Consumers reports doesn't do freezers it seems, or at least not a good job of research. I found a small article in 09 that wasn't that helpful, no dependability ratings at all. If you have purchased a freezer within the last four to five years, would you please comment on its usability and dependability? Thanks

Crosley is a brand. The Crosley brand is owned by a a consortium of Canadian and US distributors who have things made under contract the way that Sears does with its "Kenmore" brand and Coscto does with its "Kirkland" brand. Appliance411.com says that the Crosley freezers are made in the former WC Wood plant that Whirlpool purchased a couple of years ago. Consumer reports does not have a Crosley in its current ratings for upright freezers and it is kind of hard to tell which Whirlpool freezer would be comparable. Interesting to see the ratings now because none of the uprights get good ratings for noise. I note that Frigidaire is down at the bottom now. I think CR does relatively rankings, which means that even the "good" rated ones are no better than the other noisy ones. A Haier model was the only one that I saw that got a better than average noise ranking. (I think it might be the one that is on the floor at Costco.) Here is a link that might be useful: Appliance 411

You'll need a 15 amp dedicated circuit to power that thing. Just how reliable do you expect a $190 freezer to be ?

Refrigeration systems have Evaporators, Condensers, Compressors, and a metering device such as a capillary tube, that meters the delivery of the high pressure liquid refrigerant to the low pressure evaporator where the liquid refrigerant starts boiling off/vaporizing. This boiling off is when it absorbs the heat from the refrigerator compartment. When the refrigerant has completely vaporized and had absorbs as much heat as possible it goes to the compressor where it compressed and becomes a High Pressure gas. The high pressure gas moves to the condenser coils where heat is removed and the High Pressure gas condenses to a high pressure liquid which then goes to the metering device to start it's journey all over again. I've added a link to a video that explains the process. How a refrigerator works A self defrosting refrigerator/freezer has a heater under the evaporator coils. This heater is controlled by a timing device. In older more simple refrigerators is was basically a clock that would turn on the heater about every 12 hours and melt any accumulated frost from the evaporator coils and fins. newer refrigerators use sensors to, in a round about way, measure the amount of frost and only turn on the heater when the frost is at a certain level. Self defrosting refrigerator/freezers have a fan that circulates the air through the cabinet and over the evaporator coils. As the evaporator removes the heat it will also collect the moisture from the air and freeze it on the coils which effectively dries the air. When air has a very low moisture content it will draw moisture from unsealed food items which will then again travel through the evaporator leaving that moisture on the coils again. eventually the frost builds up and the defrost heater comes on again to defrost the coils. This water then goes through the evaporator drain and into a reservoir under the refrigerator in the warm machine compartment where it evaporates into the kitchen air.