The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Coffee Lounge => Topic started by: rockstar on July 07, 2012, 11:23:19 am
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what size freezer would you say i need?we already have a freezer for the basic products but in a couple of months time we will be slaughtering 2 porkers ,1 lamb.Any advice on what size gross capicity,and any reasonable prices. thanks.
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Get the biggest you can buy, you're going to fill it eventually :thumbsup:
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Get the biggest you can buy, you're going to fill it eventually :thumbsup:
I'll second that! We have a largish one in the garage, bought a smaller one when we had half a pig given, that's always full now as well! (also good for saving a store of goat milk for winter)
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If you can afford it, have at least 2 - that way you can defrost one at a time and, should you have a disaster with it not working, you don't lose all your stuff in one go. If you are putting one in a outside area make sure it will operate at very low temperatures - a fridge/freezer may cut out as they are designed to be kept at room temperature. (Hard lesson learnt :-[ ). A lamb takes up about 3 drawers of a standard upright frezzer but not sure about chest freezers.
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Get lots of boxes to stack inside the freezer unless you particularly enjoy that casserole of unlabelled odds & sods that you get when defrosting.
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if you get a 'commercial' one (not that much more expensive and dont have to be any bigger) they generally come with a 5 year guarantee rather than 1 year, can be cheaper than buying a rubbish extended warranty at inflated rates on a domestic one. I think they are better made too, and they have proper temp display on the outside of the freezer.
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^ Yes, it's a good idea to consider the commercial ones, e.g. vestfrost.
Not only do they come with a 5 year warranty, but they're also fully galvanized to prevent rust, and are repairable if things do eventually break, so better for the environment etc etc. The other thing we found is that the Scandanavian brands come rated for outdoor use, e.g. in a garage, whereas the standard ones in Currys etc were only warranted for external temperatures of 10 degC ish.
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That sounds like good advice Bramblecot. I only have a fridgre freezer at the moment anbd was thinking of upgrading before the pigs go in. Seems agood idea to have two smaller chest freezers than one large one.
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Get a frost-free one if you can afford it. Also our two live in the garage all year round, no problems wiht low temps, (and the water does freeze in the tap in there, so it does get cold!). We have a chest freezer and a separate up right one (both as big as domestic ones get, and A rated), plus a half one in the house (combine dfridge/freezer). they are mostly quite full (with milk in our case), but also meat and veg.
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First time you have to lean right in you'll find out why it's called a chest freezer!
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they are more efficient and cost less to run if they are full, so stuff it full of cheapie loaves of bread or something like that.
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Yes, we have a problem with having a chest freezer that can't stand low external temperatures and yet it lives in our barn. I am going to look for a second hand commercial one on ebay soon - something hooge. But I bet it will eat electricity in comparison with the other...
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leaving aside the efficiency of the compressor I'd have thought that the main cost of running a freezer was dependent on insulation. As long as the compressor was ventilated adequately you could presumably add as much extra insulation as was convenient, from straw bales to old duvets?
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Thanks for the good advice,have been looking on websites at the commercial freezers.VESTFROST are offering a 5 year warranty on most chest freezers,are they a good make and efficent to run because they dont seem to mention the energy rating.I would like to see what im buying ,does anyone know of retailers around mid wales area.
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The lowest temperature I've found a manufacturer admitting to is 10deg. Some freezers so seem to work lower than that but...
The Vestfrost is Danish and claims A++ efficiency and a temp range of 10-43deg. Which didn't take long for Google to find out.
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I need a chest freezer for when my weaners go. Today I looked at this model in Currys
http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/beko-chest-freezers/333_3129_30216_2169_xx/xx-criteria.html (http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/beko-chest-freezers/333_3129_30216_2169_xx/xx-criteria.html)
There is £150 saving on it at the moment and it has freezer guard which means you can use it in an outside room i.e. garage
Sally
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Just realised that this model is out of stock on line but they had one in the shop
Sally
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Thanks bionic thats the size im after for my porkers and lamb .
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I may get a commercial chest freezer,been looking at a Vestfrost model SZ362C 374 litre this has a 5 year parts and labour warranty, for about same price.
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It is a commercial model, but it still is designed to work only down to 10deg. Beko seems to be the only domestic manufactuer making freezers for really cold conditions and Which? magazine confirms that they work.
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Just ordered the Beko on line as it doesn't say out of stock this morning. It will be delivered on Thursday
Sally
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Just ordered the Beko on line as it doesn't say out of stock this morning. It will be delivered on Thursday
Sally
Hi , we like the look of the freezer you bought do currys give a warranty .
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Its only a years warranty. For 3 years it costs £99. I didn't go for that option.
