Not all Freezers are made the same

[DerekJ]

So I thought I found a sweet craigslist score. I have been looking for a new fermentation freezer. I wanted an upright because of the space it is going in.

New freezers all seem to have a sloped bottom to fit around the compressor. So I started searching Craigslist. After looking at many listings and making appointments to go see some, I thought I found the perfect solution.

It had a flat bottom and was tall enough that I could fit 4 carboys. So I made arrangements to go get it this evening. It was an hour away from home.

Upon arrival I immediately checked the bottom. Perfect. Double checked the height inside, again, perfect. Then I see some lines inside the fridge. WTF are those?

The coolant lines are built into the shelves. I have never seen a freezer like that before. There is no way to remove the shelves.

The search goes on.....

 

[david_42]

My upright freezer is built that way. It distributes the cooling when the freezer is packed full. It also speeds the chilling of new food, because an item is never more than a few inches away from cooling coils. Has a very high efficiency rating as well.

But truly useless for brewing.

 

[malkore]

Most upright frost-free freezers have at least some of the shelves 'fixed' because they are the coolant lines.

you end up having to go pretty big to get enough space that they use positionable shelves with only 1 coolant/fixed shelf.