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Blog > White Goods articles > Fridge & Freezer > Climate Classes for fridges, freezers and fridge-freezers

Climate Classes for fridges, freezers and fridge-freezers

Fridges, freezers, and fridge-freezers are all designed to operate in specific temperature ranges (climates). If you place one in a kitchen or in a separate room inside your house it’s likely that it will operate as intended (although it’s not advisable to place a refrigeration appliance next to a heat source such as a radiator or a cooker, or even in strong direct sunlight).

If you place one in an outside building such as a shed or garage you may be putting it into temperature ranges that fall outside the designed limits and could therefore experience problems ( e.g. Freezer defrosted: Can you put a fridge freezer in a garage? )

All fridges, freezers, and fridge freezers should have a climate class printed on their rating plate (or maybe in the instruction book). This class indicates the minimum and maximum temperatures that the appliance is suitable to work in. The most common climate classes sold in the UK are listed in the form below. ( Where is the serial number on a fridge or freezer? )

NOTE: Your appliance may not necessarily use the phrase “climate class”, on my freezer the writing is very small and it just says “class SN”.

Climate  Class Minimum Temp Maximum Temp
N 16 Deg C 32 Deg C
SN 10 Deg C 32 Deg C
ST 18 Deg C 38 Deg C
T 18 Deg C 43 Deg C

Written By - Washerhelp on April 1st, 2009 with 18 comments
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18 Comments

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#1. April 1st, 2009, at 6:53 PM.

Freezer defrosted: Can you put a fridge freezer in a garage?: Climate Classes for fridges, freezers and fridge-freezers

Anthony Chapman Anthony Chapman
#2. June 28th, 2009, at 8:17 PM.


Whirpool in North America sells a garage fridge (Gladiator), which can operate at sub-zero temperatures because it has a heater as well as a cooling unit.
Can this model, or any analogue, be purchased in Europe.

Thanks

Tony

Washerhelp Washerhelp
#3. June 29th, 2009, at 1:43 PM.


I think it’s highly unlikely Tony. Not unless there are parts of Europe where such a requirement would be desired. The idea of a fridge needing to heat up its contents instead of cooling them down is quite novel for the UK :-)

Geoff Goodall Geoff Goodall
#4. August 22nd, 2009, at 5:17 PM.


not sure if this right forum for this question. If i buy a fridge/freezer in the uk and then ship it out to cyprus would it work ok given that temperatures in cyprus are far higher than uk

Washerhelp Washerhelp
#5. August 22nd, 2009, at 6:35 PM.


Geoff, you need to ask which climate class it is and check the maximum temperatre to see if it can cope with the type of temperatures over there. Some of the refrigeration sold in the uk is designed for a maximum temperature of 32 degrees C.

TheMountainTroll TheMountainTroll
#6. August 26th, 2009, at 6:27 PM.


Excuse-me,

But I think what is interesting people like Anthony and me is knowing if it is possible to buy in Europe a freezer we can put in our garage.

And, in our temperate countries, temperature in a garage could vary from -10°C to +40°C … And, even in winter, I don’t want to cook all what I have in my freezer.

Thanks a lot in helping us in putting this noisy thermodynamic machin in our garage

The Mountain Troll

Peter Munn Peter Munn
#7. September 14th, 2009, at 7:11 AM.


Is it possible to insulate the siting i.e an outside shed to make it suitable for housing a fridge freezer?

Washerhelp Washerhelp
#8. September 14th, 2009, at 5:04 PM.


Hello Peter: The issue with a shed or out-building is that they can get way too hot or way too cold. If one is modified so that it maintains similar temperatures to those inside the house it should be ok – if that can be done. Insulating may help in winter, but could make it even hotter in summer – not that we have much of one in the UK these days.

Chetan Vadgama Chetan Vadgama
#9. November 6th, 2009, at 3:33 PM.


What does SN-T mean ; its seen on some Refrigerators

Washerhelp Washerhelp
#10. November 20th, 2009, at 5:23 PM.


SN and T are both separate classes. Could it be a fridge freezer with different classes for each unit? Not sure.

Peter Peter
#11. December 5th, 2009, at 2:59 PM.


Would draping a blanket over a freezer’s condenser during the winter solve the problem?

Washerhelp Washerhelp
#12. December 7th, 2009, at 2:43 PM.


The problem is to do with the outside temperature causing the thermostat inside the appliance to shut off the compressor. If the appliance is a fridge-freezer with only one thermostat in the fridge section controlling the fridge and freezer section it will cause the freezer to stop cooling too.

The only remedy is to prevent the ambient temperature getting too cold or move the appliance to a better location. The condenser at the back gets hot and needs to dissipate heat, insulating it wouldn’t affect the thermostat inside the fridge turning off because the ambient are in the room has become cold enough to trigger it.

James James
#13. January 6th, 2010, at 12:42 PM.


I was told by a fridge salesman that a low-power light bulb,permanently switched on and placed in the fridge compartment will provide enough heat to periodically force the fridge to operate and thus maintain the required temperature in the freezer section. This is probably what the Whirlpool Gladiator fridge that Anthony Chapman refers to is doing.

Washerhelp Washerhelp
#14. January 8th, 2010, at 5:22 PM.


James: That sounds iffy to me to be honest. It would have to be not mains voltage, and also waterproof to run in such a damp environment.

Also, if the bulb is capable of raising the temperature of the fridge above 5 degrees to trigger the stat then the fridge would be constantly competing with the bulb to maintain the temperature at 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 degrees depending on which setting the thermostat is set to.

I never trust salesmen ;-)

C.Standen C.Standen
#15. January 11th, 2010, at 1:58 PM.


Having a cold plate with a defrost heat would solve the problem but defrost heaters aren’t the most reliable of gadgets.
The temperature in the fridge must be approx 3.4 on the cold plate for the fridge – fridge/freezer to cycle and so a defrost heater would raise the temperature to cause the unit to cycle but they can blow and occasionally blow through the cold plate. The thermostat senses the temperature of the cold plate and switches the unit off at approx -24 degrees and it switches back on at +3.4 so the aim is to raise the cold plate temperature above +3.4 and a defrost heater is by far the cheapest and easiest way of doing this.

Washerhelp Washerhelp
#16. January 12th, 2010, at 3:39 PM.


Thanks for your input C. Of course if they simply installed a separate thermostat control for the freezer compartment it would solve the problem for less cost and with less complication.

MIKE GILLARD MIKE GILLARD
#17. January 23rd, 2010, at 11:28 AM.


some fridge freezers have an ambient switch in the fridge cavity,on a few models this switches the 10w lamp on to raise the fridge temp. FACT.
DOES NOT INCLUDE 15W BULB MODELS

Fridgeguy Fridgeguy
#18. March 1st, 2010, at 1:48 PM.


In reply to Anthony’s comment of a garage fridge yes they are available in the UK. Although not specifically called that. They work on a small heating element just by the fridgestat phile which fools the fridge into thinking it is warmer then it actually is (not for prolonged use though as I have seen a few faults from the switch being left on. Also some of the fridges which run NTCs instead of stats run ambient temp sensors which the electronics work out the temp required. But always research the model you want not with sales staff though with the manufacturer or an engineer.

 

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