Vital Attributes of an ideal freezer

• Freezer capacity
You may compromise with any of the features of a freezer. But you should never compromise with the freezer capacity. Freezers are availed with distinct capacity. If you want a freezer for large family, go for high freezing capacity. While you decide about the freezing capacity, you have to think of some essential factors like size of the family, food habits, minimum space requirement of a freezer etc. The freezer capacity is measured in Cubic Feet.

• Defrosting
If you prefer manual defrosting, you can save electricity. But when you go for automatic defrosting, then you have to pay for an additional consumption of 40% electricity.

• Ratings
Check the energy label. A yellow label will be pasted on almost every home appliance as per EU regulations. This rating usually starts from ‘A’ to ‘G’ to indicate the energy efficiency of the unit.

• Design
Lots of freezer designs are offered by leading brands. Mostly freezers are designed in a top loading chest style and front-loading upright style. Choose an appropriate design for a comfortable freezing facility.

• Frost-free option
This option helps your freezer to be free from building up ice. When you have this feature in your unit, defrosting will be automatically done once everyday.

• Temperature settings
It is recommended to choose a freezer which has adjustable temperature. It’s only then that the level of temperature can be modified, according to your freezing needs.

• Doors
Freezers with steel doors will last longer. If the doors are reversible in nature, the users will feel comfortable to use the unit. Otherwise you can prefer magnetic door steal which automatically closes the door and it is safer than traditional locks.

Do’s

• The fridge must be kept in a spacious place with air circulation around it.

• For energy efficiency, the freezer must be defrosted every three days if it doesn’t have the automatic defrost facility.

• Keep all food stuffs wrapped or covered and in closed containers. This helps to keep the fridge odour free and to prevent contamination of food.

• Keeping a lemon rind helps to remove odour.

• Remove leftovers within a day or two.

• Label food according to their life.

• Take care to use food according to the label.

• Keep dry food at the top and wet food at the bottom.

• Clean the fridge once a week with a decontaminator and dry well before restocking it.

• Wipe its exterior everyday.

• Clean mildew on its door with a detergent solution.

• If water does not drain out after defrosting, check for clogs and let the water drain soon, otherwise it might rot or stench.

• Always remember to adjust the temperature of the fridge and freezer to match the season.

Don’ts

• There must not be hot air near it. Hence, it must be located away from all sources of heat.

• Do not leave the door open for long. This increases the temperature inside the fridge and it takes a while to cool after that.

• Do not open the door frequently. It has the same effect as keeping the door open for a long time.

• Do not keep hot food inside. It increases the temperature and effort needed to cool.

• Do not cram the fridge. It then has to slog to keep the temperature down.

• Do not keep the fridge and freezer doors open when there is no power.

• Do not use the food if you have had power failure for long hours.

Follow these instructions and not only you can save electricity but also increase the longevity of your fridge.

As a precaution, take a measure of your passageways or doorways. It has to be comfortable to bring your American fridge freezer inside your kitchen. If it is too big to enter, you can remove the doors from the appliance. Then you can fix them. If you have planned to use a lift to carry the appliance, make sure whether lift room has enough space to keep the appliance with delivery people.

The dimensions of these appliances are usually wide, so allot some space not only for placing the unit but also for ventilation around the unit. It is suggested to leave 25 to 50 millimetres space for getting pleasant ventilation which is important for effective operations. Users have to use a power socket about 1 meter length. If your appliance is featured with water filter, make sure about plumbing connections to get water supply.

Fridge and freezer capacity is an essential factor to be considered at the time of choosing a particular brand of American fridge freezer. The capacity may vary from brand to brand. Think about your storage requirements before deciding about the capacity. Try to know about the net capacity of appliance from the salesperson.

Twin cooling system is an impressive function of these models. Here, both the fridge and the freezer are featured with separate cooling system independently. Therefore the humidity level of these compartments will be constant. All your food stuffs will be preserved as fresh for longer. Supportive features of this unique model are:

• Salads
• Drinks
• Fish rack
• Ice dispensers
• Chilled water

Like standard fridge freezers these models have also been rated on the basis of energy efficiency and alphabets from “A” to “G” are used in this rating. Frost free option is also available in these types of fridge freezers. Therefore users need not defrost it periodically. You can be free from irritating background noise to some extent.

Upright freezers are open fronted and generally come in the size of normal refrigerators. Foods are placed on shelves or in bins. Bins are more efficient at keeping energy in and can be specialised for specific foods. They are mostly suited for households that use large volume of frozen foods and need easy access to those foods. They can be placed in utility rooms, garages or in the kitchen. Upright freezers can be built-in to the cabinetry, built-under or integrated. They can also stand alone.

