New Frigidaire Upright Freezer

[spotmom]

I have a Frigidaire FFU21M7HWL upright 21 cu ft freezer that has too wide of a temperature swing. It will drop to 13 below (f) then go back up to zero or one above (f) before coming back on. The freezer is in an unheated entry so it should not run much (I am in Alaska and it is winter, albeit a warmer one).

I have 2 remote digital thermometers in it so I can track it all day and see what it is doing. An Average day is 13 below, creeps up to 1 above over the course of a full day (about 1 degree every hour) then comes on and goes to 13 below again.

The freezer has no defroster and the coils are in the shelves inside.

The manual says it is ok to have it in an area below freezing and to not add additional compressor heat. It has only been out there since Jan 21st, 2011.

Why are the temperature swings so wide? Our 2 chest freezers in the same area run only a few degrees different to none most days (as in they will stay at 7 below for days without change, and swing only 2 to 3 degrees different if they do change). Any suggestions? Thanks!
 
Already Tried:
Called a local repair shop as directed by the company I bought it from and was basically told I was SOL for having it in an unheated area and they would not come look at it. They say the new electronic ones with thermistors will not work properly in an area with temperature variations. I don't know that this model has thermistors. It is all basic/manual. No electronic readouts of any kind, no defroster. Just a thermostat inside and a light that comes on via the traditional little switch activated by the door.

Any suggestions?

[jumptrout51]

According to the Frigidaire Technical information the FFU21 series freezer has a 13 degree temperature swing.
It could vary from 23 below to 8.5 above zero.
It appears your cold control is working correctly for that model.

[spotmom]

Sure would be nice if they told us mere mortals that in the user's manual. Would have saved some frustration! 

The same repair shop that wouldn't come look at mine was working on someone elses for the same "problem" and attributed it to being indoors in a place the temperature fluxuated too much and thermistors, etc. Wonder how much that has cost her so far? They insist it WILL fail in short order in such a place as mine, in an unheated entry. Any grain of truth to that? The old Monkey-Ward one out there is 25 years old and the Whirlpool Estate 15 CU that died (that this upright replaced) was only 11 years old.

Or is it just going to die because it is the same new garbage that everybody makes now? Makes me nervous because it is not like I can go to the store and replace this food. It is moose, caribou, salmon, razor clams, homegrown vegetables, bear, you name it. We take care of ourselves.

On the plus side it only runs about once a day (we'll see what happens come summer!) and the kilowatt meter says it is only costing 8 cents a day. The old chest freezer of the same cubic feet is running 17 cents a day in the same spot. Can't help but think that the coils in the shelves should be much more effecient.

Thanks for the quick reply and a little reassurance at least on that part.

[JWWebster]

Raise the front legs up slightly to throw the door weight to the rear. That will make a tighter seal. Nothing electronic about your machine. It has mechanical mercury based bulb type thermometer. .

[spotmom]

Yeah, we already have about a half bubble lean back on it. Door shuts so tight it is hard to open. So far I like it, but I do fear what it's life span will be.

So we know for sure that this is a mercury thermostat, not the thermistors that I was chastised about? I am considering going to the place I bought it and just letting them know about the thermostat variation, just as a heads up, since the local guy they sent me to was no help.

Of course that assumes that there are other obsessive compulsive people like me who have remote thermometers everywhere. 

[JWWebster]

I checked with our other source there and: Here is you part. This part is the only thang that controls temps.
Keep in mind the mounting of the sensing bulb should be directly against the coils.  This control does not work on ambient air temp.