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Cold climate question

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07 October 2021, 12:42 AM
Steve Miller
Cold climate question
Can you keep a refrigerator in the garage in areas where it gets very cold? Will it function properly?


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07 October 2021, 02:50 AM
QuirtEvans
In a non-heated garage? If the temperature in the garage gets too cold?

No. The refrigerator has a thermostat, and if the external temperature (around the refrigerator) gets too low, it'll shut off.

Ask me how I know.
07 October 2021, 07:41 AM
wtg
Garage refrigeration.

https://garagetransformed.com/garage-refrigerator/


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07 October 2021, 08:52 AM
Lisa
I guess it depends. My neighbors have had a refrigerator in their garage since I've known them. It's an unheated garage but it does have an attached workshop that they do heat (with a woodstove, only when working out there) so it may not get as cold as a completely unheated garage. If your garage is attached to your house, it will get some heat just from transference from the house and you should be able to run a fridge just fine. I know a lot of people (including my mom, in the Poconos where I grew up) have fridges in their garage and I've never known anyone to have a problem. Maybe they've been shutting off like Quirt says but I guess if it's cold enough to shut off the fridge, it's cold enough to preserve the food until the fridge decides to kick on again.
07 October 2021, 09:22 AM
jodi
We live in a very cold climate with an insulated garage, (house on two sides of it) with many things that should not freeze stored in there (we have no basement) - so during the worst cold snaps, I turn on a small portable heater to keep things above freezing - amazingly, it’s not that many days that I have to do that. My plan is to put in a slightly bigger heater on the ceiling with a thermostat so it’s automatic (and keeps things above 40 degrees) - could you do something like that? (Unless you have a better place to keep the extra fridge)


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Smiler Jodi

07 October 2021, 09:56 AM
Mikhailoh
I had one for several years with no issue. Now we just have a freezer.


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07 October 2021, 10:13 AM
RealPlayer
We have a non-insulated attached garage. No fridge in there, but we do use the garage itself to keep some items cold during the cold months.

We have a fridge in the adjacent room where ambient temp is 55-60 in winter. But we have little use for it now that the kids are gone.


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07 October 2021, 11:24 AM
Steve Miller
The garage is insulated and shares two walls with the house. It already has a little electric heater that I hadn't intended run (cost?), but maybe I'll set it to 35 or something and see how it goes.

If it doesn't work out I suppose I can put it in the basement.


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Life is short. Play with your dog.

07 October 2021, 11:40 AM
jodi
I have one of those Accu-rite wireless digital temperature sensor tings that sits on the counter and has three sensors that you place outside, I have one in the trees, one on the porch and one in the garage near the things that cant freeze so I can always check and see if I need to turn the heater on (or off).


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Smiler Jodi

07 October 2021, 12:27 PM
QuirtEvans
quote:
Originally posted by Lisa:
I guess it depends. My neighbors have had a refrigerator in their garage since I've known them. It's an unheated garage but it does have an attached workshop that they do heat (with a woodstove, only when working out there) so it may not get as cold as a completely unheated garage. If your garage is attached to your house, it will get some heat just from transference from the house and you should be able to run a fridge just fine. I know a lot of people (including my mom, in the Poconos where I grew up) have fridges in their garage and I've never known anyone to have a problem. Maybe they've been shutting off like Quirt says but I guess if it's cold enough to shut off the fridge, it's cold enough to preserve the food until the fridge decides to kick on again.


It depends on how cold it gets.

And remember that the fridge is insulated. So, when it shuts off, things slowly warm up.

When we had a few negative degrees days in a row in Massachusetts, I lost some food. And, even in Oklahoma, we had to run a space heater near the fridge for a short period of time.
07 October 2021, 06:44 PM
dolmansaxlil
There is an attachment they can add so it’s ok in a garage. We have an unheated garage and thought our freezer was broken. Repair guy came and added the attachment and we were good to go.

ETA: something like this https://www.amazon.ca/Frigidai...erator/dp/B005B9EABU


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