If you think shipping an upright freezer is a tedious undertaking, you are absolutely right! It is bulky, heavy and contains chemicals that can be dangerous when not properly handled. However, it is not impossible to ship a freezer. All you need is the proper know-how, a bit of elbow grease and a lot of common sense. Here is an easy to follow the guideline on how to ship an upright freezer.
Start by creating a crate. Take the freezer’s measurement and add 3 to 5 inches on all sides to allow for the space taken by packaging material. This way you can wrap and add packaging material and the freezer will fit in the crate.
Using the measurements, cut the lid, sides, and base of your crate from plywood with an electric saw. To save you from too much work, you can have these cut to size at any home improvement store where you bought the materials.
Cut four 1-by-2-inch wood strips the length of two of your side panels. Attach these to the back of the two outer edges of two plywood sides with screws. This will allow you to attach the other sides easily to the wood strip and reinforce the plywood sides. Attach a 1-by-2-inch wood strip to each of the under sides of the plywood lid using screws. Do the same for the base and attach three sides to the base by fastening the sides to the 1-by-2-inch strips on the base. Leave one side off, so you can move the refrigerator in with a hand cart.
Before crating the freezer, wrap it with ½-inch bubble wrap. Make sure that all sides are well covered as well as the top so it doesn’t get scratched or damaged during transit. Use box sealing tape to keep the bubble wrap in place.
Tip the freezer slightly and push the bottom edge of a hand cart under it. Tip the refrigerator toward the hand cart handles to move it into the crate using the hand cart.
Insert corrugated cardboard inserts and foam inserts in any gaps between the freezer sides and the three sides of the crate. Use enough of these inserts to keep the refrigerator in place.
Screw the fourth side of the crate in place against the 1-by-2-inch wood strips of the base and the other two sides.
Insert corrugated cardboard inserts and foam inserts in any gaps that exist between the front of the crate and the freezer. Place a foam insert and corrugated cardboard inserts on the top of the wrapped freezer and screw the top in place. Place fragile stickers and arrows pointing to the right side up. You can write the words and draw the arrows with a magic marker if you don’t have stickers.
Take your freezer crate to the shipping company and ship it. Once it arrives at its destination wait 24 hours to plug it in just in case it was laid down.
Reminder:
When a freezer or refrigerator is laid on its side, the hydrobenzoline oil used in the compressor runs up the tubing. You can never be sure the freezer was never laid down on its side during the shipping process so it would be wise to advise the recipient to wait for 24 hours before plugging it to allow the oil to drain back down into the compressor.