Freezers

Over the years all the freezers can keep your frozen food frozen. However, once you start to push the freezers a bit harder you will see the differences that will start to show. With the design planning of the shelves and drawers in the freezers has meant that some models are more flexible and functional than others.

As far as space in the freezers is concerned the manufacturers’ have made claims that the storage capacities are sometimes unbelievably large, this means that the freezers that look the biggest on paper are not always the bigger freezers on the whole. For a fact the difference between the claimed capacity and the actual usable capacity can be up to 40 litres.

Freezers features
Nowadays it seems that there are not many options as to when the time comes to choose a new freezer, but it is the small details that can make a huge difference.

Energy ratings
Now that it has been found out that refrigeration appliances, central heating are the largest domestic users of energy due to the fact that they run all the time.

Now, the new models of the upright freezer now come labelled with A, B or C, depending on their energy consumption. The most resourceful category is A. and if you bought your freezer before September 1999, then it could be anything from up to a G rating, and no limit as to how much energy is used. Soon to be introduced is A+ and A++ ratings and many manufacturers are already using these labels.

Surviving a power cut
There are some household insurance policies that will cover the cost for replacing your freezer contents if they’re ruined by a power cut. However, this is still a pain, and a waste to lose your food and then to go through the rigmarole of actually making the claim.

Frost-free
When choosing a new freezer one of the first things that you need to decide is if you want to have a frost-free or standard model. With the frost-free models you are taking out the chore of defrosting the freezer from time to time. The way they work is they force the sir through the freezer cabinet, and takes out the moisture that would freeze and build up over time otherwise.

But, you will need to pay a price for the convenience. Due to the food that has a high fat content, like ice-cream and some meat, it may get worse with the long-term storage because of the recurring thawing and freezing that happens in the defrost cycle. Also, if the food isn’t wrapped up carefully, then the food may be drier than if it would be in a standard
freezer.

Therefore it is important to leave space around the food for the air to move in the frost-free models than it would be in the traditional ones.

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Freezing fresh food
Despite the fact that it is a hard ask to keep the freezer to keep the frozen food at the right temperature. However, it is an even harder task to freeze the food quickly in the first place.

There are many freezers that have a fast-freeze switch. This will allow you to turn it on when freezing fast food. While for the others you can turn up the thermostat fully when the food freezes, but you will need to remember to turn it down again to the normal position to avoid wasting energy.

Storage space
The storage space of which the manufacturers have claimed to be sometimes unbelievably big, and not taking into the account the space that is taken up by drawers, shelves, handles and mouldings, the actual usable space inside in many cases is more than 20 per cent less than what the manufacturers’ figures.

Useful storage features
Some of the upright freezers now have fixed shelves between all the drawers which make it impossible to store any large items. And the transparent compartments are also a good feature. This is because they let you find at least some of the food that is inside without having to root through every drawer.

Climate class
Now every freezer has a ‘climate class’ this tells you a range of temperatures that the freezer can cope with.
The two classes that are most common in the UK are N class and SN class. The N models are those that
Every freezer has a 'climate class' which tells you the range of room temperatures with which it can cope.

In the UK the two most likely ones that you will come across are N class and SN class. The N class models must not be used in rooms that get colder than 16C and with the SN class models they must not be used at room temperatures below 10C. But both work effectively in room temperatures up to 32C. There are other classes that you may see are ST and T. The ST models work well at between 18C and 38C, with the T models between 18C and 43C.