As I mentioned the other day, my freezer door came open a bit and I lost pretty much everything in it. It is an older model and doesn’t have an audible alarm, so by the time I found it…
The freezer is cleaned out and I think I’ve figured out what happened. Edited to remove a comment I decided wasn’t appropriate.
Since we moved here four or five(??) years ago, the landlord has been using the top of my freezer to store things. This led to my having to sand, semi-repair, and repaint the top of the freezer after bleach leaked and corroded the top. Most recently, he’s started putting heavy bags of cat food on top to keep them away from the orange cat.
I think that this weight resulted in flexing and bending of the top, with the result that the interior ceiling is now bent down and away from the frame. If you look above, you can see the gap that has been created. This has also made the door closing somewhat tenuous. It will close, but it can and will pop open at any nudge, and you really have to close it to get it to close.
I bought the landlord a container to hold the cat food, and have moved it off the top of the freezer. I’ve also put up an empty box with notes on it asking that nothing be put on top of the freezer, period. I don’t expect him to be happy about that, nor do I really expect him to do anything about the situation. If he does, great, but the short version is that I think I can get it to limp through the summer but I can’t count on it for the long term. I’m going to go buy a mechanical latch that I screw into place to hold the door shut. But, with the roof bent and the gap in place, it’s just not going to last.
Of course, this freezer model is no longer made by GE. I can go for smaller (no) or for larger. The larger, even on sale, could run up to $1,000. Not happening, at least not this year unless something radically changes. I’m almost scared to try to refill it even with the latches, but will see how it goes.
So, that’s what’s going on with that. Life goes on, and I do have faith that what is right will be. Now, to see what that is…
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I have freezer trust issues. Thanks to spending a fortune replacing knob & tube wiring, I think we *might enjoy a few months without mysterious outages, but there were a few years there when it seems like every few months we’d lose everything in the freezers. So now I find myself being unwilling to put more than a few things in the freezer. I know I need to get past this, but it just hurt SO. MUCH. to discover everything thawed and ruined time after time after time.
I do understand and sympathize! This is the 3rd (?) time I’ve had to throw everything out. When I do get a new one, thinking razor wire on top, UPS to keep it going for up to 24 hours, and a surge protector to protect the UPS. Not that I’m paranoid…
For a replacement freezer, you really ought to consider CraigsList. Used freezers are usually much less expensive than new, and they usually have a lot more life left in them. The low end cost will be for freezers that do not have self-defrost, but that is usually a once or twice per year project.
Any freezer that you buy, whether new or used, should be transported upright if possible. If it must be transported on its side, put it in place upright, then let it sit for a couple of days before plugging it in. When on its side, the refrigerant in the freezer will settle into places it should not be in the refrigeration system, and you can destroy a compressor if you start it up without allowing the refrigerant to settle to where it “should” be at startup.
Came here to say this.
Craigslist has had some issues here, both in terms of spam ads and people using it to set up robberies, but this is a good point. Am going to keep my eyes out to see if I can find one used and in good condition.
Have you considered a chest freezer? They have gravity on their side, as far as keeping the door closed.
True on the door, but they are harder on those with mobility issues and also a challenge for content management and extraction. Life is challenging enough, so likely to stay with an upright. 🙂
A dozen years ago we bought a Whirlpool upright freezer. Some quirk in the door construction caused it to warp whenever warm air blew on it, leaving a half-inch gap at the low corner. Since it was adjacent to a floor vent that we usually needed to be open, that was a problem. I had to use tape to clamp the door when we had to have that vent running.
4 years later, we had to work on that room, so the freezer was temporarily emptied and moved to the living room. At which point the huge amount of ice that had formed in the door started to melt onto the wood floor. There was a vent in the door that was supposed to clear any moisture, but it was quite ineffective. Before I moved the freezer to the barn, I disassembled the door and took out over 5 pounds of ice/fiberglas composite. Once we had a replacement, the Whirlpool went to the dump.
A Frigidaire upright freezer has taken over the duty, and it’s going strong. I won’t buy a Whirlpool again.
We have an upright freezer with similar door issues. Tried a solution using a plastic latch that used sticky pads/glue; worked great for about three days. We’re now thinking about a screw-on latch as well. For the interim we’re back to parking a wheeled tool chest against the door to hold it shut.
Heh. I like using the tool chest. With luck, will get the new latch on tomorrow if I can make it work.