Additional maintenance and care tips for chest freezers:
Defrost
Chest freezers do not defrost automatically. Manually defrost your chest freezer every six to 12 months or whenever half an inch (or about one centimeter) of frost has accumulated on the freezer walls.
How to defrost a chest freezer:
Relocate all food from the freezer.
Unplug the unit (or turn off the thermostat).
After all of the frost has melted, uncover the drain plug (present in most models) and drain the water.
When the freezer is dry, power the unit back on.
Return the food when the freezer has reached its set operating temperature – zero degrees Fahrenheit (approximately -18 degrees Celsius).