Refrigeration appliances can be affected by the environment they are placed in if the temperature moves outside the climate rating specified by the manufacturer ( Climate Classes for fridges, freezers and fridge-freezers ). They will cope with most of the UK weather but if the temperature drops below maybe 2 to 4 degrees Celsius a fridge may stop working.
If the temperature gets up to around 30 degrees most units may start to struggle to work if they can’t give off the heat from the condenser (which is the plate normally at the back of the unit that gets hot). The ambient air temperature around the condenser needs to be 10 degrees lower than the actual condenser temperature so that the energy can be given off as radiant heat. If the heat from the condenser can’t radiate away into cooler air then the heat won’t be taken out of the food so it won’t get cold.
In a normal home these temperature ranges shouldn’t cause any problems as the fridges and freezers we use are designed to operate in the UK home.
What happens if you place a fridge or freezer in shed, cellar or garage?
If the maximum temperature is exceeded the issue is likely to be that the appliance will struggle to keep the temperature inside down and could be running constantly or at least for longer periods than necessary. This could cause overheating, breakdowns and higher energy bills. If the temperature drops below the minimum stated on the climate rating the appliance may switch off although it’s less clear to me if this is likely to affect a freezer which is designed to keep food at less than 0 degrees.
Many thousands of people do have a refrigeration appliance installed in a garage and most don’t have any problems that they are aware of, particularly with freezers. Fridges and fridge-freezers are more susceptible to issues. As it happens I have my own freezer, and a second fridge in my garage, which is a separate building and gets pretty cold in the winter. They don’t suffer from the problems associated with a combined fridge-freezer that is only fitted with one thermostat in the fridge as described here Freezer defrosted: Can you put a fridge freezer in a garage? (not all fridge freezers have only one stat) because they both have their own independent thermostats.
Condensation
Another issue with refrigeration in a cold room such as a garage or cellar is condensation and black mould. The cool damp air is attracted to the warm parts of the fridge’s outside wall where condensation can form. This is not normally anything to worry about but you may get mould grwoing on the rubber door seal and it can cause a deterioration of the cabinet due to rust.
If the condensation on the door or sides is constantly there, or is present in small patches all of the time, even when it isn’t cold then it could point to a breakdown in the insulation and is greater problem. If the insulation has gone in a certain part of the fridge or freezer cabinet you will be constantly losing cold air from inside the appliance and it will run for longer and use more energy. A breakdown in insulation is usually terminal.
I live in an old, cold house where the kitchen is in a single-storey scullery (there is evidence in the adjoining “breakfast room” room that it originally contained a huge kitchen-range so I guess the “kitchen” functions were once shared between these two rooms). There is no central heating or built-in heating in either room and in the winter I retreat to the “back living room” which has a gas fire.
Last winter, which was the coldest since I moved here, the fridge freezer stopped working properly for a short while but then started up again. In the last couple of days, with the dramatic drop in temperature (coldest November on record?) it has stopped working again – and I finally made the connection with ambient temperature!
I have checked the manual and yes, it does say that it needs to be kept in an environment above 14C (I wish!)
I am trying to find a replacement that has separate controls for the fridge and freezer and climate class SN (I know that, theoretically, that should be no better than my current fridge-freezer when the weather is so cold. However, my current fridge-freezer has coped in previous years when the temperature was certainly below 14C but not as cold as last year or this year.)
I have been looking on the internet for a replacement (the cheaper the better) but info on thermostat controls and climate class does not seem to be included routinely. I have also been trawling charity shops with refurbished “white goods” without success so far.
If anyone could suggest any SN Class Fridge-Freezers with separate controls for fridge and freezer, I would be very grateful!
(If I find that I can be fussy about size then I would go for something up to height 181cm x max width 60cm – if any higher then I need to remove a wall cupboard and if any wider I need to put it in the adjoining room, which would need re-wiring to put a socket on the wall facing
the windows. If I need to, I could get a separate fridge and freezer but, despite the house being huge, the layout, size of windows and paucity of electric outlets means that a lot of the space is difficult to use so a fridge-freezer works very well).
Any advice or info would be very gratefully received!
Oops! Just found this other thread, which has just the sort of recommendations I am looking for :-)
http://www.whitegoodshelp.co.uk/wordpress/climate-classes-for-fridges-freezers-and-fridge-freezers/
Beko fridge freezers are designed to work at sub-zero ambient . As far as I know they are the only ones.
My Bosch fridge freezer is in the unheated but attached garage.
I have no problem with defrosting Freezer set at – 18 and frdge at 4 C.
But freezer compressor seems to run an awful lot even when the door has been closed for some time.
what could cause this, please?
Alan Fox: I too have refrigeration appliances in my attached garage which gets pretty cold although they are all separate and not fridge-freezer combinations. One of my freezers also seems to be running far too much of the time. I’ve never decided if theirs a problem with it, or it’s related to the temperature or if it’s just that modern appliance do run a lot longer than they used to.