3 ms·

So save $30/year increase the price of repairs and the chance of it breaking.

by bcrosby95 2y ago

infecto 2y ago
How does a chest freezer/fridge have increased chances of repairs?
- bee_rider 2y ago
  I mean it must have a downside because otherwise I’ll have to admit I’ve made a mistake by not having one already.
  - infecto 2y ago
    The downside is it’s a chest and does not fit any kitchen floor plan. You would need to purposefully put it in your plans.
  - squeaky-clean 2y ago
    It's far more annoying to fetch something from the bottom of a chest freezer than it is to fetch it from the back of an upright freezer.
    - ghaff 2y ago
      And it can easily become essentially a black hole. Not that that doesn’t happen with my upright too. I’m split on whether I shouldn’t just have bought a chest freezer when I bought my spare freezer.
  - BenjiWiebe 2y ago
    We have two chest freezers and an upright freezer. The chest freezers outlast the upright freezer, and there's no shelves* to get in the way of optimal packing. *However, you have to unpack when you want something from the bottom. This is why we have an upright freezer. We store cheese curds from our dairy in it, and we want to access them quickly and easily and regularly. Also we use ice packs for shipping, and the shelves make it easy to freeze ice packs flat.
    - j45 2y ago
      Having a smaller upright freezer for items that will be used in the near future is helpful. Leaves room to buy a larger chest freezer later on.
  - dredmorbius 2y ago
    Chest freezers are less convenient to access, and require different accommodation than an upright refrigerator. In a chest freezer: - You access everything from the top. This would require something like a section of cabinetry which opens to the top, or a chest freezer occupying kitchen or other living space. Since the freezer is low and wide, this has a larger floor footprint than an upright fridge. - Contents are stacked vertically, which means you have to dig through the pile to get to items on the bottom. There might be designs which make this easier (e.g., fold-up shelving), but that would have to accommodate another aspect which is that ... - Chest freezers tend to frost over fairly heavily. Cold air doesn't spill out, but warm air tends to settle down into the fridge, and as it chills, loses its humidity as frost. Many or most chest freezers don't have an automatic defrost cycle,[1] and frost will build up on inside walls, contents, and any moving parts such as the fold-up shelving I'd described. Defrosting is typically done manually with chest freezers. - Chest freezers are, well, freezers. I suspect some might be able to operate as refrigerators, but AFAIU they tend to cool somewhat unevenly as refrigerators rely on active air circulation to cool contents and avoid hot or cold spots. If you're aware of these limitations and/or can work around them, e.g., by having a trundle-shelf or top-access countertop to address floorspace / footprint issues, and can find a way to easily access contents, chest-type designs can be a good choice. ________________________________ Notes: 1. Refrigerator defrost cycles involve halting the cooling cycle and activating heating elements in the refrigerator (and freezer-space) walls to melt any accumulated frost. This itself is both a considerable energy expenditure, and tends to accelerate freezer burn and other ageing of food often giving unpleasant taste or texture.

So save $30/year increase the price of repairs and the chance of it breaking.

infecto 2y ago

How does a chest freezer/fridge have increased chances of repairs?

bee_rider 2y ago
I mean it must have a downside because otherwise I’ll have to admit I’ve made a mistake by not having one already.
- infecto 2y ago
  The downside is it’s a chest and does not fit any kitchen floor plan. You would need to purposefully put it in your plans.
- squeaky-clean 2y ago
  It's far more annoying to fetch something from the bottom of a chest freezer than it is to fetch it from the back of an upright freezer.
  - ghaff 2y ago
    And it can easily become essentially a black hole. Not that that doesn’t happen with my upright too. I’m split on whether I shouldn’t just have bought a chest freezer when I bought my spare freezer.
- BenjiWiebe 2y ago
  We have two chest freezers and an upright freezer. The chest freezers outlast the upright freezer, and there's no shelves* to get in the way of optimal packing. *However, you have to unpack when you want something from the bottom. This is why we have an upright freezer. We store cheese curds from our dairy in it, and we want to access them quickly and easily and regularly. Also we use ice packs for shipping, and the shelves make it easy to freeze ice packs flat.
  - j45 2y ago
    Having a smaller upright freezer for items that will be used in the near future is helpful. Leaves room to buy a larger chest freezer later on.
- dredmorbius 2y ago
  Chest freezers are less convenient to access, and require different accommodation than an upright refrigerator. In a chest freezer: - You access everything from the top. This would require something like a section of cabinetry which opens to the top, or a chest freezer occupying kitchen or other living space. Since the freezer is low and wide, this has a larger floor footprint than an upright fridge. - Contents are stacked vertically, which means you have to dig through the pile to get to items on the bottom. There might be designs which make this easier (e.g., fold-up shelving), but that would have to accommodate another aspect which is that ... - Chest freezers tend to frost over fairly heavily. Cold air doesn't spill out, but warm air tends to settle down into the fridge, and as it chills, loses its humidity as frost. Many or most chest freezers don't have an automatic defrost cycle,[1] and frost will build up on inside walls, contents, and any moving parts such as the fold-up shelving I'd described. Defrosting is typically done manually with chest freezers. - Chest freezers are, well, freezers. I suspect some might be able to operate as refrigerators, but AFAIU they tend to cool somewhat unevenly as refrigerators rely on active air circulation to cool contents and avoid hot or cold spots. If you're aware of these limitations and/or can work around them, e.g., by having a trundle-shelf or top-access countertop to address floorspace / footprint issues, and can find a way to easily access contents, chest-type designs can be a good choice. ________________________________ Notes: 1. Refrigerator defrost cycles involve halting the cooling cycle and activating heating elements in the refrigerator (and freezer-space) walls to melt any accumulated frost. This itself is both a considerable energy expenditure, and tends to accelerate freezer burn and other ageing of food often giving unpleasant taste or texture.