Bought a Used Freezer....It had a Problem

With so many people growing or expanding their vegetable garden this year it has caused shortages of several things in our area. Seed companies are sold out of some seeds including mail order and local suppliers. Canning jars and lids are in really short supply. New and used freezers are really hard to find in our area. We can order a new freezer from our local Lowe's, but estimated delivery is in mid-October. There are some used appliance stores around, but they have been sold out of freezers.

We have a chest freezer, but we wanted to add another one since we've added about 4 more raised beds this year. I eventually found a used chest freezer on Facebook Marketplace. We went and checked it out, and the freezer seemed great. While talking with the seller we put a thermometer inside and it got down to about zero degrees, but we didn't leave it in long enough to see how far it would drop. We thought all was well and purchased it. We brought it home and set it up with a thermometer inside. The freezer got down to -25 degrees and stayed there, the compressor never shut off. It was running constantly regardless of where the freezer's thermostat dial was set. I felt like an idiot for not catching it before buying it, but I held out some hope that maybe it's an easy fix. I took the thermostat out and it was factory sealed by a white plastic bag. Once I cut the bag open it was apparent that water had been inside the bag and rusted the now dry thermostat.

I found a universal freezer thermostat online for $12 that had the same number and type of connections. I installed the new thermostat and it works as it should now. Many lessons learned!

rusted out freezer thermostat

our used chest freezer now works as it should