We’re talking about chest freezer vs upright freezer in this article.
To do that, we’re gonna weigh five factors you must understand to make the most informed freezer purchasing decision.
First off, it’s manual defrost versus self-defrost. Two, which one’s more convenient, three is energy efficiency, four is cost and five is preservation.
Those are the five things we’re going to cover in this chest vs upright freezer article.
Table of Contents
Self-defrost Versus Manual Defrost
Number one is self-defrost versus manual defrost. Why is that important?
Because self-defrost does exactly that. It has an automatic feature inside of the freezer that defrosts any buildup of ice and things like that.
How it does that is there’s a heating element built inside the the self-defrost models. The temperature of the freezer goes from zero to 33 degrees on a constant basis, about four times a day.
There’s potential for a little more noise, but it does eliminate that requirement to manual defrost your freezer.
When it comes to manual defrost, what that means is the manual defrost freezer does not have the heating elements which automatically defrost the ice buildup inside the freezer.
The importance of understanding that is manual defrost requires the owner approximately once a year to turn the freezer off pull the items out of the freezer and let it thaw so that the ice buildup is gone and then you can plug it in and put your food back in.
That is one of the challenges with the manual defrost.
When it comes to comparing manual defrost versus self-defrost in two types of freezers, an upright freezer and a chest freezer, keep in mind that all chest freezers are manual defrost versus most uprights are self-defrost.
Winner: upright freezer
Convenience
Our number two item we’re comparing is convenience.
What we mean by convenience is both size and the ability to locate food inside your freezer.
Looking at the two types of freezers, because they come in multiple sizes, the upright freezer is very similar to refrigerator.
You have multiple shelves, you can see to the back, see to the front, and access the food very easily.
It also allows you the ability to reverse the doors. Most freezers do allow you to reverse the doors, so you can have it swing one way or reverse it and swing the other way.
A chest freezer takes more space on the floor. Inside it has limited ability with only a couple drawers or shelves. Most food needs to be stacked so it’s hard to get to the bottom and see exactly what food you have.
Winner: upright freezer
Energy Efficiency
Our number three item we’re comparing here is energy efficiency.
Which one costs less to run?
It’s always a key to think about.
As we look at the manual defrost, as most chest freezers are manual defrost, an example energy guide may say that a particular freezer costs about $28 a year.
Benefit of this is it is less to operate a manual defrost freezer than a self-defrost freezer, because the heating elements are not built into the freezer and it does not cycle on and off throughout the day.
One other cool thing about chest freezers is the lid.
As the lid comes up, less air comes out of the freezer, versus you open up a refrigerator type freezer, such as upright one, a lot more air comes out.
As you compare the energy rating for an upright freezer, its energy guide says $55 a year.
Upright freezers use a lot more energy because it is cycling on and off throughout the day to keep the frost from building up.
One last fact about energy efficiency is chest freezers tend to be about 40 percent more efficient.
Overall energy efficiency wise, chest freezers or manual defrost freezers do a better job in using less energy.
Winner: chest freezer
Initial Cost
Our number four factor is what is the initial cost when purchasing your freezer.
There’s three levels of cost that you need to consider.
The lowest price is with the chest freezers. Then you go up to the manual defrost upright freezers, which then goes to the highest priced items, which are the self-defrost models due to the added heating elements inside the freezer.
One other thing to consider is there’s really no difference in the lifespan of a freezer, which averages approximately 11 years.
Winner: chest freezer
Preservation
Our number five item to consider when purchasing the freezer is food preservation.
When we think food preservation many times we think about freezer burn of your vegetables, of your meats.
What causes freezer burn is really temperature changes. If you’re accessing your freezer all the time, you have kids that are constantly opening it for that ice cream, the temperature is going to change much more often inside the freezer, which can cause freezer burn.
Chest freezers are typically meant more for long-term storage, because the freezer temperatures don’t change as much inside. When you open the chest freezer door not as much cold air escapes.
As you’re considering food preservation, one of the most important factors is how often you open up the door to your freezer.
Winner: chest freezer
We hope you enjoyed those five tips when making a freezer purchase.