If the fridge is in a garage, will the cold weather impact the operation of the unit (freezer stop freezing foods)?

I'm in Mass and also buried in several feet of snow, so I have an idea how cold it is in your garage. As a matter of fact, you don't run a compressor in cold outdoor weather, which is basically what you're doing. AC units that were meant to run outdoors have a compressor heater, your fridge doesn't have one.

Many residential refrigerator / freezers are designed to work at temperature considerably above above freezing. Most modern refrigerator / freezer have a single electric thermostat - located in the fresh food compartment. This lone thermostat will control the compressor to keep the fridge (fresh food) section at the desired temperature (usually between 34 - 38 degrees F). The freezer will get colder regardless of how cold it is already whenever the fridge thermostat turns the compressor on.

Now that you see how the thermostat works, let's look at what happens when the fridge is placed in an unheated space - like a garage. In winter time, the temperature can drop considerably below 38 degrees. If the outdoor temperature remains cold enough, for long enough - it will affect the thermostat in the fridge. The temperature inside the fridge could drop below 38 degrees, preventing the thermostat from telling the compressor to turn on. Meanwhile, the temperature in the freezer compartment slowly rises from the normal -10 to 0 F degrees. It will continue to rise until it is the same temperature as the fresh food compartment or until the thermostat in the fresh food compartment tells the compressor to turn on again. This means the freezer contents will thaw.

If the temperature in the garage is even in the 40 to 50 degree range, the loss of cold in the fridge may not happen often enough to keep the compressor coming on often enough to keep some freezer items frozen solid - such as ice cream. Remember, water freezes at 32 degrees F, other products may require lower temperatures to remain frozen, and could thaw at 28 or other temperature.

Good luck!

Hi,

Many times a freezer and/or refrigerator do not work right because of a dirty condenser coil...there are also many other things that can go wrong.

If you are hearing a clicking or buzzing then check out the last two tips.

If your refrigerator is running but warm, then...

Check out these tips that I wrote about that... it is a great place to start trouble shooting your unit...and something that you can do rather then calling a repair person to do a simple thing for you...

Refrigerator Condenser Coil Cleaning Refrigerator Repair

Refrigerator Troubleshooting Refrigerator Compressor

Refrigerator Compressor Start Capacitor and Start Relay

Refrigerator or Freezer not Cooling or Getting Cold

heatman101

two options...one drain hole blocked in freezer,clean with copper wire/bleach to clear gunge.
two outside temp too cold i.e. unit in garage/outhouse( too cold for compressor )
also check seal to doors.air leaks...

Problem solved went to Currys and looked at the instruction book in there!!!!!!!

more than likely the defroster inside the freezer has gone bad. This defroster is located in the space between the fridge and freezer and activates to defrost the freezer and stop build up of ice in the freezer.. If it is bad the freezer will not keep the fridge nor freezer cold.
Dave

That is normal since the cold control is on the refrigerator side and is satisfied. It needs to be in a heated environment and not in an unheated garage.

It sound like you may be having defrost issues,Check to see if you have a build up of ice on the inside rear wall of the freezer.If so,You will need to have the defrost timer,defrost element,and the defrost thermostat checked.

Please rate this.

Modern fridge/freezers are built to automatically defrost themselves. To do this they require that the room temperature is well above freezing to allow the defrost to take place. If you site the freezer in too cold an environment it is unable to defrost itself and will eventually stop working. It sounds strange but if it is too cold the freezer cannot work. The solution is to buy and fridge/freezer that does not automatically defrost itself if you want it to work in a cold environment.

hi there the problem you have is that the temp in the garage is to low, the fridge part of your fridge freezer has priority and will only activate the compressor when req'd ie. in cold weather the fridge may not need to switch on the compressor for days at a time this is when the freezer will defrost.
All you can try doing is having some very low heating in your garage in the cold weather

hope this is of help.