Help! Advice on freezer ..

[Why Syzygy]

The last time I used the freezer portion of the refrigerator/freezer last night, early morning hours, something was stuck out too far. It did close initially. But at some point between then and about an hour ago, the door came open. The fan was making a horrible noise and ice trays weren't frozen, etc. There's a huge turkey which is still frozen. I knocked the ice chips (more like ice dust) off the fan casing, the fan is still turning, and shut it of course.

My roommate isn't up yet, and it's his house, so I'm pretty upset, nervous. Will it be okay? Did I ruin the fan? Things have already started to freeze up. The noise isn't as loud as before. I just want it to be okay so badly!

Any advice, encouragement? Or bad news?

edit time stamp: The fan finally went off. I hope that means it is stabilizing?

[cbayer]

1. The compressor might have frozen up and it will probably be fine.

I just wouldn't refreeze anything that might have thawed out, but it sounds like the freezer itself will be fine.

:hi:

[Warpy]

2. You can refreeze partially thawed stuff

and since that turkey stayed in there to provide a thermal mass and keep everything else cold, that's probably everything in there.

If the unit is running correctly now, there is no harm done.

The problem with refreezing thawed but still cold food is one of texture, not of flavor. Each successive refreezing breaks down more cell membranes and you're left with mush.

[cbayer]

3. Well, that's good news. I always thought that there was some issue with bacterial

overgrowth in freezing/thawing/freezing, though I could never come up with a logical explanation as to why that would be.

Anyway, that's good news, as I am working with a very small freezer that I have to turn off from time to time.

:hi:

[Why Syzygy]

4. Thanks.

After the period of being off, the fan has restarted and sounds completely normal. whew

We use the freezer mostly for ice. The only meat was the huge turkey, and it wasn't even soft to the touch.

Thanks for your reassurance.