Fridge heating...?

kcopp

I remember someone telling me that in northern climates that you should not have a refrigerator left running in a unheated garage in the winter time.
This will cause the frige to possibly heat up the contents...
Is this true and why would it do that?
Solution?
thanks

Vinny_5

I had a refrigerator in the garage for a few years, and every winter the freezer items like ice cream would be soft and the refrigerator not nearly as cold as it should be. They make refrigerators especially for garages that have a built in heating element to trick the unit into working. My friend however, has a 20 plus year old GE fridge in his uninsulated garage and never had a problem with it keeping meats frozen all winter long.
This article explains it pretty well:
http://www.3goodones.com/3-good-refrigerators-for-a-garage/
https://www.familyhandyman.com/appliance-repair/refrigerator-repair/how-to-make-a-garage-refrigerator-work/view-all/

JUGHNE

The version I always heard was that it was hard on the compressor. Any system without head pressure control might suffer. Or if unplugged and then turned on the oil/charge may slug the valves.

But we had a 5' long chest freezer live in an unheated garage for 20 years, then it was moved to a heated room for maybe 10 years. We just gave it away because it was too big for empty nesters. It is still running elsewhere. It was old when we got it, totaling maybe 40+ years old today. Would have been R-12.

But chest freezers do not have a defrost cycle that a fridge may have. This may make a difference. Fridge ice cream may have a melted/refroze layer because of defrosting. Whereas freezer ice cream is always rock hard.

EBEBRATT-Ed

all I can add is that the thermostat that runs the refrigerator Is the refrigerator compartment. If the refrigerator is in a cold enough ambient the refrigerator will not run. The contents of the refrigerator may be cold but the freezer compartment is not controlled directly. It is controlled by the amount of air flow it receives so it is controlled indirectly and the freezer compartment has no control over compressor operation.

So if ambient temp is above freezer temp -5 to +5 the freezer contents may not remain frozen.

a freezer in a garage has it's stat in the freezer compartment. It will still try to keep it's contents frozen but may be affected running in low ambient

jumper

I think only some compressors,like recips,suffer from low head pressure.

If defrost element goes on by timer,then freezer section warms up. But in a low ambient main compartment might not warm up enough to turn machine on. Especially if freezer is on top.