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Tax Return

Dustinb80

#FACKCANCER
Supporting Member
18,172
187
S.W. Ohio
The wife and I are getting back a decent chunk this year. My thoughts are to buy a freezer for the garage and get a side of beef and a hog. My question is, do you guys have any recommendations on upright freezers?
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
38,841
260
Make sure it has an alarm that goes off if the temp drops. That saved me a couple of times. Because it's an upright in the garage it's inevitable that things will be placed on top of it. In one instance something prevented the door from closing all the way and after a bit the alarm went off. In another instance I left my air compressor plugged in and unbeknown to me it blew the breaker in the garage. The alarm went off and let me know.
 

bowhunter1023

Owner/Operator
Staff member
48,879
274
Appalachia
Get the alarm!!! I did not and it has cost me once already and I've had 2 near misses. I have the one Drake posted the link to (without alarm) and other than that, I love it. Well worth the investment. We actually did about the same thing you did a couple years ago. Took the tax return and bought the freezer, half a hog, and stocked up on non-perishables.
 

Dustinb80

#FACKCANCER
Supporting Member
18,172
187
S.W. Ohio
How loud is the alarm? Am I going to hear it inside my house? Whats the timer like? Does it go off after 5 minutes of the door being open? Thanks for the tips.
 

DJK Frank 16

Senior Member
Supporting Member
9,358
133
Hardin County
How loud is the alarm? Am I going to hear it inside my house? Whats the timer like? Does it go off after 5 minutes of the door being open? Thanks for the tips.

I believe it goes off when your freezer hits a certain temperature. When I load and unload stuff in the winter it never goes off. When I load my hog in the summer it goes off before I get all the meat in there.

Do you have an attached garage? I bet you would hear it if you do. Mine is an unattached garage so unless i'm out there, i'm not going to hear it.
 

giles

Cull buck specialist
Supporting Member
I leave a light plugged into the same outlet as my deep freezer. When the lights off, I know something is wrong.

I used to have an upright, but lost a bunch of moose meat ONCE because the door had opened. I put a latch on it after that and replaced it with a deep freeze when I had the money.
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
38,841
260
How loud is the alarm? Am I going to hear it inside my house? Whats the timer like? Does it go off after 5 minutes of the door being open? Thanks for the tips.

It's loud enough that I could hear it in the attached garage when I was in the living room across the house. Like others said get the frost free also. I've had mine for about 8 years now and never needed to defrost it. It's a kenmore 20 something CF upright.
 

Buckmaster

Senior Member
14,362
191
Portage
Buy the upright freezer then use the balance to pay down any high interest debt or make a 13th house payment this year. Happy spending.
 

Dustinb80

#FACKCANCER
Supporting Member
18,172
187
S.W. Ohio
I found a freezer last night, probably making the purchase this weekend. Need to make space in the garage first. Once the meat is bought, the balance is going to a down payment on a quad. FINALLY!!
 

Dustinb80

#FACKCANCER
Supporting Member
18,172
187
S.W. Ohio
Well I got the freezer in the garage, got the garage cleaned out and made room for the quad in the future. I found a butcher right around the corner from work that has a special going on. If you buy a side of beef @ $3.50 on the rack, you get a free side of hog to go with it. All custom cut, wrapped and frozen. I jumped on that as his prices are about ten cents cheaper than anyone else around. Its Frenchs Meat Locker in Batesville Indiana if anyone is interested. 812-934-2902. They are on FB TOO.
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
38,841
260
Make sure it has an alarm that goes off if the temp drops. That saved me a couple of times. Because it's an upright in the garage it's inevitable that things will be placed on top of it. In one instance something prevented the door from closing all the way and after a bit the alarm went off. In another instance I left my air compressor plugged in and unbeknown to me it blew the breaker in the garage. The alarm went off and let me know.

That alarm just saved my ass again. I put a couple gallons of blueberries in our upright earlier today and didn't check that I shut the door good. Well a small box kept it from closing all the way and the door was cracked. Maybe I need to move the place where I keep my cardboard. A moment ago the wife went in the kitchen and told me something was going off in the garage. I ran out there and luckily only a few things on the front of the top shelf were partially thawed. Everything behind the first items on the top shelf and everything below was still frozen solid. Looks like we'll be eating a lot of steaks and ribs for dinner this week. Lol. I can live with that and that little alarm feature saved my ass again.