Efficiency Of Freezers Left In Garages

[Guest Sundancefisher]

I am contemplating moving my two freezers from the basement to the garage. Any comments out there on the benefits of doing that? Any negatives?

 

Cheers.

 

Sun

[dryfly]

My son sez you can't do that because it wrecks the compressor or some such.

 

Our freezer has been in the unheated attached garage for 8 years. Seems to be okay. The temp gets to freezing in the garage when it's cold for a spell--water bottles will freeze lightly--but generally is just above freezing in winter.

[eagleflyfisher]

Just moved combo fridge/freezer to basement. When it got very cold in garage the fridge didn't seem to keep up & everthing would melt. Every time I walked past that thing it was running as well. Runs perfect through the summer months.

Hope this helps.

D.

[Weedy1]

Sundancefisher - residential fridges and freezers are designed to operate with an ambient temperature of around 10-30 degrees celcius. When put outside in the winter the oil in the compressor will thicken so when the compressor goes to start it may take out the compressor. If it is operating when the ambient temperature is low, the refrigerant cycle will also be operating at pressures it is not intended to be at thus causing it to operate out its normal cycle.

That being said, I have done the same thing and never had a problem. If the outside temperature is lower than the set point of the freezer then the freezer will not try to kick on anyways. If they have defrost cycles though don't count on having an ice free freezer.

[walker1]

Garage insulated? I would put a few 2x4 under to keep directly of the concrete slab and as others said, it should be fine?

2 freezers???? your garage is bigger than mine!

[Guest Sundancefisher]

Garage insulated? I would put a few 2x4 under to keep directly of the concrete slab and as others said, it should be fine?

2 freezers???? your garage is bigger than mine!

 

LOL Actually one is a stand up moderate size and the other is our old compact apartment chest freezer...pretty small. Some comments above were involving fridges but I am just thinking freezers. The garage is insulated and I figure the motors may help keep the garage above zero as an added benefit. I do not want to hurt the freezers though.

 

Thanks all.

 

Sun

[Weedy1]

The garage is insulated and I figure the motors may help keep the garage above zero as an added benefit.

 

If you're talking about the compressor motors keeping the garage warm don't count on it, not anywhere close to the BTU's you would need, even in Calgary.

 

Remember when it's freezing in the garage the compressors won't be running.

[PlayDoh]

I've had a stand up freezer in the garage for over a decade and its fine. I recently put it near the car-door and its been kicking in less, and I turned it down to like 3. I didn't realize it could do damage or harm by cold surroundings so I'm going to pay extra attention to it. I did notice it was a little louder which explains colder oil. Yet the garage floor is slab heated so it doesnt get freezing, maybe 10c at worst, back when we had real winters.

[Rick]

Compressors meant for low ambient temperatures have internal heaters to protect them from cold starts. Not unlike a cars block heater. Freezers and fridges are not supplied with this feature. If you use them in a garage, you are taking an added risk of burning out the compressor. If your garage never gets colder than 10C I'm sure you would be fine but I'm not sure what the lethal temp. would be. Sounds as though some have had success but I wouldn't count on it. Rick.

[plecoptera]

I have had an old chest freezer in our insulated garage for 15 years. Never had a problem with it. The one thing we do for the summer is have a lot of big bottles of frozen water in it to keep the freezer full to the top. The freezer doesn't seem to kick in nearly as much as if it was half full.

[Brownstone]

refrigerators work on a basic system of compression(heating)/expansion(cooling), if the temperature outside of the refrigerator is too cold, it won't work properly..I'd imagine it would cause the compressor to run continually if the coils on the back were cooled to quickly.