Freezer won't work in Garage

boyse7en

Friend at work bought a fridge freezer from Argos just before Christmas.
Put it in his garage (where his previous one had been for several years) and switched it on but it wouldn't work.

Contacted Argos, who sent an engineer who said that it wouldn't work if the ambient temperature was below 5 degrees.

Argos refuse to take it back and give him a refund as it is a "Kitchen Applience" and, according to them, must be fitted in a kitchen. He's tried contacting his credit card company, but they aren't interested.

Anything else he can do?

concerned43

Move it into the kitchen and if it doesn't work phone Agros again. but they are right about the room needing to be a certain temperture as I used to have a freezer and washing machine in the garage and both broke after a week as the garage was cold and damp had set into the appliances.
Don't see how even a replacement would help unless your friend had heat in the garage.

aliasojo

All manufacturers have stated temp ranges that their appliance will work in. Can't see that he has any comeback at all unfortunately.

I think manufacturers are missing a gap in the market with this situation. Many people (me included) want to site a f/f in a shed or garage but haven't been able to as they simply wont work in such low temps.

WestonDave

You can often get freezers that will work in low temperatures, but fridge freezers are rarer and need to be carefully selected to ensure it has dual thermostats on. What tends to happen is people buy cheap single thermostat ones, which tend to be based on fridge temperatures so if the surrounding temperature is below what the fridge needs, its switches off and lets the freezer thaw.

See if they will exchange it for another model if you can identify one in their range that will cope - try looking on the manufacturers websites - at a guess Bosch are more likely to do it, cheapo ranges almost certainly won't.

Its not surprising neither Argos nor the CC will entertain a refund as its a relatively well known limitation of most fridge freezers.

The other option is to put a small heater out there to maintain the temperature above 5C - you need surprisingly little heat for this - my parents did this when they had to put theirs in a cold conservatory during a kitchen refit and had a little fan heater on a low setting next to it.

boyse7en

WestonDave wrote: »

You can often get freezers that will work in low temperatures, but fridge freezers are rarer and need to be carefully selected to ensure it has dual thermostats on. What tends to happen is people buy cheap single thermostat ones, which tend to be based on fridge temperatures so if the surrounding temperature is below what the fridge needs, its switches off and lets the freezer thaw.

See if they will exchange it for another model if you can identify one in their range that will cope - try looking on the manufacturers websites - at a guess Bosch are more likely to do it, cheapo ranges almost certainly won't.

Its not surprising neither Argos nor the CC will entertain a refund as its a relatively well known limitation of most fridge freezers.

The other option is to put a small heater out there to maintain the temperature above 5C - you need surprisingly little heat for this - my parents did this when they had to put theirs in a cold conservatory during a kitchen refit and had a little fan heater on a low setting next to it.

It may be relatively well known issue, but neither he, me, nor anyone else in our office knew it. Neither did the Argos staff, as when he said it didn't work, no-one (until the engineer came out) asked if it was in a low ambient temperature environment.

Argos won't refund or exchange, since they say there is no fault with the FF and it must be fitted in a kitchen. There was nothing in the description about positioning (and, to be fair, putting a FF in the garage isn't that unusual). There is a mention of it in the small print in the photocopied instruction book that comes with the fridge freezer, but he didn't get this until after he had bought the thing in teh first place.

AMG762

BEKO are one of the few makes who do a selection of freezers and fridge/freezers that are guaranteed to work with an ambient temperature of up to -15 degrees. These are in my opinion the best ones for use in outbuildings

vuvuzela

Unfortunately it is a commonly known fact about fridgefreezers, I suspect he would struggle to get anything from Argos.

PudseyDB

Its news to me too!!! Wonder if its something that only applies to newer models as we have an old freezer in our garage (maybe freezers are different to fridge freezers?) and Mum has her old fridge freezer working in her garage. Perhaps its something to do with the improved efficiency (ie use less electric) of new ones?

I thought Argos claimed a 28 day back guarantee if the item you bought didnt suit your needs, or even if you simply just didnt like it or had just changed your mind!!!

gordikin

Domestic fridges/freezers working limits are designed for houses...not garages/outside buildings...why would you think they'd work?

paddyrg

boyse7en wrote: »

It may be relatively well known issue, but neither he, me, nor anyone else in our office knew it.

Do you know the weight of a mol of carbon atoms? Alas just because you don't know something doesn't mean it isn't relatively well known. Just a silly example to prove a point. You could find out the carbon weight answer with a little research, likewise the f/f issue!

PZH

Clearly not ALL people would be aware of the ambient temperature needed for it to operate, and I know of people who keep a freezer ( not a fridge / freezer admitedly ) in their garages - so this is not uncommon. And, with more and more houses now getting "integral" garages, more and more people are using these as "extensions" for their white goods.

However, Argos probably exclude it from their 30-day money back scheme (don't know for sure unless we get the model number)

But Argos will see it as fully working anyway (i.e. not faulty) - hence no return.

So - the question surely should be - what happens if if it is not stated at time of ordering that it needs to be located in a kitchen (reason given by Argos) or, more importantly, that it does not work below a given temperature ( and I assume that it does not state this on their website ) - should a refund be given ?