The old freezer I almost got rid of
Mar 23, 2024 13:07:20 GMT -5
kandace, mrsmlh, and 1 more like this
Post by microg on Mar 23, 2024 13:07:20 GMT -5
When I moved into my house in 2015, there was this old heavy freezer left behind in the basement. I knew it turned on; the inspector checked. And later, I plugged it in for a little longer and saw the sides actually froze. But it had electrical tape around the plug and its appearance made me apprehensive in using it. The paint on the bottom was chipped up real good and there was orange and red colors all over the bottom, probably a combination of rust and deer blood. It stunk at first but I had managed to get rid of the odor at least.
A few weeks ago, I discovered my kitchen fridge/freezer was not recovering temps from door openings the way it should (there are temp sensors in there). Eventually, I vacuumed the condenser coil with little improvement. I decided to inspect the evaporator but in order to do so, I would need to move stuff from the freezer to another cold source. So I plugged in this old freezer downstairs and it worked. For the kitchen freezer, I expected to find ice on the evaporator but didn't. I decided to replace at that point. The serial # pointed to a 2002 unit. The same day, I transferred back to the kitchen freezer and shut the downstairs "emergency freezer" back off.
I ended up buying a new fridge/freezer over the phone (I had researched the model) with Jarvis Appliance. But it was going to be another 8 days before it arrived at my home. My fridge held up with fridge temps generally in the upper 40s and freezer temps in the teens. On Wed March 20, when the new fridge was supposed to be delivered, I reactivated the old basement "emergency" freezer for the freezer foods and set up and ice chest for the fridge foods. I was trying to tweak the freezer control downstairs but couldn't quite tell which direction did what so I googled it. I didn't find the answer I was looking for but discovered that my "emergency freezer" is likely around 70 years old!!! It is an International Harvester. Here I am replacing a 24 year old fridge/freezer and being backied up by a 70 year old left behind freezer in the basement. It's thermostat was incredibly precise, keeping temps with about a 3 degree range (yeah, I threw a sensor in there). I am 51 years old and my jaw was on the floor. My home was built in 1950; I don't know if the freezer was bought then for this house but it is possible. I know one thing; when that freezer is moved out, it won't be under my watch. It is part of the soul of the house and it saved by butt.