To (Freezer) burn or not to burn?

I am looking at getting a larger storage freezer and would like to get your imput on which is the better choice.

The first decision we have made is to get a chest freezer since they keep the cold better than the upright models, creating a more efficient unit. Most standard models have sliding racks and such, so you are not having to pull out an entire section just to find an item down at the bottom.

Our second decision (which we have not yet made) is whether or not to get a frost free unit or a manual defrost unit. From what I've reviewed so far; the frost free units are more expensive (about $50-$75 for comprable sizes), not as efficient as the manual defrost units, and are more likely to cause freezer burn compared to manual defrost. The manual defrost units are cheaper, more efficient, and less likely to cause freezer burn - but you have to manually defrost them from time to time (which can be an all day event)

What are your preferences and why?

Thanks for the input!

Dennis

As somebody who had lots of experience defrosting freezers back in the days before frost free units became available, I strongly suggest going with the frost free model! Defrosting is a major pain and takes a lot time to do well. In addition, you have to do something with all the stuff you take out of the freezer while you're defrosting so it doesn't begin to thaw. Believe me, $50-75 is a small price to pay for the convenience.

I prefer the upright models simply because of convenience and because they take up less floor space. The chest types probably are more efficient since the cold air just "spills out" when you open an upright model. However, we don't open the freezer very often, so that isn't much of a factor IMHO.

My understanding is that the frost free freezers have a heating element built into the wall that kicks in at a regular interval and allows them to melt the frost off the wall.

Frost free are going to use a little bit more electricity to run the heating element, this is why the efficiency is a bit lower.


Having had both I would not even consider one that was not frost free. It’s a real pain to dig all that ice off the side of the freezer, you have to take all the food out, power down the freezer, remove the water somehow. And like Herb said, you have to do something with the food while this is going on. As time goes on, you loose food storage space with a non frost free freezer because defrosting is a real pain to do and you put it off and all the sudden you have 3-inches of ice on all the walls that’s displacing food space. This will happen as everyone hates to defrost a freezer.

PS Don’t take the shortcut of chipping it off with a hammer and screwdriver, this is a great way to have to buy a new freezer when you slip and punch a Freon line.

"... Don’t take the shortcut of chipping it off with a hammer and screwdriver..."

Indeed. I have defrosted the freezed in our RV many times, using a plastic "putty knife." The plastic blade won't penetrate the walls (if I do it properly), and make pretty fast work of a nasty job...

ummmh, I thought freezer burn was caused by the exposure of the frozen food to the ambient air of the freezer, which then causes it to dry out. Thus, the frost free freezer causes more freezer burn as it creates a lower humidity environment (to get rid of the frost). We have a non-frost free freezer in the basement and the only time we have a problem with freezer burn is when I do a poor job of wrapping and sealing things before they go into the freezer. The trick I think is to be sure it is air tight before you freeze and then no freezer burn, especially for longer term storage.

As to model choice, I agree that frost free is better, but we have not found our non-frost free to be a big problem. Very little frost accumulates as we open it only occasionally to transfer items to the fridge in the kitchen.

Hope this helps.

From http://www.abt.com/about/Buying_freezers.php3:

Thanks so much for the great information. Great Link too!

If you are going to freeze gobs of stuff I would invest in a vacuum-sealer system and repackage the meat items you buy. The less air, the less freezer burn, the longer you can store it. Reminder: be sure to track how long your meats have been in storage. If someone has info on this please feel free to elaborate. I know there are some kind of rules.

Remember to keep the freezer as full as possible. This helps the efficiency. Place jugs of water in the bottom if you need to fill available space. The key is cut down on free-air space. Storage density....

My two or three cents...