I like the Beko because it has the freezer guard and will be ok down to -15 degrees
Sally
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I avoided Beko because of this (not so much the fault, the fact it took a lot of serious fires for them to finally issue a recall)
http://www.which.co.uk/home-and-garden/kitchen/guides/beko-fridge-freezer-fire-risk-qanda/ (http://www.which.co.uk/home-and-garden/kitchen/guides/beko-fridge-freezer-fire-risk-qanda/)
My commercial one has coped in an outhouse with a frost stat heater in it (ie only comes on if temp goes below zero) no problem. Might invalidate the warranty but to me a company thats prepared to give a 5 year warranty suggests a better quality product than one that will only stand by it for 12 months, so I reckon it is less likely to go wrong.
Maybe the Beko copes with the low temps by lighting a fire inside itself (joke and I do have one of their washing machines and it is pretty good :-)))))
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I can understand that, but the issue is a bit broader. The gas-liquid pumped around a freezer operates in a given range, and the lowest certified climate class starts at 10 deg but it can be 16 or 18deg.
Its very similar to the reason why a butane bottle just stops working at low tempertures while propane stays alive. It's the latent heat of vaporisaion needed to turn the liquid back into a gas that does the cooling. Thus lots of freezers working at 10deg will only achieve -16deg inside because it's outside its design parameters.
Maybe the Vestfrost does work at Zero despite its stated climate class. But having to heat a room to make a freezer work seems odd to me irrespective of warranty
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I'm glad that at least one company does now supply a chest freezer that's warranted to work in the circumstances most of us run ours in.
I had the same task last year, finding one for me. At that time the Beko one did not have the capability, the Norfrost one had generally poor reviews, and I wrote up how I got on with Whirlpool and Miele here:
http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/index.php?topic=17302.msg164351#msg164351 (http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/index.php?topic=17302.msg164351#msg164351)
Thankfully the most recent winter didn't put it to the test. It's been working beautifully so far.
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My freezer arrived at 8.40 this morning. Excellent delivery service. 2 nice men unpacked it and put it in place.
Sally
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My freezer arrived at 8.40 this morning. Excellent delivery service. 2 nice men unpacked it and put it in place.
Sally
Good news. Now just to fill it... ;D
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I can understand that, but the issue is a bit broader. The gas-liquid pumped around a freezer operates in a given range, and the lowest certified climate class starts at 10 deg but it can be 16 or 18deg.
Its very similar to the reason why a butane bottle just stops working at low tempertures while propane stays alive. It's the latent heat of vaporisaion needed to turn the liquid back into a gas that does the cooling. Thus lots of freezers working at 10deg will only achieve -16deg inside because it's outside its design parameters.
Maybe the Vestfrost does work at Zero despite its stated climate class. But having to heat a room to make a freezer work seems odd to me irrespective of warranty
Not that odd if the place needs to be kept just above zero to stop pipes freezing - which is our scenario - additional cost for the freezer is therefore £0 as it is happening anyway. It depends on the individual cirumstances and situation, like most things.
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Hi bionic ,do you think there is plenty of space in this freezer for 2 porkers and 1 lamb plus other bits, im so undicided between BEKO OR VESTFROST.
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Rockstar,
Mine has been specifically bought for my 2 porkers. I have only ever seen the amount of meat in pics on here as these are my first so its a bit of guesswork but I expect to have a fair bit of room left. I intend to decommission another small freezer (under the counter size) I have in the garage and put the contents of that in there as well and still think there may be a bit more room.
Not sure if this helps or not
Sally
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Its only a years warranty. For 3 years it costs £99. I didn't go for that option.
I like the Beko because it has the freezer guard and will be ok down to -15 degrees
Sally
I bought a Beko dishwasher last year when my Bosch one died. I have to say, hand on heart that the Beko is MUCH better than the Bosch ever was. I'd never have any qualms about getting that brand again for white goods.
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Thats nice to know NM, thanks
Sally
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Thanks sally (bionic)
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i find a porker comes in 2 "bakery" trays and a lamb in 2 carrier bags. 2 pigs and a lamb should fit a big domestic chest freezer.
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I wrote up how I got on with Whirlpool and Miele here:
http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/index.php?topic=17302.msg164351#msg164351 (http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/index.php?topic=17302.msg164351#msg164351)
That link took me to something about labelling :-\ ....I also need a freezer for 2 x pigs and 2 x lambs...it will be in the utility so no issue with freezing outside, it's just the volume that's beyond my comprehension!
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Bumblebear, the link had additional information about the freezer ambient temperature operating range stuff - a lot of freezers aren't warranted to operate correctly at temperatures below 10C.
Sorry if we've gone astray from your original query somewhat.
There is a thread somewhere did all the capacity-in-pigs-bodies of uprights-versus-chest freezers... sorry don't have time to search for it right now.
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Ahhh, as long as it wasn't me going mad ;) Thank you - I'm off to search now.....
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iv 5 fully grown hebrideans in my chest freezer, its not huge and there is still space. they r in quarters so if they were butchered up properly could have got 6 or in it.