How to Determine the Cubic Feet in a Chest Freezer

A chest freezer is a stand-alone appliance in the general shape of a chest. A full-size chest freezer will generally have a capacity of 14 to 20 cubic feet or more, although they can be as small as five cubic feet. By comparison, the freezer unit of a typical refrigerator/freezer combination has a capacity of about 3.5 cubic feet.

Things You'll Need

• Tape measure
• Calculator

Instructions

1. Measure the interior height, width and depth of the chest freezer in inches.

2. Multiply the interior height, width and depth measurements to get the capacity of the freezer in cubic inches.

3. Convert the capacity of the chest freezer in cubic inches to cubic feet. A foot has 12 inches so a cubic foot has 12^3 = 1,728 cubic inches. Divide the capacity of the chest freezer in cubic inches by 1,728 to get the chest freezer's capacity in cubic feet.

4. Determine the volume of any protuberances in the chest freezer as the interior of some chest freezers might not be a cubical shape. Measure the height, width and depth of each protuberance to determine its volume. Add the volumes of all the protuberances to get the total volume of them.

5. Subtract the total volume of the protuberances in the chest freezer from the maximum capacity you calculated in Step 3. You should be able to estimate the freezer's capacity to the nearest tenth of a cubic foot.

References

• UseElectricWisely.com