1 - Types
Freezers are of three types: upright, chest and refrigerator-freezer combinations. As per your refrigeration needs you’ll have to decide which type of freezer suits your needs the best. Paramount on the list of attributes would be its capacity. So after you figure out what capacity of freezer you need, determining its size and type should not be too difficult.
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Upright Freezers: Similar in shape to the refrigerators at home, these usually have one or two doors and three to seven shelves for storing food. Upright freezers use less floor space, making them ideal for home use and quite popular as well. However they are unable to contain the cold air that escapes each time the door is opened and this is one its drawbacks.
Chest Freezers: These f reezers use up more floor space, than the upright ones. They have more storage capacity and loose less cold air each time it is opened. They come with sliding or lift-out baskets making loading and removal of goods easy.
Refrigerator-Freezer Combination: This is the type of freezer mostly found in homes. These are demarcated into two sections; one for frozen foods and another for refrigerated foods. This freezer is ideal for those interested in moderate freezing capacity. The freezing compartment may be above, below or to one side of the refrigerated area.
Now that you’ve got an idea of the types of freezers that are available in the market, let’s take a look at the attributes of freezers.
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2 - Basic Features
Size: The freezer depends on your storage needs and also the amount of space you have to accommodate the freezer. You have to take these into consideration carefully and in a calculated manner when deciding the size of the freezer you plan to buy. As any wastage of storage space in your freezer would result in unnecessary consumption of power. This would entail an increase/escalation in your energy expenditure A cubic foot of freezer space holds about 560 ounces of food. Thus to calculate the size of your freezer one could assume that 1.5 cubic feet of space is required for each person.
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Chest Freezers range in size from 10 to 25 cubic feet. Most Chest freezers do not have shelves or partitions; giving you more storage space. |
Upright Freezers range in size from 10 to 21 cubic feet. Most upright models come with fixed and adjustable shelves providing a great degree of flexibility. This gives you some leverage in terms of storage, allowing you to place goods as per your requirements. Also some of the models come with shelves – beverage rack - for cans and bottles with ridges to prevent them from rolling over or falling.
Freezing Capacity: This is an indicator of the amount a freezer can freeze in a time span of 24 hours and is usually shown in kilograms.
Temperature: Freezers freeze food at a temperature of 18°C and fast freeze at 26°C. With a thermostat to control temperature at the proper level or degree, there’s not much to worry about temperature control. A thermostat works in a very simple way. All a thermostat does is to stop/interrupt the flow of electricity when the freezer reaches the optimum temperature and this in turn stops further cooling. Fast freezing causes formation of small ice crystals. Freezing at temperatures of -22°C to -30°C causes 99.9% of the water contained in meat to be frozen. This results in a cessation of microbial and enzymatic activity. Fast freezing is the ideal way to freeze foods. In this method of freezing, food retains most of its nutritional value. In order to save on energy expenditure it is important to keep the freezer temperature constant. For every decrease of temperature below -18°C there is a corresponding increase in energy expenditure by about 5%.
Energy Labeling: It is mandatory for all freezers to have an Energy Efficiency rating printed/labeled on their chassis. This rating is nothing, but the ratio of energy consumption in relation to volume. Freezers are rated from grades A to G with A being the best or most efficient grade.
Cooling agent: Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) used to be the main cooling agent used in most freezers. However, ever since it has been proven to be harmful to the environment and the ozone layer in particular, its use has been almost completely phased out. CFCs have been replaced with other gases less harmful to the environment such as natural gases like; Isobutene (R600A).
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3 - Additional Features
Defrosting choices:
- Manual Defrost: Most of the chest freezers come with a manual defrost option, wherein the freezer has to be physically defrosted intermittently. In manual defrost freezers the food articles, have to be removed from the freezers and defrosted thereafter. For this purpose some freezers have special front-draining systems which help in defrosting. Manual defrost freezers use less electricity, about 40% less electricity and are better at retaining the temperature at a steady degree even with large quantities of food.
- Frost-Free:Upright Freezer models come in manual or frost-free options. Frost-free freezers keep your food in a dry environment. The energy consumption of these models is more than those of manual defrost freezers.
Door seals and hinges: Freezers have seals – rubber like gaskets – around their doors that help in keeping the freezer air tight. These gaskets usually match the color of the freezer. The seal/gasket is lined with magnets enabling the door to remain tightly closed. If the doors are not of the sliding variety, then they come equipped with hinges which allow it to swing open. The hinges can be placed towards either the left side of the door or on the right side. Though there are a few freezers that have hinges placed only on one side, and in such a case one cannot change the opening orientation of the door. Some doors are of the automatic type. This ensures that the door closes automatically after it has been opened and left to be closed.
| Manufacturer's Warranty: Manufacturers offer warranties of at least one year and labor coverage on the entire freezer. Also the sealing systems are usually covered by a warranty for at least ten years. |
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Coil-Free Back: The older models had their coils visible – placed on the exterior of the freezer, usually at the back-side. However the models available nowadays have their coils within the body of the freezer.
Adjustable Rollers: Freezers are heavy and are therefore tough to move around. It is good to have rollers at the bottom of the freezer to assist in moving it to where ever you please.
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