The development of modern technologies has led to the fact that the constantly updated and expanding assortment of household appliances poses a difficult choice task for consumers. This is clearly reflected in the possibility of using refrigerators, freezers or chests to save food. But if refrigerators appeared a long time ago, the ability to use chest freezers and cameras (cabinets) appeared relatively recently.
The prototype of modern household freezers is industrial equipment. The shape and purpose of the products is also a complete reflection of industrial designs, only in reduced sizes, designed for a mode of operation exclusively in domestic conditions.
Freezer chest and chamber - features and differences
Both the freezer and chest are designed to create and maintain a low temperature regime for freezing food. It is not always possible to purchase a multifunctional refrigerator. And the dimensions of modern multi-chamber, many door refrigerators do not always fit into the kitchen space. So it turns out that the presence of a freezer or chest is the best option when choosing the necessary equipment. Designed to perform similar functions, these products have their own individual characteristics. The main difference between them is the shape of the device.
The freezer is designed for vertical loading of products, similar to a conventional refrigerator. Shelves, boxes, baskets installed inside the camera allow you to sort the products intended for storage. Modern freezers belong to the category of built-in appliances. Regardless of whether they are included in the set of kitchen equipment or purchased separately, freezers harmoniously fit into the interior of the kitchen of any size.
Chest freezer, single chamber design, with horizontal loading method. The main part of the internal space (lower) is free and allows you to accommodate a sufficient number of products. In the upper part, mounts are mounted, to which, if necessary, additional containers (boxes, baskets) can be suspended for products not intended for joint storage. The shape and dimensions require sufficient free space.
What parameters should be considered when choosing
The main parameters that are paid attention to when choosing household freezing equipment are:
- useful internal volume (capacity);
- power;
- power usage;
- class of freezing;
- availability of additional functions;
- cost.
Capacity
If you compare this indicator, the chest has an advantage. Useful volume can reach 550 liters, against 350 liters in the camera. But this advantage makes sense only if it is intended to store a large number of products over time. A chest with a maximum volume will take up too much space and energy consumption will be quite significant. Typically, for a family, 350 liters is enough.
Power consumption
With constantly increasing electricity tariffs, this indicator is significant for almost every owner of household equipment. The consumption of electricity consumed directly depends on the power of the equipment used. In this regard, the advantage of chest freezers. The design provides for the opening of the lid up. According to the laws of physics, cold air masses are kept below and when the chest is opened, there is no sharp increase in temperature inside the unit.
The freezer opens like an ordinary refrigerator. With frequent tearing, intensive mixing of air masses will occur and therefore additional time will be required to create the optimal regime inside the chamber, and this will lead to additional energy consumption. There is one more nuance. Modern cameras can be equipped with two compressors to control the temperature in separate compartments (chambers). This is also an additional energy consumption.
Control system
Each manufacturer tries to offer the consumer a unit with an almost autonomous system of control over specified operating conditions. Separating different management principles is difficult. Manual, electromechanical, electronic control, one way or another, requires preliminary tuning to the optimal mode. The advantage of the electronic control system is only the ability to view all relevant parameters on the display, where you can also find information about possible problems in the operation of the equipment. Most often, an electronic control system is used in freezers.
REFERENCE! Some models have an electronic protection unit against accidental shutdown through the controls and protection against accidental switching of the cooling mode.
Power
The power indicator of the selected freezer unit is somewhat different from the generally accepted concept. Here, the power is determined by the number of products that need to be frozen, not allowing the simultaneous defrosting of products already inside. For a volume of 100 liters, the optimal power indicator is 5 kg / day. For freezers up to 200 liters, most often used in ordinary families, you should focus on a power indicator of 16 kg / day.
Additional features
Most models of domestic freezing equipment have additional features. Automatic defrosting of the unit allows periodic defrosting of the chamber with the simultaneous discharge of moisture generated. But in this case, there is a forced decrease in the usable volume of the freezer due to the additional installed equipment (No Frost).
The super-freeze function is mainly used in units intended for long-term storage (freezer chests). Superfreezing provides simultaneous freezing of a large number of placed products.
IMPORTANT! It should be remembered that in this case the unit operates in an "emergency" mode and it is not recommended to keep the quick freezing system on for longer than a day.
The autonomous cold storage function is designed to preserve food products in the event of a power outage. This automatically switches to an autonomous power source (battery) or uses a device that represents a plastic container with a liquid having a low temperature threshold for freezing. In the absence of electricity, the liquid gradually heats up, giving its cold to the freezer, which allows to increase the shelf life.
Freezing temperature
When choosing a model, customers mainly focus on average freezing temperatures (from -18ºC to -24ºС). This is enough to create the optimal freezing and storage regime for most products.
Based on the foregoing, we can conclude - if you need to save products for a short period and in small volumes, it would be better to purchase a freezer. In the case of a large number of products and the need to ensure long shelf life, choose a chest. The final decision rests with the consumer.
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