If you have a chest freezer, fill a few gallon containers with water and freeze them. Make space in your freezer and pack it to the capacity with the ice/the gallon container. This way you can turn your freezer off for 10-18 hours. If you reinforce the insulation, you can be sure of one advantage: intact groceries at a lower energy bill.
If you can place the frozen gallon containers upright, with caps on, you can rest assured that there will be no water to remove from the freezer! I cut my energy bill by $5 - 8.00 month this way. You might have a freezer, but remember that you do NOT have to:
June was Dairy month. Chances are that your freezer is packed to the capacity. After a few weeks, your stockpiles might dwindle. This would be the time to use ice: big savings in your energy bill.
Also, did you know that a freezer packed to its capacity can be turned off for one hour without much damage? Of course, all this will be directly proportional to its volume. The larger the freezer, the longer it will take to gain heat. Simple Physics.
Just invest in a good thermometer and see how long your freezer will retain the low temperatures after you have pulled the plug. The same worked for a friend's fridge. I never had the guts to turn off my fridge.
Happy savings.
By Megan from Racine, WI
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You are taking risks there with your freezer. After a power cut my freezer's motor burned out. Apparently every time a freezer is switched off, and then switched on again, there is a strong chance that the motor will burn out.
Warning! This is potentially dangerous advice! Beware for FOOD POISONING. A freezer operates between at -18 degrees C (0 F).
While the ice thaws, the temperature will be at 0 C (32 F) and it will reach 0 C very quickly. Not only will the water thaw, your food will too.
If the food (especially meat, poultry and fish) thaw, that is very dangerous. But even if the temperature stays below 0 C, bacteria are still active at these freezing temperatures.
For example, you can not keep meat at -6 C for long periods of time (i.e. longer than a week). Food safety will not be guaranteed.
Sadly, you will likely find your freezer uses as much energy bringing the temperature back down to the ideal temperature, than simply allowing it to cycle on and off to maintain it.
It's also not good for the food inside to have the temperature fluctuating, and if you forget to switch it back on at any particular time, you'll ruin all your food.
A better tip for energy saving is to ensure it hasn't got massive ice buildup.
I certainly wouldn't be turning my freezer on and off for the sake of $5 a month.
Perhaps if you jus turned the thermostat down and left the ice in, it would cover your back?
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