Chest Freezer Recommendations

I'm Looking for a small to medium size chest freezer. I need a little more space but the main reason is to kill worms and get better preservation. I would like something that you can organize and is energy efficient. Thanks Scott

watching this tread...I have been toying with the idea as well. I just need to figure out where I'd put it

After having a small fridge freezer in the apartment, I wanted a frost free freezer.  I was sick of having to defrost the fridge freezer.  We have an upright we got at Sears about year ago and aare very happy with it.  Pro's of Uprights, far easier to work with, no strain on the back take up less space. Con's may not be as energy efficient as chest freezer but not by much.  Very few chest freezers are frost free, which may or may not be a big deal to you.  The one advantage to a Chest is the size of the stuff you can put in it.  The disadvantage is you lose door storage, which comes in very handy. 

You will use your freezer for more things than you can imagine. Last year when I made Clam Chowder for the Crab Fest, I froze 12 quarts very easily, makes it easier to transport (no spills).

 You can freeze a gallon ziplock full of water overnight for camping trips.  Pay special attention to the seal construction. 

SOme of those small chest freezers have cheap seals on them, and come off or don't work so well.  That will be a good indicator of how well it does.

  DOes it have an audible alarm if the freezer stays should be left open (it happens). 

How hard is it to clean.  A spill in chest freezer can be a nightmare. does it have a light, many chest freezers don't have lights in them, so if you are sticking this thing off in a hidden area you may have a hard time finding your stuff. 

Now lastly take heavy object with you, something that weighs 20 pounds or so.  Place in the bottom of the freezer you are looking at, and ask your signifcant other to pick it up (more back injuries happen this way.  If she hates it, remember you will be the one who will have to dig through the entire thing to get to the 20 pound turkey, or frozen deer or what ever. Then after you have screwed up her system of storage, you will get an earful.  That my friends is why I like uprights over chest freezers

+1 on the upright.  Things just get too buried in a chest.  The downside is the footprint and the energy usage.  I also have a side-by-side in my garage for beer and the ice maker is used for
filling an ice chest when needed. Energy usage is definitely a problem at my house.   

I have two 21 cubic foot chest freezers. Love them. My first freezer was an upright which I hated after my first long range trip. Why? Didn't have time to clean and cut up the fish; so tried to vertical stack the fish in the freezer, something not easy to do with fish that is quickly thawing out. Ended up having to duct tape the door shut and it took hours before the fish even began to freeze (I checked periodically). Of course, my upright model could have been a lemon.

Everytime you open the upright door, all the cold air is released, which I think affects the energy rating.

Both of my chest freezers are GE's.

BTW, I have no trouble in digging out the food item I want because I have a habit of giving away my catch. 

My 2 cents

If one of your main concerns is food quality, then a non-frost free is what you want.  A frost free runs it's self thru temp cycles and moves a fair amout of air thru the box.  This removes not only frost but creates an overly dry environment that combined with the temp fluctuations ultimately leads to freezer burn.

I've had both and while I've been told of the above mechanisims I can also attest to them from experience. 

The one I like the best is an upright with the cooling coils that are right in the box with the food, no air movement required. 

Downside is the inevitable defrost and cleaning. 

a few questions....(scott hopefully they are useful for you as well)

1. How often do you need to defrost a non frost free? My purpose is longer term storage. The daily groceries go in the house freezer.
2. When looking at energy ratings what is "good" and "bad" efficiency ratings.

I am leaning to a chest since I don't need that much room and I have limited space for one.

I'm curious too. Always wanted one. Hopefully next year I'll fish enough to actually need it, like I did a few years back.
My main problem is that I need a generator to go with it, and package price is kinda high.

a few questions....(scott hopefully they are useful for you as well)

1. How often do you need to defrost a non frost free? My purpose is longer term storage. The daily groceries go in the house freezer.
2. When looking at energy ratings what is "good" and "bad" efficiency ratings.

I am leaning to a chest since I don't need that much room and I have limited space for one.

A lot of factors come into play, relative humidity, efficiency of the machine, how often it is opened, and how well it is constructed.  A freezer in a low humidiity area, that is hardly opened will rarely need defrosting.  The opposite is true of a freezer in an area with higher humidity, opened all the time.  I used to sell appliances a few years back, my personel preferences are GE, Whirlpool, and Kenmore (which most are whirlpools), maytags and admirals are good units as well.  Fridgeadairs start going south on quality.  That doesn't mean they are bad, just not my unit of choice.  Don't let price drive the purchace.  Look at the thickness of the walls, is insulation exposed on the floor model (inside), where are the coils located.  reach down and shake the compressor if possible, cheap units have poor quality rubber donut bushing, which even when new will rattle.  Something that may annoy you.

I forgot to mention, we have stuff in our frost free upright that has been in there for over a year and no signs of freezer burn.  The trick, get the air out, use decent storage containers.

thanks Kevin. Good stuff to look for. I don't see us diving into it more then once a week (maybe less).

Famous last words, wait till your wife figures out where she can hide the left overs.  Oh and there was a sale on X on steak or chicken or something.

thank god I do all the cooking and decide on the menu! she may fill with ice cream!

I (manually) defrosted the freezers earlier in the summer and notice the frost building up much quicker, due (I believe) to many hot days this year. My garage gets the afternoon sun full-on; so it gets very toasty there.

And, Kevin, I'm getting a rattle from one of the units.

I've been very happy with the 1/2 size chest freezer I got from Mel.  It's a Frigidair.

If I'm worried about something spilling I freeze it in the one above the fridge first.  Stuff can get buried, but it's fun to go thru it periodically and find stuff you forgot about.