Got a chest freezer

I picked up a chest freezer yesterday for $50. It's a big old sucker has to be around 20 cf. It's really old I would say almost 30 years old. It's pretty rounded with a big metal latch on it. I forget which brand it is. It has some rust and it's a little dirty but I can clean it up. I wish I could take some pics for you guys but my ex wife broke my camera.

I got it from craigslist, don't know if any of you guys saw it.

http://newyork.craigslist.org/jsy/hsh/464129408.html

I borrowed the delivery van from work and brought a buddy. At the guys house he had it on a dolly. We rolled it up to the van and lifted the light side. The guy shouldered it on the van and we took off. We brought it to my new apartment but when we took it off we realized it was too heavy to carry so we put it back on. We're going to get 2 more guys and give it another shot later today.

The only things I'm worried about are the rust and power consumption. I'm not sure if I want to sand it down and leave it with a metal finish or paint it. I think it would look nice with a metal finish and some clearcoat paint.

Do any of you have a big old chest like this? I'm curious to see how much power it is going to use. Shortly after christmas I'm going to start getting parts to convert it to a keezer. I'll start with a temp control and do some lagering before I get me kegging supplies together. I really like a few of the keezers you guys have with the taps coming out of the wooden collar. I think I'm going to do 4 taps.

The Kill a Watt gadget will tell you how much that old freezer is using.

Man. That's a good deal....as long as it doesn't crap out. 20 cf is gonna let you store some serious cornies. FWIW, I got a new cf from lowes scratch and dent style. It was white, so I scuffed it up well with a random orbital sander...cleaned very thoroughly, and painted black with spray "appliance enamel" This is a bit more expensive than regular spray paint, but my fridge looks pretty much like black powdercoat. That's an option if you want to clean it up.

OK we got it into my new apartment. It took 3 of us. I have some cell phone pics for you. That's not me in the pic but you can see how huge that chest is compared to my friend.

Nice score. It looks pretty clean on the inside.

Maybe it's just the splash of chrome or the rounded corners, but I think it's got a classic car kind of "vibe" going on there. I would think a new coat of paint, with a little pinstriping, would do wonder for that thing.

LOL, When I was little, my grandparents had the exact same freezer! Nice find!

Thanks for the suggestions on the paint and the kill a watt device. I do like the retro look it has. I'm thinking a nice sanding and a white paint job. I'm undecided on the collar. Either I'll stain it or paint it white. This is going to be a slow going project with xmas coming up. I'm only planning on getting the temp controller and building the collar before xmas. I don't even have my kegging setup yet. My tax refund should take care of that. I file early so maybe I can have everything I need by the end of january.