Freezer Repair in Post Falls, ID

IDFG's harvest estimate for Unit 2 in the 2025 general season was 1,276 deer, and by the agency's boundary description, Unit 2 takes in the part of Post Falls north of the Spokane River. With over a thousand deer estimated from one unit in one season, a household there with a hunter does well to work out the freezer's daily limit before the season opens. Check IDFG's current rules and harvest reports for this year's Unit 2 dates and figures.

The National Center's rule: “Add only the amount that will freeze within 24 hours, which is usually 2 to 3 pounds of food per cubic foot of storage space. Overloading slows down the freezing rate...” By that rule, a 15-cubic-foot chest freezer takes roughly 30 to 45 pounds of unfrozen food per day, and a 7-cubic-foot one roughly 14 to 21 pounds per day. Total the weight waiting to go in (package labels can simply be added), set it against the freezer's figure, and split anything over it into batches for the following days.

Go past that amount, and the new packages can give off heat faster than the freezer can carry it away: the freezer can run for long stretches, the cabinet can read warm, and the center of the new load can stay soft for longer.

For the day before a big batch, the step is: “To facilitate more rapid freezing, set the temperature control at -10°F or lower about 24 hours in advance.” Many controls are marked with numbers or words in place of degrees, so the owner's manual is where to find the coldest setting. Once the batch has frozen, the control can go back to its usual setting.

The target is “Freeze foods at 0°F or lower,” and since the rule is built around new food freezing within 24 hours, a batch inside it can be expected to be frozen solid by about the next day, with a thermometer in the cabinet reading 0°F or lower. One that is still soft after that, or a cabinet reading that climbs with nothing new added, is the time to call, and with the season's meat inside, the call should not wait for the next batch. The parts that stop a freezer from keeping up are covered at Freezer Repair.

Size the second load the same way, by what the freezer can freeze in a day, and leave the first one where it is. What changes is the room. Packages freeze best with “a little space between packages so air can circulate freely,” with packages moved close together only once they are frozen, and a freezer already packed from the first hunt has less of that space to give. Starting at the low end of the 2- to 3-pound range and adding the rest the next day is the gentler approach, and the colder setting goes on again about a day before the second batch, as it did for the first.

As an example only, say 100 pounds of packages are waiting, and the chest freezer holds 15 cubic feet. At 2 pounds per cubic foot, the low end of the range, a day's batch is 30 pounds, so the load goes in over four days: 30, 30, 30, and the last 10. At the 3-pound end, it takes three. On back-to-back days, one approach is to leave the control at its coldest from the day before the first batch until the last one has frozen, rather than going up and down between batches.

The owner's manual or the maker's specification sheet for the model gives the capacity in cubic feet. On many freezers, the model number is on a label inside the cabinet or on the back, and searching that number usually brings up one or the other. Write down the capacity before the season opens, so the daily limit is calculated before the packages arrive.

Compare the loads first: the weight that went in, and over how many days. If the new loads were smaller and the freezer still cannot freeze them or hold 0°F, the change is more likely in the freezer than in the load, so keep both seasons' weights and readings for the visit. Should the cause sit in the sealed refrigerant loop, that repair is outside this work, and the finding is handed on to a specialist certified under EPA Section 608.

The service call is $89. It covers travel, inspection, and diagnostic time. It goes toward the repair if you go ahead, and it stands on its own if you decide not to.

Parts and labor are warranted for 30 to 90 days as stated on your invoice, with the full terms at Warranty.

Zero-interest financing through Wisetack is available on repairs over $500 for eligible customers, and active-duty service members and veterans get 15% off labor. Terms are at Financing.

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