I was wondering the same thing myself. All chest freezers are manual defrost (according to the salesman at Sears!). I don't even want to think about defrosting a huge freezer full of food and cake, though.
I found this: http://home.howstuffworks.com/question144.htm
"A frost-free freezer has three basic parts:
A timer
A heating coil
A temperature sensor
Every six hours or so, the timer turns on the heating coil. The heating coil is wrapped among the freezer coils. The heater melts the ice off the coils. When all of the ice is gone, the temperature sensor senses the temperature rising above 32 degrees F (0 degrees C) and turns off the heater.
Heating the coils every six hours takes energy, and it also cycles the food in the freezer through temperature changes. Most large chest freezers therefore require manual defrosting instead -- the food lasts longer and the freezer uses less power."
Ugh. I guess a manual defrost freezer is the way to go, then.
Well ...... NICE to know !! but .... sorry folks.... I aint manually defrosting a freezer for nothing!!
Forget it .... that is in the same basket as grinding my own flour!
Just aint gonna happen! 
I am so relieved!!! You have no idea! I just bought a manual defrost freezer, then in my usual doubting-myself manner, I came to CC just to reassure myself that I had indeed purchased the right one, that I had indeed read that manual defrost was the way to go...... and then couldn't find any confirmation..unitl now 
! Thanks guys!!!
We have a frost-free and I've never had a problem with it adversely affecting anything.
I figure if my HD approved it, then it's fine!
As they say, if it good enough for government work.... 
The walk-in freezers are all-frost free though (can you imagine having to manually defrost one of those?), so I figure they can't be all bad.
Consumer Reports just did a thing on frost-free vs. chest freezers. If you don't mind defrosting it, it seems that chest freezers do keep food better, longer, for all the reasons mentioned. Plus, they tend to be much less expensive.
But what I couldn't figure out is what you do with all that frozen food while you defrost the thing?
Consumer Reports just did a thing on frost-free vs. chest freezers. If you don't mind defrosting it, it seems that chest freezers do keep food better, longer, for all the reasons mentioned. Plus, they tend to be much less expensive.
But what I couldn't figure out is what you do with all that frozen food while you defrost the thing?
a) chests need far less defrosting as the cold air doesn't spill out of them and get replaced with warm humid air as happens with an upright. If good about keeping it closed and opening minimum amount can get by with once very 6 months to up to once a year.
b) ice chests to the rescue when defrosting (for added insurance toss in some dry ice) -- defrosting a chest is really very easy -- make it a hot water wash job! -- can get it all done and dried out in less than an hour (one of the many chores mom always assigned me!) (hint - bench scraper or car windshield ice scraper makes fast work of breaking ice off the sides)
depends if you're talking about a chest or an upright.
I've never had a "frost free" chest freezer, and I've only had to defrost one ONCE.
My non-frost free upright, on the other hand, could be defrosted MONTHLY and it still wouldn't be enough. I HATE that freezer...
if I were getting an upright (which I emphatically do NOT recommend) I'd get frost free. With a chest freezer, I wouldn't worry about it.
I looked at freezers this weekend for cakes and cookies. I wanted to get just a small chest freezer, but measured and it would only hold a 12" tier in the lower half. So then I looked at the upright, but would have to save up a lot more money. I really don't want a huge chest freezer. I also wondered about the frost-free vs manual.
When I have to freeze a large layer that won't fit in my freezer well, I freeze it first in the pan, standing on it's side or wedged diagonally, however it will fit, then remove it once frozen hard. I've never had a frozen layer damaged after removing it from the pan and storing it however it will fit.
I have a manual defrost upright *just* for cakes. It defrosts one weekend in January when I dont' have a wedding and therefore there are no cakes in it. Easy-breezy. And it was quite inexpensive at hh gregg. Very few people want the manual defrost freezers any more.
I just got an upright, on sale at Lowe's (20% off)...it was around $500. It's 20 Cu. ft. interior..this is the first thing I've purchased for my business that didn't come from ebay or craig's list........it was kind of hard for me to do (I'm becoming too frugal?!?!) , but all cash is the way I'm doing my business and I could actually afford this!
. When defrosting the freezer NEVER EVER get impatient and start chipping the ice with a screw driver. Bad, very bad things will happen LOLOLOLQuote by @%username% on %date%
%body%
