How To Choose a Upright Freezer

A basic parameter of freezers. Choose your freezer so that its capacity is used to the maximum, because running even a full freezer is expensive. For normal use, the minimum is 40-60 liters per person. However, if you consume more meat, fish or vegetables, choose 80 liters or more per person. Chest freezers with a volume of 200 liters can be obtained for households; for smaller businesses a freezer up to 400 liters is suitable and for larger facilities such as hotels or boarding houses a chest freezer with a volume of over 400 liters is best.

The electrical class expresses the power consumption of the appliance. The least economical freezers are marked G, the most economical A++. A+ and A are also suitable for normal use. As freezers are in operation 24 hours a day, this is a key parameter, and it pays to choose the most economical model possible. The difference in annual consumption between individual classes can be in the thousands of CZK.
 

Calculated with the price of CZK 4.80 / kWh.

Freezing capacity indicates how many kg of food the freezer is able to freeze at -16 ° C / -18 ° C in 24 hours. The more kilograms, the faster the freezer freezes. Normal values range from 4 to 40 kg.

The freezing class is marked with asterisks and determines the quality of the freezing process. That is, at what minimum temperature can the freezer freeze food. The most suitable temperature for storage is -18 ° C.

Accumulation time tells us how long food will remain frozen in the event of a power failure. It ranges from a few hours to several days. For conventional freezers, it is 15 hours or more.

The climate class is marked with the abbreviations T, ST, N, SN and indicates what is the optimal ambient temperature for the proper operation of the freezer. It cannot be placed just anywhere. For example, if it is to operate from 18 ° C and is placed in an area where it is 10 ° C, its energy consumption will increase and its service life will be reduced due to improper use. Energy consumption for freezer operation also increases with increasing ambient temperature, so it should never be placed near a heater.
 

If the freezer has more than one climate class, it works reliably in both temperatures. E.g. freezers with SN-N-ST class work from 10–38 ° C.

Low noise is especially desirable when placing a freezer in a room where we often spend time. The pleasant range is 36 - 43 dB, but beware of irregular sounds that the freezer makes. The most suitable location is a utility room, garage, cellar, etc.

Self-defrosting

If you do not want to undergo unpleasant manual defrosting, choose a freezer with the NoFrost or FrostFree (the name of the function varies depending on the manufacturer). It works on a system of constant air circulation, which reduces humidity, ideal distribution of cold and elimination of over-icing. 

Quick freeze

Fast or super freezing (you can also find it called SuperFrost or Super Freeze) can sharply reduce the temperature for a short time and thus maintain the desired value when placing new food in the freezer, for example after a large purchase. This ensures high-quality freezing of newly stored food and at the same time prevents thawing of already frozen food. Depending on the amount of food added, the function must be activated in advance.

Display

The display is used to display or set the freezing temperature or to activate the quick freeze function.

Lock

The key lock is usually located on the handle and is useful if the freezer is located in common areas and you do not want anyone else to have access to the food.

Warning sign

An audible or visual signal that warns when the temperature is high or the door is open / not closed properly. This feature is useful, for example, in families with small children.

At least 40 liters in volume is recommended for one person, for households with a large consumption of frozen food allow for twice as much and more.
 

It is also important how large the pieces of food you will store are. An upright freezer is characterized by better access, but it is built mainly for small and medium-sized foodstuffs. You can store large fish and pieces of meat much better in chest freezers, which do not have their internal space divided into so many parts.
 

If you have a hunter or fisherman in your family or a large garden, a chest freezer will provide you with more space. If your consumption of frozen food is average, an upright freezer will serve you better.

For smaller households, such as ordinary flats, choose an upright freezer. They open from the front and access to food is easier than with chest freezers. However, the disadvantage is that they do not hold large pieces of meat and fish, etc., because the drawers are simply not large enough.
 

Chest freezers however, provide enough storage space for large food items. However, they occupy a larger area, so they are only suitable for large apartments and houses. This type of freezer opens from above and the disadvantage is poorer access, especially to the bottom and especially when they are full. For this reason, we do not recommend this type of freezer to seniors and people of smaller stature.

If you have the opportunity, place the freezer either in your utility room, garage or cellar. Conversely, never place the freezer in a room where a higher temperature is maintained, (for example in a kitchen during cooking). The freezer only works properly in a certain temperature range, which is determined by its climate class (T, ST, N, SN). Outside the specified temperature, its energy consumption will rise and its service life will be shortened. Also due to noise, it is ideal to place the freezer in a place where you won’t stay for a long time.

Climate class T - for outside temperature 18-43 °C
Climate class ST - for outdoor temperature 18-38 °C
Climate class N - for outside temperature 16-32 °C
Climate class SN - for outdoor temperature 10-32 °C

Use the following steps to defrost and clean your freezer quickly and easily. Before defrosting and cleaning, switch off the freezer and store frozen food in a dry and cool place. Lay down clothes and towels to catch dripping water. If you need to defrost the freezer quickly and do not want to wait for the frozen ice to melt, you can use a plastic spatula to carefully remove the remnants of ice. After defrosting, wash the inside of the freezer thoroughly and wipe it dry, do not forget the individual removable parts. After cleaning, switch on the freezer and wait a while before putting the food back in.