Not sure if this goes in General or the Tavern.
Is there a problem using a side-by-side refridgerator in a garage where freezing tempetures are common in the winter? I thought I heard something about that once but I can’t remember the details.
thanks
Joe
Replies
Not sure about a fridge. My neighbor have a freezer in their unheated garage.
Washing machine are a different matter. Pumps will freeze up and split.
Our first washer was a Maytag (40 years ago). It set in our unheated garage for 20 years and during the years we were rearing our 4 kids. Finally got a new Maytag and in the first winter it froze and busted the pump. The Maytag guy said the old washers had a drain-back which kept water from collecting in the pump. New one's did not and the new ones were not guaranteed against freezing. That was the last Maytag we've owned.
PlaneWood by Mike_in_Katy (maker of fine sawdust!)
PlaneWood
My DW has a catering business, so we have had both a fridge and a freezer in the garage for a number of years - no problems so far.
I've heard that side-by-side is the problem, not a regular fridge with the freezer section on top.“The richest genius, like the most fertile soil, when uncultivated, shoots up into the rankest weeds..” – Hume
your Ice cream could get cold
and your ice will be frozen.
aint nothing worst than frozen ice cubes.
melted water
I live in NW Ohio, and we have had a frig in an unheated garage for years.
The problem I have found is that anything in the frig part can and will freeze when the garage gets cold enough. What's in the freezer, of course, will be just fine.
Bryan
"Objects in mirror appear closer than they are."
Klakamp Construction, Findlay, Ohio
Yep. Everything in the refrigerator will freeze. Under the right "wrong" circumstances freezing temps can destroy the compressor of either a fridge or freezer.
David Doud said that when his fridge was in a rather cool part of his kitchen, the compressor wouldn't run enough to keeop the freezer temp below freezing.
Other than that, I don't know of any problems with a fridge in a garage.
My friends dad had a fridge in his garage, no shelves just beer cans stacked on top of each other. He never had a problem. This was in Michigan.
What the problem is?
My next-door neighbor had a freezer in his garage. Burned out during the first winter there.
If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. --James Madison
Your friend must not had enough beer in his. :)
What the problem is?
If the compressor tries to start in cold weather (due, eg, to putting in a bunch of warm beer) then it may not be able to. This is what causes the damage.The overload sensor will trip and turn off the power, but after 10 minutes or so it tries again. Eventually the compressor gives up, if not on it's own accord, because the overload sensor points weld.
If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. --James Madison
As others have written, the setup can work...hovever...
If the fridge is set in a place that has lower than normal (house interior) temperatures, it can have a hiccup or two.
Most common are compressor problems. The compressor may not start when it should. The cold control may not sense when the fridge should cycle, and a thrown off copressor wil obviously result in unwanted temps inside the fridge.
If it's a frost free, which it probably is, the defrost cycle can be thrown off when the garage is cold due to there being very little difference in temp between the inside of the fridge and the temperature of the garage, so it may frost up.
I remember reading about this in another forum.
But I could not find it. Check with the manufacture. In addition to the problems mentioned. There is also ones of the freezer not freezing.
If the temp in the garage is in the 40's there is no need to cool the refigerator so the compressor never runs. Old, simiplier models, only had the one thermostate and the freezeer just took a certain percent of the cold.
But there was also something specific about the compressor, IIRC. In any case the manufacutre had a low temp kit. One of those things that they made, but "no body" knew about and it took some searching to find.
IIRC R12 is all liquid at -30C, so anything below that and the fridge compressor would try to pump liquid which they dont do without locking up the motor (unless a scroll).
I had one in the garage and no problem while it was in the garage. When I put it back into service in the kitchen the problem emerged... The water lines for the ice maker and water server froze up and cracked in the weather.
So, maybe this is why most say the side by side is a problem since they are the type with water dispensor primarily.
Stu