Refrig in Garage

Geo-TH,In

Well-known Member
I have a refrig in unheated attached garage. Went to get ice cream from freezer and noticed it was melted. Garage was cold enough for the thermostat in the refrig section not to come on, but garage wasn't cold enought to keep ice cream frozen.

No real big deal, just moved freezer food to kitchen frig.

I'm posting this because I think Old or someone may have asked about refrigs in garages.

I noticed mother nature deep freeze section may be in for a defrost cycle. I'm at -14 and it going to warm up to 9 today in terriable haute. Then temps are on there way up to more like refrigerator temps.

All this snow melts, rain is on the way, things are going to be a mess. I'll predict the river will rise.
George
 
The thermostate is likely inside the refrigerator seaction rather than inside the freezer section. Is there a dial with 1 to 9 to adjust the temperature of the freezer?
 
There is nothing wrong with ref. Yes, the thermostat is inside the ref section. That section is near freezing, so there is no way the compressor will come of. All will be fine by the weekend when the outside temps come out of the freezer.

The ref in garage is just a convience. Pull car in garage, unload things from car. Great for hollidays when people are over, loads of cooking, need extra space for food.

I just posted this because others may have same problem putting a ref in an unheated garage.

George
 
(quoted from post at 08:49:44 01/07/14) There is nothing wrong with ref. Yes, the thermostat is inside the ref section. That section is near freezing, so there is no way the compressor will come of. All will be fine by the weekend when the outside temps come out of the freezer.

The ref in garage is just a convience. Pull car in garage, unload things from car. Great for hollidays when people are over, loads of cooking, need extra space for food.

I just posted this because others may have same problem putting a ref in an unheated garage.

George

I always knew there could be problems with a refrigerator in a cold area however, I never had anyone offer an explanation that made sense. I learned something today - thank you.
 
I have one in my unheated shop but it is just fine if you call every thing in it is frozen. But it is an old defrost it your self type. Have most of a deer in it right now
 
This might sound funny, but put a light bulb in it.
A 40watt light bulb will make just enough heat that the fridge wont freeze and the unit will run enough to keep freezer frozen.
Good Luck and stay warm.

Steve A W
 
Ken, I learned something new when for the first time, with record cold temps, my ice cream melted. Hope it refreezes without a problem.

I think Steve may have the right idea, put a 40 watt bulb in ref. However, I really don't need this refrig. It's only a year old. It's just nice to have in the garage for the hollidays to put a big turkey in, drinks, and leftovers, that extra gallon of milk, creamer, OJ.

George
 

I see the heater only works to 34 degrees. Do you know where the heater is installed in or on the refrigerator? Exactly what does it do?

Ken
 
It installs in the thermostat/control box area. Try calling Frigidaire @ 866-233-8353, and ask if they will fax you a copy of the instructions.
 
Or just buy a Sub-Zero that has completely separate compressors/condensers/evaporators/thermostat for each (refrigerator/freezer) compartment.
 
Ken, defrost heater is built in the evaporator. Everyone is missing my post. A refrig doesn't run in a freezing garage. If refrigerator doesn't run, ice cream melts.

I'm not doing a thing. I'm sure once garage warms up a little, it will work just fine. Only thing left in ref are drinks, they are cold and drinks won't go bad even if they get warm.



George
 
Having a similar problem at work. Do you know that ammonia "boils" at -33? When it gets down to -30 to-35 the ammonia doesn't get real excited about turning into a gas, makes it a bit hard to cool with it not wanting to evaporate.
 
I have had older pop machines do that, most had a light bulb socket in the bottom, 25watt bulb and they worked fine
 
had a small "dormitory" fridge in the unheated portion of the shop..when it got down to 17 the other night most of the soft drink cans inside burst. What a mess to clean up when it thaws out...
 
My folks have had a refrigerator of one sort or another in the unheated woodshed for decades. Never had anything melt in the freezer, unless the refrigerator just plain died.

Apparently not all refrigerators stop working at 34 degrees or whatever.
 
Update on garage ref. The inside temp of ref section is 30 and compressor isn't running.

It's a no brainer, it's cold in garage after having a record -14 degree night.

For those who say, I know people who have used ref in unheated garage. Well was the garage -14?

Was your old ref a R134A or a R12?

Either way, I don't want to freeze food in ref section. So solution is to put heat inside ref, which I'm not going to do. Turn heat on in garage, which I'm not going to do.

All I'm going to do is wait for temps to come back to normal, which by the weekend we may get to 40.

All is well.

Hope some of you may have learned something, I did and that's why I posted here.

George
 

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