Freezer doesn't work in the cold?

Miche*

I've been stocking my freezer in the garage up with meat and meal leftover for a few months now in prep for the winter. My sister has said that her freezer in the garage doesn't work when it's cold in there - is this true?

Any body got any info or experiences on it. I'm left feeling really upset - best laid plans and all that

notjustlaura

My parents have a chest freezer in the garage and use it year-round without any problems.

I'd guess that your sister's machine is broken in some way so this doesn't mean yours won't work too.

DizzyK_2

Ours is always fine out there :money:

suered

My friends had this problem with their fridge-freezer this winter (housed in what was a pantry alcove, so very thin external walls) - they kept having to run a heater - something to do with outside temperature being colder than inside temperature (of fridge-freezer) so it decided it wasn't needed IYSWIM

elf06

notjustlaura wrote: »

My parents have a chest freezer in the garage and use it year-round without any problems.

I'd guess that your sister's machine is broken in some way so this doesn't mean yours won't work too.

SNAP - my parents have always had one in their garage and it works fine all year round (except the year my dad unplugged it to plug in the christmas lights and defrosted everything mum had been putting away for christmas :eek:)

carolinejane_2

My freezer is in the garage as well and I have had no problems with it even with the very cold weather last year

smeeinnit

This is a no simple answer question! It depends on the appliance, as some, mainly chest freezers, are built to operate in lower temperatures than you would experience in the home. See if you can check out the handbook and is may state an ambient or operating temperature range. Many upright f/freezers operate within something like +10 deg to +38 deg, so if you have a harsh winter, it will stop working if it is colder that the lower end of the range in the garage. Also garages will be subject to more violent temperature fluctuations than indoors because they are not normally heated or ventilated in the same way as the house. SO if we have a stonking hot summer, they can stop working then as they become overworked if its hotter than the high end of the scale they will operate at.

The reason they wont work when its too cold, is that the compressor detects it is cold, and wont kick in to maintain temperature inside the appliance.

HTH

kittiej

Mine does this, everything defrosts if it gets too cold.

Not all appliances can be used in freezing temperatures.

fairtrade

It depends on the age of the appliance. Modern appliances, which are environmentally friendly and CFC free, will not work at low temperatures. An older machine, which has a more harmful refridgerant, would work perfectly well in a lower ambient temperature. So, if you have an appliance in an out-building or garage that is working do not replace it, as a new fridge/freezer will not be guaranteed to work.

scotsgirl_3

We had a problem with ours as it is downstairs in a cold utility room, and when we first moved in it kept defrosting. We're in scotland and have had a couple of very cold winters, and it's an old cold house.

welshbookworm

I had a Beko and in the manual it stated that if the room temperature went down below 10 degrees centigrade the fridge/ freezer defrosted!
I ended up buying another brand