Where to put a deep freeze

[ProudGrandma]

We are moving to the middle of Michigan. Our new, rental, has a south facing sun room with lots of windows and no big trees for shade.  To our knowledge it's not insulated.  We are trying to decide if that would be an ok place to put a deep freeze, or if we would regret that.  We also have an attached garage and basement.  The order of preference would be sunroof, garage and basement.  I have no idea just how cold or hot it gets in the sunroom during the summer or winter. 

Thanks. 

 

[QueenCat]

I'd put it in the garage.

[Kassia]

We put ours in the basement, which was our last choice, because we were concerned about the temperature fluctuations in the garage.  

[Carrie12345]

Is it a “garage ready” freezer? If not, basement.

(We have one that’s made for the garage and one in the basement that isn’t.)

[ProudGrandma]

17 minutes ago, Carrie12345 said:

Is it a “garage ready” freezer? If not, basement.

(We have one that’s made for the garage and one in the basement that isn’t.)

I had no idea that they were made differently..interesting. 

[Tenaj]

Garage.  We are in Ohio and have always had one in the garage.  Ours is 14 years old, not garage ready but has functioned all these years.  Of course, our garage is on the east side of our house so it probably stays a bit warmer than a more exposed garage.

Side note - we also have a garage refrigerator.  Stupid thing is very useful but was in our first house when we bought it 27 years ago - no idea how old it actually is.   We moved it here as our primary fridge then replaced it about 10 years ago and moved it to the garage - use it constantly and it just keeps going -lol!

[Junie]

We had a freezer in our garage, but it would get so hot in the garage that the freezer had to work harder and burnt out the motor.

When we replaced it, we put the freezer in the basement.  Not as convenient, but I think it works better.

[wisdomandtreasures]

As someone who had one go out and didn't notice until it was too late and lost about $400 in food... wherever you'll see it most often so you can turn it back on or notice if it didn't close all the way. 😭

[KatieJ]

Our sunroom in Michigan got very hot as in unusable during warm summer months.

We kept our freezer and spare fridge in the basement.

currently we live in MN in Patio home with no basement therefore the freezer is in the garage. It is definitely handy and I let my engineer husband worry about the motor. 🫣 

[mmasc]

We had one in a garage in states all across the middle of the country and southern part for over 10 years and it worked great, so I’d think one in the garage in Michigan would be fine. We even had an uninsulated garage more recently where summers got well above 90 regularly, and it just kept going strong. I don’t know about sunrooms though. 

[gardenmom5]

I'd do garage. And make sure it's  garage ready.  They're made to better withstand temperature fluctuations. 

[Pawz4me]

We have a GE garage ready manual defrost chest freezer in our garage. It works very well here. Our garage is brick and has insulated doors, but it gets very hot and muggy in the summer. Our winters are mild, but we do usually dip down into the single digits a few nights. I only need to defrost it every couple of years.

[prairiewindmomma]

My preference would be garage or basement, with sunroom last.

[athena1277]

Garage.  Ours is in the garage.  One time it didn’t get closed properly and defrosted.  Meat juice all over the floor.  Smelled horrible.  While you might notice it sooner elsewhere, in the off chance you didn’t, you do not want that in the house.  I cleaned and cleaned and it still took a while to get rid of the smell.

[wintermom]

The sunroom doesn't sound like a great choice, as it would get really hot. The basement is likely the safest choice, as it would have the least amount of temp difference over the years. Garage temps can fluctuate a lot over the seasons (very hot to very cold), depending on where you live. 

[QueenCat]

Some of it also depends on your lifestyle. I'd said garage earlier & it would be my first. For me, it couldn't go in the sunroom because that would likely be a place I would hang out. I would want it there for aesthetic reasons. But that's a personal reason that might not bother you.

[KungFuPanda]

I meant to put mine in the basement, but I put it in my dining room temporarily during the pandemic. It’s still there and super convenient. I no longer care that it’s not cute. It’s mostly just us at home. It is a really small one, but still. 

[Brittany1116]

We have had a small one in the open corner of the laundry room. Is that an option?

[Elizabeth86]

I bet it would be fine even if the internet says no. I googled a similar thing about deep freezers on porches. Now, it doesn’t get as cold here as Michigan, but at least yours would be inside somewhat. Mine has been fine on the porch for a few years and my aunt has had one outside for many years. I think you are good.

[Wildcat]

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Edited December 2 by Wildcat

[Bambam]

Just FYI, for those concerned about the freezer going out (or being left open - which has happened here), you can purchase a temperature alarm. Of course, unless you spring extra for the WiFi or Bluetooth ones, someone will have to be within hearing distance.