ponytug
Super Member
I just had an upright freezer given to me and the guy said it is rusted out at the lower door hinge and he was tired of the ratchet strap to keep it closed. It was about 25 years old he thought. It looked horrible but still ran fine just that the poor seal caused too much frost buildup. I am almost at the point where I would rather buy a old unit that runs than a brand new one you just get a couple years out of...
I took it off his hands and made a new bottom for the door and it swings well on the hinges and seals nicely. I have it running empty in my shop with the thermostat set at about 15 degrees. I put one of the I think it is an econowatt something power consumption monitors and it uses about 3 KWh per day to run.
The purpose for this is because with all of the freezers in mine as well as my four kids houses there is this constant fear of one breaking down. In the spring and summer no big deal, there is space to distribute contents to other freezers but this time of year they are all full. This one just idles empty in the shop with a LED temp gauge on the top as a family "insurance" freezer.
It is great that you fixed it up.
The running costs on older refrigerators and freezers certainly adds up. Each time we have replaced and older one with a newer, we have halved our electricity bill. That might not matter much if you are paying $0.02/kWh, but our peak is $0.43/kWh, and it adds up. Of course, if it is free to begin with...that's a couple of years of "free" power.
All the best,
Peter