what to do with dead freezer?

[gdp]

So I have a 14 ft3 freezer that died, freon leaking, and before I have it hauled away wanted to see if there is a use for it. For smoking or anything else you guys have thought of. Thanks for the comments in advance, as always!

 

[kruizer]

You could gut it and use it for a smoker or cold smoker

 

[mike243]

Use it to store horse feed or other stuff in it, cant leave outside but bugs/rodents wont get into it

 

[mike243]

Its foam filled and you wont be able to gut it with very good results

 

[JRT]

If the freezer is in reasonable good shape, it is really easy to recover it for use as a freezer again. That is assuming the compressor has not failed. A Freon leak is not difficult or expensive to repair

 

[gdp]

You could gut it and use it for a smoker or cold smoker

Sorry to sound dumb but how do I go about it? I like the idea

 

[mike243]

Some Freon leaks cant be fixed, depending on the freezer it may run $400-$700 to repair, in a lot of cases the unit can be replaced as cheap as a repair, I work on them daily for a living.

 

[Fueling Around]

If it is a upright with a metal interior it will make a dandy smoker.
Plastic liner and chest type is good for the garbage. I'm lucky and can dispose for free.
Don't think about repair if more than 20 years old.
As @mike243 mentioned the cost, the efficiency has improved, too.

 

[gdp]

Thanks for the replies guys. It's a 18 yr old Frigidaire "commercial" upright freezer that's been good to me but almost lost an elk and 2 deer meat from this year. Luckily caught it at 28 degrees and saved the meat. My son would have killed me 'cause the elk and 1 deer was his :) All the components are working, blowing 67 deg air so I'm sure the seal on the compressor went out. Not interested in fixing with it this old. I wasn't sure how to make a smoker but from your comments found the walls to be steel with plastic around the front edge and foam insulation. Plus my HOA will put me in jail if they see an old fridge smoking outside! I have another identical one, 1 year newer, that I'll replace next spring plus a larger new one now if Home Depot comes thru with the 20 ft3 they say they have. Turns out that freezers are the current hoarding/short supply items now.
PS if anyone in the Denver area wants it, come and get it. Home Depot will haul it away on Saturday.

 

[mike243]

FYI , a chest freezer will hold food longer due to the design, use milk crates to separate the different foods, having no added heat due to self defrost and all the cold air falling out when the door is opened helps alot. down side is takes more floor space

 

[daveomak]

Some folks will use them to store stuff in... With a small heat source, it will keep things from freezing during the winter... Dry, warm, rodent free storage...

 

[Fueling Around]

...
a larger new one now if Home Depot comes thru with the 20 ft3 they say they have. Turns out that freezers are the current hoarding/short supply items now.
...

Freezers generally not available around here from May until October.

 

[mneeley490]

My 21.5 cf upright garage freezer died yesterday (or more accurately, sometime before.) We also happen to be on the tail end of an unprecedented heat wave in the Seattle area.
I discovered it about 6:30 am, had to take the day off of work, and went into panic mode between trying to salvage what I could, and locate a new one. Most of the meat was still partially frozen, so I filled my separate garage fridge, and 2 large styro coolers with ice packs from our kitchen fridge/freezer. Still gave the trash man 4 big bags of melted ice cream and other delicacies, as he happened to be picking up at just the right time.
Then surfed the web trying to find a comparable one that would be in stock and close enough that I could pick up right away. Most of the appliance and big box stores just had ones I could order and get in a week or two. Finally found 1, just 1, a wee bit smaller at a Lowe's a couple of towns over. So raced over, and bought it . Sales gal said someone had bought the same one that morning, and I got the last one. But no delivery until next week!

Here's the part where we-who-do-not-currently-own-pickup-trucks are so blessed to have friends that do. My buddy is a self-employed steel fabricator, and dropped everything to come help me with his Ford F-450 flatbed. This thing is so tall, if feels like climbing Kilimanjaro just getting into the cab or onto the back bed. (He earned a number of beers afterward at a local brewpub.) So we got the new freezer in, and dropped the old one at the same recycling center where I bought it about 20 years ago. It was mostly plastic and foam, I'm sure, and not worth the trouble to convert it into anything but scrap. Besides, at that point, we were already at a very poor position in our relationship.
So today, I am about $1,000 poorer, but my meat is again solidly frozen.

 

[browneyesvictim]

Must be a run on them... I just had to replace my garage fridge of 50+ years this weekend! Man I'm going to miss that one... I would pay a lot to have it fixed. Haven't tossed it quite yet.
Fortunately I found a good buy on a newer used one on FB marketplace and a truck. Wasn't fun playing outside this triple digit heat we have out here right now.

 

[mneeley490]

Wasn't fun playing outside this triple digit heat we have out here right now.

Oof, tell me about it. I've had my 2016 Challenger for 2 years now, and it's the first time I've ever had to continuously run the A/C. Actually came near to having heat stroke this past weekend.

 

[Fueling Around]

When I lived in Auburn (1990's), I had (2) two 12,000 BTU (1 ton) window units in my tri-level house.
Stay at home mom in those days. I think one other neighbor had A/C or a a heat pump.
Neighbor's invited themselves over on hot days.