Frigidaire F81C13M3W1 chest freezer-not getting cold enough

[IHDiesel73L]

I bought a used Frigidaire Crown Series freezer from an ice cream shop that went out of business. The owner said it was only a few years old and that they used it to store large tubs of ice cream. It's a little banged up but overall in good shape. It's been plugged in for about 72 hours in my basement and with the dial turned to the coldest setting (7) it is currently at 8 degrees. Because we don't have very much food to put in it I read that it would be a good idea to fill 1 gallon milk jugs with water and freeze them since its better to have a full freezer and so that if the power goes out it should stay cold longer. I realize that the energy needed to freeze all that water is prolonging the temperature drop, but it seems stuck at 8 degrees F.

The other factors I'm wondering about are the fact that I have two situations in my basement that may not be ideal. First, where the freezer is now (near the pantry) is not near any outlets, so I have the freezer plugged in via a 15' extension cord. Could the cord be causing a voltage drop that is slowing down the compressor? Next, I have a wood burning furnace in my basement that radiates a fair amount of heat located 10 feet away. The ambient temperature in the basement is 73-75 degrees F.

Everything I've heard says that a freezer for long term storage should be held at 0 degrees F-is mine just taking a while to get there or is the large amount of ice inside, the wood furnace, or the extension cord causing problems? I am going to be using this freezer primarily for meat storage so I want to be absolutely sure that it stays cold enough. Any ideas?

[344martin]

8 degrees Farenheit is -13.3 centigrade which will keep stuff frozen although ideally for storing food safely, freezer temp needs to be at least -18 centigrade (0 degrees farenheit). It may well be the ambient temperature of 74 degrees is stopping proper cooling?