above, it's people panic buying and/or realizing the need to keep more than two weeks of food on hand. Add to that China not shipping anything for a while and us not accepting deliveries (cargo boxes held, unopened, at port in CA for fear of COVID).

On two other sites I visit, people can't get replacements for their regular fridges that have simply died unless they take scratch & dent things, and any orders don't have delivery dates sooner than mid-September. "Word on the street" is that after Labor Day, things should get better.

 

[NateW]

This article pretty much sums it up: https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/07...nce-shortage-has-many-on-waiting-lists-6/amp/

We bought a new 16 cubic foot chest freezer online from Lowe's in March and it kept getting delayed due to the pandemic and was finally delivered yesterday. This one: https://www.lowes.com/pd/GE-Garage-Ready-15-7-cu-ft-Manual-Defrost-Chest-Freezer-White/1000533557
If you were to buy this one now, it looks like delivery will be no earlier than mid October. It's made in China, but appears to be well made and has good reviews.

When I just checked Lowe's they do have a few in store purchase freezers listed.

 

[Retch The Grate]

All the chest freezers were sold out when we were looking but my wife is clever and a couple months ago we got a (not Energy Star rated) glass topped ice cream display freezer in our garage. Works great, and seeing into it encourages us to use the things in it rather than forgetting about them (hmm, perhaps I should go downstairs and grab a mint+cacao smoothie to blend up).

 

[RAE]

Freezers have been hard to find since about March/April. It's all about people being fearful of not being able to find meat and other frozen foods at the stores due to the virus. When these items are available, people are buying them in quantity and filling up their freezers.

 

[brewer12345]

Freezers have been hard to find since about March/April. It's all about people being fearful of not being able to find meat and other frozen foods at the stores due to the virus. When these items are available, people are buying them in quantity and filling up their freezers.

Yup. Add in a little supply chain trouble, and voila: enduring shortage.

I haven't looked in a bit, but mason jars, lids, and rings were scarce. Wonder if it is hard to buy a pressure canner?

 

[Texas Proud]

I am surprised that people do not have frost free freezers...


Mine is VERY old and is frost free....

 

[brewer12345]

I am surprised that people do not have frost free freezers...


Mine is VERY old and is frost free....

A lot of chest freezers are not. My upright is probably from the Reagan administration.

 

[Another Reader]

I am surprised that people do not have frost free freezers...


Mine is VERY old and is frost free....

Frost-free is not good for long term food storage. That's because the freezer automatically periodically warms up to over 32 degrees to melt the accumulated ice on the walls and floor. That water is drained off and the temperature then drops again.

 

[NateW]

Yup. Add in a little supply chain trouble, and voila: enduring shortage.

I haven't looked in a bit, but mason jars, lids, and rings were scarce. Wonder if it is hard to buy a pressure canner?

Last week I purchased 4 cases of 12, quart size, Ball "smooth side" regular mouth canning jars with rings and lids. Got them from Target and I believe they were a little over $10 a case, free delivery. I also ordered Ball standard size lids from Walmart, to be picked up tomorrow with curb side grocery order. It's possible they won't be included in the order, but I'm hopeful.

A couple months earlier I was able to get delivered an inexpensive hot water bath 7 quart canner from Walmart. This is for peaches and possibly tomatoes, which are acidic enough to safely can without a pressure canner.

 

[Another Reader]

A couple of years ago I bought a 5.0 cf Insignia chest freezer from Best Buy. They loaded it in the SUV and I got some help to get it into the house. I paid $99 on sale for it. Today I checked and the freezer is in stock in a couple of fairly local stores. It's now priced at $190 and you can get it delivered here for $70.

The freezer is basic but it gets the job done. Perfect for two or three people and good for stocking up on sale items. Might not get half a pig in it, but probably fine for most small households.

 

[NateW]

A lot of chest freezers are not. My upright is probably from the Reagan administration.

I also have a 8 cubic foot upright freezer, manual defrost, from the Clinton era. Made May, 1995. This is just about the last year the super ozone depleting R-12, dichlorodifluoromethane refrigerant was used. Here is a picture of it's data sticker.

The next generation of freezers used R-134a refrigerant and now that is changing. Our new freezer uses isobutane refrigerant (R600a) which is flamible. Also included is a picture of the warning label on the new freezer.

 

[NateW]

I read accounts of people selling crappy used freezers on Craig's List and are asking outlandish prices.

 

[copyright1997reloaded]

Frost-free is not good for long term food storage. That's because the freezer automatically periodically warms up to over 32 degrees to melt the accumulated ice on the walls and floor. That water is drained off and the temperature then drops again.

This. The best way to keep food is to make sure it stays at zero (or below) as much as possible. Manual defrost is also more efficient, however that is based on not allowing too much ice buildup (which can hamper efficiency).

I have two manual defrost freezers, one upright and one chest. All other things being equal (build quality), a chest freezer will be more efficient. However, with the upright it is much easier to find things and having a door (with shelves) is nice.

 

[ERD50]

Frost-free is not good for long term food storage. That's because the freezer automatically periodically warms up to over 32 degrees to melt the accumulated ice on the walls and floor. That water is drained off and the temperature then drops again.

Actually, I don't thinks it is anywhere near that bad. As I understand it, at least on modern frost free models, the coils are tucked away behind a panel, and a fan circulates the inside air over them. Only the coils get frost on them (they are the coldest part), and only the coils are heated (with the fan off, so the air around the food is not really heated much at all). The water drips off and through a tube to the drain pan (which evaporates with the hot air from the compressor blown over it.

They can actually apply quite a bit of heat to the coils directly to do it fast, and they sense when the temperature of the coils rises above 32F (which won't happen until the ice is melted). So it doesn't run the heat any longer than needed.

On our manual defrost freezer, the coils are in the shelves, and that is where the ice builds up (and grows from there).

Think about it, if they warmed the whole compartment above 32F, it would still take a long time for any frost to melt with all that food in there keeping the temperature stable. And the water would drip all over. Have you ever opened a frost-free and actually seen water dripping anywhere? Not me (unless it was broken).

The other thing - since that defrost cycle is removing water from the air every cycle, there isn't enough moisture to frost up on the walls. I think it is this dry air (freezer burn) that has more detrimental effect on long term storage than a slight temperature rise of 10 minutes once or twice a day (or whatever it is set for).

-ERD50

 

[NgineER]

I agree about supply chain issues. I tried to buy a fridge for a rental unit and all three basic SS models were out of stock and at least 6/8 weeks out before being inventories.

 

[RetiredAtThirty-eight]

A couple of years ago I bought a 5.0 cf Insignia chest freezer from Best Buy. They loaded it in the SUV and I got some help to get it into the house. I paid $99 on sale for it. Today I checked and the freezer is in stock in a couple of fairly local stores. It's now priced at $190 and you can get it delivered here for $70.

The freezer is basic but it gets the job done. Perfect for two or three people and good for stocking up on sale items. Might not get half a pig in it, but probably fine for most small households.

The electrical cost can really add up over the useful life of the freezer. You can almost always save money by spending a bit more upfront for a more efficient one.