Emma Miller
Taking into account the fact that today there is a wide range of freezing equipment on the market for household appliances, it can be quite difficult to decide. First of all, of course, it is important to take into account the main functions and possibilities of the freezer, and then you can take a closer look at its design.
To begin with, you should understand that there are several types of freezing units, depending on the design. Namely: freezer chests, freezer cabinets, showcases, and ice machines. The first two types are the most popular.
The freezer chest is suitable for storing bulky supplies. It is a box with a lid on top and lattice drawers for food inside.
The freezer cabinet is more like a traditional refrigerator. Inside – the usual compartments, plastic drawers, or shelves.
The main technical characteristics of the freezer, which should be paid special attention to when choosing, are defrosting system (manual or automatic), power and climate class (normal, subnormal, subtropical, tropical), power consumption, and control method (mechanical or electronic).
Of course, when choosing a freezer, not the least consideration is what you are going to store in it, and for what purposes you need it.
What you can store in your freezer
You can freeze and store a huge number of products in the freezer. Once you get to know your freezer, you might even be surprised at how much more food it can extend its “life”!
Just a small list of things that can be safely sent for freezing: vegetables, fruits, meat (both raw and cooked meat dishes), a variety of pastries and bakery products, dough, a variety of homemade sauces, dairy products, herbs, and raw eggs.
To the question of whether it is possible to fill up the freezing chamber completely, the answer is: experts do not recommend it. It is still better to rely on the technical characteristics of your unit. Namely, take into account the dimensions of the device and freezing power (the freezer performance indicator, which determines how much food can freeze in the chamber for a day).
On average, freezing units for household use are designed to freeze from 5 to 15 kilograms of food.
Of course, there are also options for non-standard use of the freezer. For example, freezer properties can be used to create compressed, decontaminate any item, get rid of chewing gum on things, and even increase shoe size.
How to customize your freezer
When you have a freezer in your home, the first thing you need to understand is where best to install the unit, and how to connect and set up the freezer.
A basement, a closed veranda or terrace, or a glazed balcony would be excellent places to install a freezer. If such variants are out of the question, the main rules should be remembered, in order to avoid overheating the device should not be installed near the radiators, or gas stove and close to the walls, and the freezer should stand on the even surface in order to avoid any malfunction. There should be a grounded outlet nearby.
Now let’s figure out how to connect the freezer. Keep in mind, after installation, it is better not to connect the unit to the mains for at least two hours. In the meantime, you can wipe the surfaces of the freezer with warm water and vinegar. And, of course, carefully study the instruction manual.
Before connecting it is important to make sure that the voltage in the mains corresponds to the one recommended by the manufacturer. After connecting, you need to give the freezer time to adjust to the temperature regime (from a couple of hours to a couple of days depending on this or that model). If you are wondering how often the freezer should turn on, usually its working cycle consists of 10 minutes of operation and 20-30 minutes of rest.
If you’re interested in a step-by-step freezer adjustment for certain brands, such as Privileg or Kraft, it’s still best to rely on the manual.
How to turn on the freezer after defrosting
As we’ve already mentioned, a freezer can have a manual or automatic defrost system.
An appliance with the No Frost function provides long-lasting operation without the need to defrost it manually. But freezers without such a function will have to be periodically rid of frost. For this purpose, the unit is disconnected from the mains, and the products are removed from the chamber.
You should read the manufacturer’s recommendations on the method of manual defrosting in the instruction manual.
