There are many benefits to having a separate refrigerator. While this purchase may take up quite a bit of space in your garage, basement, or spare room, a cooler can provide your family with plenty of food storage space and keep bulk purchases fresh for longer.

In contrast, upright refrigerators, as the name suggests, stand vertically. Upright chest freezers also have a front door and interior shelves for storing food -- much like standard refrigerator models.

The freezer uses an airtight seal on the top to keep food fresh and frozen. An airtight lock seal means less energy is required to keep the container cool. Compared to upright freezers, upright freezers are prone to tiny gaps around vertical door frames, which results in more energy required to keep food cold. Freezers keep your food fresher longer than an upright freezer because less cold air escapes from the appliance.

For the same reason, because the freezer is more energy efficient, it costs less to run. On average, they're also cheaper on initial purchases.

In addition to being more energy efficient, refrigerators must be defrosted manually, while most upright refrigerators are equipped with an automatic defrost setting. Upright freezers with automatic defrost settings tend to be noisier than chest freezers. This is due to the extra air circulation inside the unit, and the fact that an upright freezer requires more energy to operate means that an upright freezer will generate a greater electrical hum.

And, not only are the coolers less noisy, they can hold your food longer in the event of a power outage. That's because freezers typically have thicker insulation, and when the power goes out, the cold air still surrounds the food, rather than collecting on the bottom of the unit. A fully stocked freezer can freeze your food for up to 72 hours without power, while an upright freezer can freeze your food for about 48 hours if it's not turned on.

Cixi Zhuoyue Electric Co., Ltd. is a  chest freezer factory in China. The company not only provides Solar DC freezers but also sells electrical appliances such as DC chest freezers.