Chest freezer
for a food trailer.
For any trailer selling chips, burgers or anything battered, the freezer is the stock backbone. A chest design is almost always the right answer on a trailer, for a reason that only becomes obvious the first time the power goes off overnight at a festival.
The numbers
- Electrical load
- 100–300 W running Motor startup surge — draws several times this for a moment 1.3A at 230V · fits a 13A socket, but leaves 2.69 kW for everything else
- Footprint
- ~800–1200mm wide, top-opening
- New (indicative)
- €300 – €1,200
- Used (indicative)
- €80 – €400
- Checked
- 2026-08-01
Power figures are ranges across models commonly sold into the Irish trailer trade — read the rating plate on the actual unit before you build a load budget on them. Prices are indicative guidance bands, not quotes, and no supplier is named or implied.
Chest beats upright on a trailer
Cold air sinks. When you open a chest freezer the cold air stays in the box; when you open an upright it falls straight out of the door. On a trailer where the freezer is opened constantly during service, that difference shows up directly in running cost and in how hard the compressor works. The bigger advantage is thermal mass: a full chest freezer will hold temperature for many hours without power, which upright units do not manage.
Surviving an overnight power cut
At a camping festival you will usually shut the generator off overnight, and that is fine if the freezer is full. A packed chest freezer holds safe temperature through the night comfortably; a half-empty one does not, because air has almost no thermal mass. Fill the gaps with frozen water bottles — they cost nothing, they buy you hours, and on a hot weekend you have usable ice as they thaw.
Frozen stock and food safety
Frozen food should be held at −18°C or below. The rule that catches people out is refreezing: once thawed, food must not be refrozen, so a freezer that fails overnight can write off the entire contents even if it feels cold in the morning. Keep a probe and a log, and if you are genuinely unsure whether stock stayed frozen, the safe answer is the expensive one.
Questions
Chest or upright freezer for a food trailer?
Chest, in almost every case. Cold air sinks, so opening a chest keeps the cold in while an upright dumps it out of the door. A full chest freezer also holds temperature for many hours without power, which matters when the generator goes off overnight at a festival.
Will my freezer stay frozen overnight without a generator?
A full chest freezer will comfortably; a half-empty one will not, because air has almost no thermal mass. Fill the empty space with frozen water bottles — they cost nothing, extend the hold time, and give you usable ice as they thaw.
What temperature should frozen food be held at?
−18°C or below. The important rule is that thawed food must not be refrozen, so an overnight failure can write off the whole contents even if it still feels cold in the morning. Keep a probe and a log.