Does a chest freezer really need to be set at its coldest setting?

For what we are using it for? Mine goes from 1 (warmest) to 7 (coldest). The instruction manual recommends to start off at level 4, and then adjust 1 step at a time every hour if you need it to go colder, so the thermostat can better regulate the temperature.

I had it at 4 all day and it froze my water bottle solid by the time I got back from work. I notice that the compressor turns on every 45 minutes or so for like 10 minutes (I'm assuming this is normal, but I have been opening the freezer up to take measurements).

If I wasn't going to attach my temp controller, would putting it at 4 instead of 7 save electricity, or will it cause the fridge to not get as cold, and thus, have to keep cycling?

Personally I think the temp setting on the freezer is irrelevant. As with most thermostats, the compressor runs at full tilt until the desired setpoint is reached. It doesn't matter if that setpoint is 1 degree away or 20 degrees away. It's balls to the wall until it gets there.

If there were one consideration I could think of, I'd set it to the highest temp. That way if the controller should fail on, the freezer controller would take over and you wouldn't freeze your beer as solid. Of course that's considering that the highest temp is still below freezing. You wouldn't want the freezer preventing you from lagering.

I didn't bother moving my temp setting at all when I put my Ranco on.

Which level did you have yours set to?

Whatever it was on when I got it. I didn't change it at all. Since the Ranco will interupt the onboard setting, the onboard setting is irrelevant.

Leave it at it's coldest that way the temp controller is assured that the freezer kicks on when it tells it to.
Other than that, it's irrelevant.

Lower settings (warmest) mean less operation. If you aren't using a controller, adjust it to give you the temperature you want. This might not be possible as freezers are designed to operate around 0F.

If you use an external controller, what BK said.

david_42 said:

Lower settings (warmest) mean less operation. If you aren't using a controller, adjust it to give you the temperature you want. This might not be possible as freezers are designed to operate around 0F.

If you use an external controller, what BK said.

Click to expand...

If the contacts on your external controller burned closed, effectively taking it out of the circuit, would you want your freezer to go to maximum cold or minimum cold? If you're lagering and you want 32º it wouldn't take you long to realize your freezer controls are keeping you at 33º so you could then turn it down a little further.

I still think keeping it set higher is the better option.