<p>Our garage freezer appears to be going out. We are in the market for a new one. It is an upright, manual defrost, very basic model. We live in central Texas and the freezer is in the garage, so it gets very hot out there in the summers.</p>
<p>Any suggestions?</p>
<p>Why is the freezer in the garage?
We just got rid of the chest freezer in our basement and don’t plan to replace it.</p>
<p>No basements in Texas; too close to the water table, for the most part.</p>
<p>It shouldn’t matter why it’s in the garage anyway…that’s your business and not part of your question. :-)</p>
<p>Ours is also in the garage…because of space.</p>
<p>We recently purchased a whirlpool from Lowes for under $500. So far so good. Just as yours way, it is a stand up, self defrost model. Very happy with it so far.</p>
<p>I think a chest freezer would probably be more efficient, less temperature change when you open the door. I have a Kenmore that I bought 25 years ago and is still chugging. (It is in the laundry room and is great for folding laundry.)</p>
<p>We also have a freezer in the garage. Last year I thought it was failing although it isn’t that old. (It was not getting cold enough.) It turns out that ice had built up inside on the coils where I couldn’t see. I defrosted it, and it works great again. From what I have read, this is a common problem in freezers kept in hot, humid garages.</p>
<p>We have an OOOOOLLLLLLLDDDDD and I mean OLD upright freezer in our Texas garage. It has to be defrosted from time to time but it just keeps chugging along. </p>
<p>Given ours is so old, I don’t really have strong recommendations except go “cheap” and functional. Just get a good solid freezer. Don’t spend a lot of money, and defrost ocassionally.</p>
<p>I am in FL, so bought upright, self-cleaning, very basic Sears model and put in laundry room. Sure, I miss the space in laundry room, but the L R is under a/c, while garage is not.</p>
<p>You might want to drop a few extra bucks and get one that uses fewer KWh to power itself over the course of a year. It’s going to be operating in a fairly extreme environment for a normal freezer, and if it lets a lot of heat leak in, you’ll really feel it on your power bill.</p>
<p>It’s also a good idea to keep the freezer fairly full as it’ll reduce the amount of cycling needed to keep it at the desired temperature.</p>
<p>We’ve had a basic Kenmore upright freezer in our NJ garage for 10 years without any problems. It is frost free so has required absolutely no maintenance.</p>
<p>Are there arguments for an upright vs a chest, while we’re on the subject?</p>
<p>We’re planning to get one for our garage, we assumed we’d get a chest but everyone we know has an upright. A chest would be easier to fit since I wouldn’t need clearance for the door, but I might be able to fit either one if I get creative.</p>
<p>Chest is more energy efficient - all the cold air does not fall out when you open the door.</p>
<p>I’ve had both chest and upright models and much prefer the uprights because it’s easier for me to organize the food and easier to get to what I need. I found it very easy to “lose” food at the bottom of my chest freezer and I didn’t like bending over to dig through all the frozen food. I can get the food out of my upright more quickly so the door isn’t open long at all.</p>
<p>We are going with an upright because that’s what we have now and that’s the available space we have. </p>
<p>I’m not sure how long this promotion runs, but Home Depot has free delivery and haul-away, which works out to about $70-80 total. We’re getting a Frigidaire model from them. And it’s frost-free, so I won’t have the defrosting issue to worry about.</p>
<p>Just wanted to comment that I had never heard of a “garage refrigerator” or a “garage freezer” before I moved to Texas. We have both.</p>
<p>Check with your local electric utility to see if they pick up old working freezers. Ours picks up for free and gives the customer a $50 rebate. They don’t have to be working well, but do have to be somewhat functional. You can also check for a rebate on the new freezer, but that seems less common.</p>
<p>Missy, I’m born and raised in Texas (50-plus years). When I was a kid in the early 70’s or so, there was a “beef crisis” and beef prices went through the roof. My grandfather had a small herd of beef cattle, so we always had a freezer full of meat. In the garage! My dad had the idea of putting a padlock on the freezer handle (this was way before you could buy locking freezers), so for years, we’d go out there and twirl the lock around to open the freezer. It wasn’t until much, much later when someone accidentally bumped the handle . . . and the freezer popped open! It had never actually locked! But I guess if some “burger burglar” had come in the garage and saw the lock on the freezer, it might have deterred them. :)</p>