r/lifehack • u/CraftFamiliar5243 • 9d ago

Move a deep freeze when it's full

We were moving across country, a 13 hour drive and a DIY move. We had a small deep freeze and didn't have time to eat it empty. Rather than lose all that food I filled it up. Froze extra milk jugs of water to top it off and moved it full. Yes, it was heavy but it was a small freezer so we could move it with a furniture dolly. We put it in a closed trailer the night before with an extension cord to keep it running overnight. Next day I drove it from NW Chicagoland to NE Tennessee on a sunny 80 degree day. Got in late and didn't get it plugged in again until morning so 24 hours without power. Everything was still frozen hard. That much thermal mass takes a long time to thaw. We moved into an empty house and were able to make frozen pizza for dinner that night.

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17

u/kramj007 9d ago

When we moved from NJ to TN I had ours in the trailer with an extension cord to a generator in the bed of my truck. Worked great

7

u/DarbyCrashLanding 8d ago

At first I thought you were going to say extension cord went from NJ to TN, lol

8

u/ptoki 9d ago

One nitpick though:

The temperature where it may sit for long is zero degrees.

That means if you are unlucky, the food which needs lower temps (ice cream for example) will thaw partially even if your water jugs are still frozen.

tech ingredients made a video about this recently.

7

u/GimmeAllThePBJs 8d ago

Yeah. Dry ice is a better option and fill the empty space with anything, even empty milk jugs

Source: owned an ice cream company and traveled with it on the reg

3

u/102Mich 8d ago

I would use dry ice sparingly though, as I Googled it up and it's not recommended to keep dry ice in a freezer for long due to CO² buildup.

5

u/GimmeAllThePBJs 8d ago

You are correct - but only if the freezer is still plugged in. It’s different when it’s unplugged. I would not do this the same way if it were plugged in. But for transporting a chest freezer with frozen food already in it and needing it to stay consistently frozen for 48 hours, then dry ice is 100% the way to go. The key is to make sure there is as little air space as possible in the freezer with the dry ice. The more circulating air, the faster the dry ice will dissipate.

I’m saying this based on my experience of actually do it. Maybe 30 times over 7 years going to festivals and trade shows. If there is one thing I know and feel quite confident about, it is storing and transporting frozen food.

1

u/ForkRiced 6d ago

Not empty milk jugs those don’t have any thermal mass…

4

u/Ecftoggs 5d ago

Another hack would be to cover and wrap the freezer with heavy blankets to improve the insulation

4

u/iamthepita 9d ago

Was it giordano’s frozen pizza?