Fridge Freezer In Garage...

[Greendubber]

Hi all,


I've got our old Miele fridge freezer in our garage and keeps turning itself off as the garage is cold, so the fridge thinks it's cold enough already (I think) due to the low ambient temperature. With the increase of Christmas food arriving in the house I'm keen to use the extra space but don't want to risk the food defrosting. Our garage is detached from the house, single skin walls etc.

I know you can buy heater kits in the US but I can't find anything in the UK that looks suitable.

My folks have got a plug in 300mm greenhouse heater that looks like this....




My dad suggests shoving it in the bottom of the fridge (outside, at the back, in a gap beneath the coil etc) and thinks it might emit enough heat so the fridge thinks the ambient temp is higher than it is, therefore the fridge stays working.

Stupid idea or worth a punt?

[48k]

If its turning itself off because it's cold enough.... then isn't it cold enough ?

[Greendubber]

48k said:

If its turning itself off because it's cold enough.... then isn't it cold enough ?

I see what you mean and that would make sense but not according to the test packet of sausages that are in the freezer that have gone a bit soft since the weather's gone chilly

[Somebody]

Greendubber said:

48k said:

If its turning itself off because it's cold enough.... then isn't it cold enough ?

I see what you mean and that would make sense but not according to the test packet of sausages that are in the freezer that have gone a bit soft since the weather's gone chilly

Our old one did this in the garage, that's why we replaced it with a Beko.

https://www.beko.co.uk/appliances/refrigerators/fr...

[Greendubber]

Somebody said:

Our old one did this in the garage, that's why we replaced it with a Beko.

https://www.beko.co.uk/appliances/refrigerators/fr...

As it rarely gets used for food (mainly drinks) I'm a bit loathed to buy one.

[craig1912]

Somebody said:

Our old one did this in the garage, that's why we replaced it with a Beko.

https://www.beko.co.uk/appliances/refrigerators/fr...

This and Bekos are cheap enough. Ours has been faultless in the garage for six years

[C n C]

craig1912 said:

Somebody said:

Our old one did this in the garage, that's why we replaced it with a Beko.

https://www.beko.co.uk/appliances/refrigerators/fr...

This and Bekos are cheap enough. Ours has been faultless in the garage for six years

I'd agree with this as well. Some fridges/freezers are unable to work in low ambient temperatures below +10ºC ( this Miele for example), whereas others, such as many Beko models ( like this one) are specced to continue working in ambient temps as low as -15ºC.

We've had the same frost-free Beko fridge freezer for 21 years, the last 18 of which it's been in an unheated garage. It never needs defrosting, and just seems to keep working perfectly.

I do understand the OP not wanting to spend money on a new fridge freezer if it's normally not used for storing food, but it's likely that the current Miele model is just not suitable for operating in an unheated garage - especially if it is similar to the one linked above, which may have issues at any temps below +10ºC. The greenhouse heater may improve things, but would you really want to be trying to maintain a warmer temp in the garage throughout the winter? Might be cheaper to get a fridge designed to work in the cold. The other bonus is that once installed, the problem should go away for good, rather than having to think about putting the greenhouse heater on during cold spells etc..

ETA: I'm not certain, but I think that in order for a freezer to continue operating, the refrigerant needs to boil/evaporate and the problem is if the refrigerant gets too cold, the freezer becomes less efficient, until eventually as the ambient temperature drops further, it stops working altogether. It's not just a matter of "fooling" an external air sensor into thinking it's warmer than it actually is. I suspect that the Beko possibly has an integrated heater to keep the refrigerant at an optimal temperature which is why it can operate in such low ambient temperatures. This must be implemented well, as the efficiency of both the Miele and Beko models linked above are both rated as "E", so the Beko should be no more expensive to run than the Miele.

Edited by C n C on Monday 9th December 20:18

[Simpo Two]

We have the paradox that to make food colder, you need to warm the room up

There must be a simpler way than to burn two lots of energy doing opposite things... maybe connect the back of the freezer to the front. Hang on no that's perpetual motion, that's not what we want...

[Mobile Chicane]

Greendubber said:

48k said:

If its turning itself off because it's cold enough.... then isn't it cold enough ?

I see what you mean and that would make sense but not according to the test packet of sausages that are in the freezer that have gone a bit soft since the weather's gone chilly

There's something wrong with the freezer I'd say. My fridge struggles to operate when the kitchen is 15C, but the freezer still works ok.

[kambites]

Fridges rely on the ambient temperature being high enough for the coolant to liquefy fully when it hits the condenser. If the ambient temperature is too low, the coolant will stay gaseous through the condenser and hence won't be able to re-evaporate to pull heat away from the fridge. I'd imagine your freezer is detecting this condition and shutting off to protect itself.

You can design a freezer to work in lower ambient temperatures by using a different refrigerant with a lower boiling point but it won't be efficient in higher ambient temperatures so domestic ones tend to be designed for the ambient temperature of the average house which is about 15-25 degrees. I suspect the relentless push to make fridges more efficient has actually narrowed the temperature range in which they can operate.

Of course you can also explicitly heat the condenser, but freezers which do that tend to be far better insulated in order to minimise run-time and hence minimise the amount of time that it's having to throw electricity away in the heating element.

Most domestic freezers sold as "outbuilding friendly" tend to do the latter, I believe.

Edited by kambites on Monday 9th December 20:34

[Peanut Gallery]

Same issue here, very easily resolved. Old fridge freezer in the garage - garage gets down to 4 or 5 degrees, and therefore the thermostat in the fridge section of the fridge freezer thinks all is good, no need to run the compressor.

The fridge has a small switch near the light, flick that to the winter setting (red) and the small fridge bulb operates through a single diode, so flickers gently when the door is closed, on full when the door is open. This generates enough heat to keep the compressor running enough to keep the freezer frozen.

The bulb blew before I had realized what the switch did, I replaced it with a small LED bulb, needless to say this does not work, so I changed it back to a good old filament bulb.

In terms of a small heater, before I worked out the fridges method, I ran a small filament lead light through a timer switch - a simple 40 watt bulb needed maybe two 1 hour periods in the day when there was a light frost outside, and four 1 hour slots when there was a good pile of snow outside - just stuck the light in the bottom of the fridge and closed the door, worked very well (OK, dont store your milk resting on the bulb)

[dhutch]

I have had some success with leaving the fridge door open in this application.
As said, my understanding is its not really amount refrigerant type or anything, in the UK climate at least, but just the wat most fridge freezers use a single compressor for both compartments, and assume to a heat gain rate based on a normal room temperature.


So for a longer term solution I would be tempted to stick your fridge freezer on facebook, and swap it for a undercounter freezer.

[Byker28i]

We had a 30 year old chest freezer in the garage, just ran and ran. No issue at any time.
Nobody wanted it this year when we came to get rid as theres just us now, so the council came and scrapped it