Chest freezers are large white freezer boxes and open at the top. Food can be placed in wire racks or shelves and is often stacked on top of each other. Since food can be more difficult to get at, chest freezers are suited mostly for long term storage. Being more utilitarian, many people place this in a garage or utility room. Chest freezers are almost never built-in. They are primarily of the stand alone variety.

Mini freezers can be used mostly for those who need expanded freezer capacity but are limited in space. These are usually upright freezers that open in the front and are the average size of a mini-fridge. Slimmer chest freezers are also available and are normally shorter in width.

Temperature/Defrost

Temperature is important to maintain in a freezer for energy efficiency and for food safety. Every freezer has a thermometer to keep track of temperature. Some will have a thermometer on the outside to check. Each degree colder that a freezer must maintain itself causes a 5% increase in energy requirements. Some freezers have the option of fast freeze. Fast freeze allows food to be quickly frozen to maintain nutrients. This is useful for fresh vegetables and meats. It also maintains the temperature of already frozen foods when warm products are added and maintaining safe temperatures for all food.

Freezers by nature build up frost inside and it is due to ice crystals forming on the walls and food. Upright units have automatic defrosting systems called frost free which can be done once a day and warm up the inside of the freezer long enough to melt the frost on the walls. It does not affect the temperature of the frozen food. Chest freezers and other uprights must be manually defrosted. This requires all of the food to be removed and the freezer to be warmed up to melt the frost. A defrosting drain must be supplied or the water will collect in the bottom. Some manual defrost freezers come with a power defrost cycle to speed defrosting.

Shelves vs. Bins

Bins are only available in upright freezers. They are more efficient at keeping energy in by maintaining a constant temperature when the door is open and closed. They are useful for properly maintaining specific foods. Meat drawers keep the meat safer at a constant 32 degrees Fahrenheit. Vegetable drawers keep the humidity at higher levels than other food requires. Cheese and dairy drawers are also available. Bins are not as easy to clean as shelves, but give easy access to the frozen goods that have been pushed to the back of the freezer.

Shelves can be made of glass, plastic or wire. They have the advantage of being adjustable in height and easy to clean. Disadvantages are that the food in the back of the freezer is more difficult to reach, and the freezer must work harder to maintain a constant temperature when the door is opened. Wire shelves can also be accompanied by wire baskets. These are mostly used in chest freezers to keep smaller frozen packages from being buried among by the larger ones.

Size

Freezers are measured in width, height and depth. Upright stand alone freezers range in height from 40-200 cm, width from 45-75 cm, and depth from 40-70 cm. Integrated freezers range in height from 80-180 cm, width from 45-65 cm and depth is usually standard to cabinetry. Upright freezers are always taller with the exception of compact freezers which have dimensions closer to being equal. Work top, under counter and compact freezers have smaller comparable dimensions than tall freezers which will be the height of a normal refrigerator.

Chest freezers will be wider and will be about waist high. Smaller versions are available to save space by cutting width or depth, but not height. Chest freezers range in height from 80 -100 cm, width from 45 -125 cm though they can go larger and depth from 50 – 80 cm.

Volume/Capacity

Freezers range can be different depends on how much food they can hold. Freezer measurements are made in litres and cubic feet. Volumes range from 100 litres to more than 566 litres, or approximately 3.5 cubic feet to more than 20 cubic feet. Most freezers range from 200 – 450 litres. Compact, work-top and under the counter freezers are around 60-100 litres.

It’s important to consider shelf size as well. A large rack of lamb may fit in a 450 litre chest freezer without shelves, but would probably not fit into a 500 litre upright with bins.

Energy Use

Upright freezers and frost free freezers are less energy efficient than chest freezers and those with manual defrost. Bins will increase energy efficiency by keeping compartments cold when the door opens. Freezers have energy labels that should say energy usage in Kilowatt hours. They are graded on a scale from A – F with being most efficient. Some units are labeled with A+ where each additional + means increased efficiency.

Energy Recommended is a label that units receive when they meet strict energy standards set by advocacy groups.
Features that you may look for are lid locks, magnetic door seals (safer if a child climbs in) and low noise levels. Noise is given in decibels. Freezers should not go above 60 dB unless you plan to keep it in an area where the hum won’t bother the household. Some freezers have multiple doors to take advantage of a compact design but still have bins and shelves side by side.