Garage fridge question

[Blue440Duster]

Walking through BestBuy found a apartment size fridge/freezer scratch & dent marked down from $449 to $349 then marked down another 15%(52.35) and I have a $50 gift card so I'm thinking this is perfect for the Man Cave and all those speed shop sticker I've been saving over the years...so I throw down the ponies and take it home... life seems good right?

well my pops comes over and say's "is it for a garage? the compressor might freeze!" and starts to get me thinking the sky is falling?

Now I'm thinking back to all the folks I've know that have had fridges in their garages and nobody has said they have had any problems... not to mention my garage is insulated i'll bet not all thoses folks I've known had insulation.

Well folks let truth shine upon this darkness.........

 

[rickairmedic]

You'll be fine it wont freeze especially if your garage is insulated and its not sitting next to the overhead door . The only problems I have ever seen with a garage fridge is the fridge thinking its already cold and not running enough.


Rick

 

[krusty the clown]

mine has never frozen.

 

[Gary S]

I don't think you have to worry about the compressor freezing. If you set the refrigerator thermostat at say 38, the compressor won't run after the temp in the garage drops below 38. The only thing you need to worry about is the contents of the fridge freezing if the temperature of the garage stays below 32 degrees.
I use my garage fridge all summer and into the winter until the garage temp gets near 35. Then I unplug the fridge and put a thermostatically controlled light bulb in the fridge to heat it over winter. In the spring when the garage temp rises again, I unplug the light and plug the compressor back in.

 

[tcianci]

Ever seen an outdoor Coke or pepsi machine freeze? I have been running a fridge and a Coke machine in my garage for years and it's only heated when I'm in there. One of the Coke machines I have sat outside the back of a gas station and was used to support the window AC unit...runs fine.

 

[Gary S]

The outdoor Coke and Pepsi machines that are used in cold climates have both refrigeration units and heaters in them to prevent freezing. Without the heater the contents would freeze up solid for 5 months every winter up here.

 

[Robbs Ram SST]

Mine has never frozen, coldest it gets in there is the upper 30's though. My sister has been running a chest freezer in a uninsulated shed for 15 years, never had a problem, still runs fine.

 

[neonizagas]

I got a new small fridge/freezer last fall. This is the first winter with it in the garage. I turn the thermostat down when I'm not in the garage and it stays at 48*. The fridge is in a corner right by the service door. The only problem I have is that the low garage temp keeps the fridge from running and so the freezer does not keep anything frozen. When I spent a long Holiday weekend working in the garage I kept the garage at 70* and the freezer worked fine.
So I keep a cooler buried in snowbank behind the garage for the frozen items!

 

[D KRAGER]

Neonizgas... I have the same problem........

The only problem I've had is the freezer. If its cold for a while it doesn't run at all, and the contents in the freezer actually start to thaw out!!! Just keep that in mind, don't keep food in there in the winter time. Mine usually just has bagged ice, so no big deal.

 

[z28snksknr]

Home A/C units can be damaged if run when it's colder than 60F outside. That's probably where he got that from. Fridges and other small fridge units do not have the heat transfer area large enough to cool the refrigerant enough to cause issues. Larger units can cool to the point where liquid refrigerant is present on the compressor suction while can cause damage since liquid is incompressible.

 

[Cobra4B]

Never had an issue with mine.

 

[Red Green]

I haven't had any issue with mine. I try to keep my shop above freezing but it has dipped below freezing sometimes.

 

[MoneyPit]

I've had one in my garage for 2 years...in the snow belt. Never had a problem.

 

[Furious D]

Years ago I had problems with my garage fridge freezing up, Like someone said before once the fridge meets set-point it shuts down.

An old HVAC guy told me to replace the light with a 4 or 7 watt lamp and rig the switch to stay on all the time. Worked great, I never had the problem again.

 

[Gary S]

Mine has never frozen, coldest it gets in there is the upper 30's though. QUOTE]


In my part of the world, water doesn't freeze until the temperature drops below 32 degrees F. That might explain why yours doesn't freeze.

 

[MN BIANCHI]

I am in the appliance business and run into this problem occasionally. This is what most manufacturers have to say about the location of refrigerators:

Do not install the refrigerator where the temperature
will go below 60°F (16°C) because it will not run often
enough to maintain proper temperatures.

The most common complaint will be warm freezer temps. The refrigerator temps will be OKAY, but the compressor usually is running infrequently or not at all when the garage temps get too low. If the garage temps get too far below freezing for extended periods of time the contents of the fresh food compartment will freeze.

The Whirlpool Gladiator refrigerators do have heaters built-in to them and can therefore safely operate with garage temps down to ZERO.

 

[Kevin54]

I've had refridgerators in my garages for years and have never had a problem. My garage now I keep maintained at around 50 degrees but my parents will get below freezing and they have had a fridge in it for years and years.

 

[70Chevy]

I just saw a small heating device to put under garage refridgerators to keep them "warm" during cold months. I think it was in Hot Rod and Popular Hot Rodding Magazine.

 

[Ron Lombardo]

I have to admit ...being in the AC Business I have never had a problem with my garage refrig. But it does sound correct that there would be a problem. When we install a Spilt AC system with the compressor outside ... and the requirement is that the unit will run in the winter .. for example a Computer Server Room requires AC in the winter .. we install a low ambient kit.

This usually is accomplished by adding a fan speed / cycling control ..to slow the fan on the evaporator coil, a strip heater and insulation for the compressor.

This could go in deaper like using a Head pressure control to control refrigerant pressure and or changing the expansion valve nozzle ..but then you will have a problem in the summer.

My recommendation is put a little strip of Heat tape wrapped around the compressor CAN and wrap it with some armorflex and you should be good .. the warmth will travel thru the small system and keep everything nice ... if you want to take it to the next level install a ******** temperature sensor on the can ...to control the heat tape to go on and off .

Ron