Can a freezer be too full?

[maddy]

I recently bought a quarter steer, cut and packaged, and put it into a chest-type freezer that I bought last year. When I first bought the freezer, the temperature dial was set to "3," and the inside temperature was right around 0 degrees F. Over the last few weeks, however, I have noticed that the termperature has risen--and so I have turned the dial up a notch each day in an attempt to get the temperature back down to 0. The dial is now at "8"--the coldest possible setting, and I am registering about 5 degrees F.

The timing--corresponding with the arrival of 150 pounds of meat--seems suspicious. I always understood that you want to keep a freezer as full as possible, and that doing so is actually easier on the unit than trying to keep an empty space cold. Am I wrong about this? Hopefully I can avoid calling a repair man. It feels like I'm bleeding money these days!

Thanks in advance for any ideas.

[dkhern]

make sure you dont have the air vent blocked

[mink]

id say if it was a small freezer you filled it up to fast and packed the meat in to tight.when putting a large quantity of meat in at once put it loosely and scattered out if you have the room

[maddy]

Air vent! I wonder if that's the problem. . .

Edit: Nope, just called Sears, and they said there is no air vent. ???

[Idum]

I would check for dust clogging the coils.

[Robotron]

Did you load the unit with pre frozen meat or was it unfrozen?
If unfrozen then the refrigeration is pulling the heat out of the product.
Physics here - hot flows to cold. Once the meat is frozen through you will return to the normal setting unless the door is open more now. That let's the cold out, more heat in.

[maddy]

The meat was already frozen solid, so that can't be it.

Okay, tonight I will learn about coils. (Which goes, once again, to show that instead of studying canning, sewing, and gardening, I should have been learning about coils, pumps, and small engines.)

[CarolT]

Sounds to me like the door isn't able to close completely. If the rubber seal is stretched to the limit, it can keep it from getting as cold as it should

[farminghandyman]

at what temp was the meat?

Iif it was not at 0 it will pull heat out of the meat until it balances to 0

[Harry Chickpea]

Freon leak. Classic symptoms. The increased weight may have stressed an already weak coil. Call repair.