Hotpoint Fridge Freezer

nick74

It would be a good idea to get a fridge/freezer thermometer if you can. Food can feel frozen solid to the touch whilst not actually  as cold as the minus 18C recommended for freezers. 

[Deleted User]

It thought all freezers were set to -18c? Fast freeze I think takes it to -24.
As to using it in the garage, I think now with the warmer weather it should be OK.

nick74

Deleted_User said:

It thought all freezers were set to -18c? Fast freeze I think takes it to -24.
As to using it in the garage, I think now with the warmer weather it should be OK.

They are supposed to be if working correctly, but that is my point. If the ambient temperature is too low it may not be working correctly. Many basic or older fridge-freezers didn't have a thermostat in the freezer compartment, only the fridge. The design relies on the fridge being at the correct temp in order to also keep the freezer at the correct temp. This in turn depends on the ambient temp in the room being within the designed range. 

I have personally known a fridge freezer to totally defrost the freezer compartment and spoil all of the food in it simply due to being located in a cold garage. The compressor stopped running because the thermostat (located solely in the fridge) could see that the fridge was cold enough. It had no way of knowing that the freezer compartment was gradually warming up..

RelievedSheff

It seems to be working just fine in the garage. Been out to put some stuff in it this morning and everything is still very frozen and the thermometer we put in there was reading -20 degrees in the freezer compartment so plenty cold enough.

Thanks all for taking the time to comment and hopefully this will just be a short term situation and by winter when it gets cold again the spare fridge freezer can be turned off again.

So glad we didn't sell it as we had planned now because the freezer compartment in our american style Samsung fridge freezer is hopelessly small and not very well laid out!