If your fridge-freezer has developed a fault where the freezer has defrosted, or is not getting cold enough and it’s in a garage, and the temperature is very cold, it could just be that it isn’t suitable for putting in a garage. A surprising number of fridge-freezers in the UK end up in a garage or in an outbuilding. However, did you know that many are not capable of running properly if the temperature surrounding the appliance drops too low?
When winter comes, many people find that their freezer starts to defrost. However, it’s also possible for unrelated faults to cause the freezer part of a fridge freezer to defrost or not get cold enough, so don’t automatically assume the cause is as described in this article. All refrigeration has what’s called a climate class rating, which states the minimum and maximum temperature the appliance is designed to work within. I believe the overwhelming majority of consumers have never heard of climate class so surely its the responsibility of retailers to advise customers about it when selling refrigeration?
Which fridge freezers can defrost in a garage?
It’s combined fridge-freezers. If a combined fridge freezer has only one thermostat (or sensor), which is sited inside the fridge section, it is likely to be affected by this problem. If the ambient temperature of the room it’s placed in gets to around freezing, then the fridge thermostat is likely to shut off. When this happens on appliances with only one thermostat the freezer also shuts off. If the temperature remains cold for several hours then the fridge thermostat will not come back on.
It doesn’t need to because inside the fridge compartment will be plenty cold enough. In really cold weather it is possible for the fridge thermostat to stay off for a long time. Whilst ever the thermostat for the fridge remains off the compressor will stop running and the freezer will eventually start to warm up, at least to roughly the ambient temperature of the garage, which although cold, is not cold enough for frozen food.
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As a rule of thumb I would say that if you can set separate temperatures for your fridge and the freezer section I would assume there are separate thermostats controlling the freezer and therefore this issue shouldn’t affect your appliance. (Article continues below..)
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What about chest freezers?
Chest freezers should not suffer from this specific issue because they have their own thermostatic control and do not try to control the temperature of two separate compartments. However, if the temperature in the garage significantly exceeds that of its climate class it can’t be guaranteed to work without any issues. Also, if there is little ventilation and or condensation it can cause premature rust and even damage to components inside. I have seen many chest freezers in garages over the years that seem to fair reasonably ok although modern ones may not be so well built.
Is this a bad design? – Problems below 10 degrees?
Manufacturers would say they design them to be installed in a kitchen. However, to me it does seem less than ideal to rely on only one sensor or stat to control two different parts of the appliance (just to save money). Many fridge freezers do have separate stats. As saving money is the only possible advantage I can think of it’s therefore presumably more likely to affect the cheaper range of fridge freezers.
Also, there are reports that many refrigeration appliances are not guaranteed to work properly if temperatures drop below 10 degrees centigrade. I would imagine many people have appliances in parts of their homes and even in some kitchens where the temperature can drop below 10 degrees during the night or – what about when on holiday in the winter when the heating may be left off or on low enough only to prevent freezing? If an appliance is installed in a kitchen and temperature drops during the night or holiday periods cause it problems I would say that’s a design issue. You cannot be expected to keep the heating on 24/7 to keep an appliance running. However, if installed in an out building or garage I would think you have much less of a claim other than why weren’t you asked at the point of sale where you would be installing the appliance?
What can be done about it?
A fridge freezer with only one thermostat operating inside the fridge compartment is not suitable to run in a particularly cold environments. If affected you need to either exchange it for a fridge freezer with two thermostats controlling the fridge and freezer independently, or swap it for a separate fridge and freezer, or you need to somehow stop the environment from getting below 4 °C (which is likely to be impractical).
Do I have any comeback if my fridge freezer doesn’t work in my garage?
The short answer is probably not, at least not with the manufacturer, you have placed it in an environment it is not designed for. If it was me I might be annoyed though that the person I bought it from did not enquire as to whether I intended to place it in a garage or not. I would argue this problem is in no way common public knowledge, but most retailers are well aware of it because they get called out to them all the time.
All manufacturers and aftersales engineers also know about this issue because they too get called out lots of times under guarantee and have to tell the customer there’s no “fault” on the appliance and it’s not covered under guarantee. Some might say it’s the responsibility of the shop you bought it from to advise at the point of sale that it is not suitable for fitting in a garage or other outbuilding because the companies (not necessarily individual sales staff) know that so many people place them there. I don’t know whether trading standards would agree or not.
At one time, Comet, one of the largest UK retailers of such appliances carried out a survey where they found that around 15% of call outs to fridge freezers were caused by them being placed incorrectly in a garage or another building subject to very cold temperatures. This being the case, I would have thought it common sense for all their sales staff to be instructed to ask any customer buying such a fridge freezer where they intended to site it but they never were. This is not only in the customer’s interest but in the interest of the retailer as any customer affected by this problem is likely to be pretty upset about it.
At the end of the day it’s unlikely that any retailer is legally obliged to check on these matters but personally I believe they should because it’s very common for people to site fridge freezers in their garage and they should know that.
If affected, is my appliance damaged, or will it recover if moved to somewhere warmer?
If the freezer is defrosting due to the room being so cold it switches off the thermostat inside the fridge – and the fridge freezer is only controlled with one thermostat in the fridge (no stat or sensor in the freezer) then no damage should be inflicted. The freezer has only stopped working because the fridge stat has stopped working. Once temperatures increase it should work normally again. However, make sure you don’t wrongly assume this is the cause of a defrosting freezer as of course faults can occur causing freezers to stop working too.
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Could a fridge-freezer start to defrost in a kitchen during winter months if the heating isn’t on?
This question has been asked a few times and I am presuming yes, there could be a problem if you have a fridge-freezer with only one thermostat controlling both the fridge and freezer and you go away on holiday when its cold. I’m not sure how most people do it, but normally when we go away we leave the heating off but we’ve never gone away in winter. If you went away and didn’t leave the heating on low (say around 14 – 15 degrees) then potentially during prolonged cold periods if the ambient temperature in the kitchen drops low enough (around 0 – 4 degrees C or colder) the fridge thermostat or sensor is likely to shut off as the temperature in the fridge becomes cool enough.
This won’t be an issue for the contents of the fridge because of course it’s reached the correct temperature. But if the freezer compartment is also controlled by the stat inside the fridge then this will stop the freezer coming on too. Therefore if the temperature remained cold enough to not require further cooling inside the fridge compartment then freezer compartment will not get any further cooling and after sufficient time has passed will start to thaw out.
The chances are if this did occur then unless you have an appliance with a warning light or sound to indicate the temperature of the freezer has warmed up enough to adversely affect the quality of the frozen food you might not realise the food has partially defrosted compromising its quality. My advice would be that if you think you could be affected then if any food inside the freezers seems a little off when you thaw it out to use then throw it away. If you do have a fridge freezer that sounds or displays a warning if the temperature has been compromised you should assume the food has been partially defrosted even if it is rock solid when you come back.
Nutella says
The fridge I purchased from Comet stops working in my drafty kitchen in winter when the ambient temperature falls below 14 Deg C. Trading Standards told me fridges in the UK are expected to work down to 16 Deg C ambient but not necessarily below that. So I’m expected to use an additional heater to keep my kitchen warmer than 16 Deg C, 24 hours a day, every day from October to March, just so the fridge stays WARM enough to keep working!? Does anyone know of a manufacturer making fridges / fridge-freezers for Climate Class where minimum temerature is lower than SN, 10 Deg C-32 Deg C???
Washerhelp says
Nutella: SN class should work down to 10 degrees. What class is yours?
It’s only class N, ST & T that only work down to 16 or 18 degrees.
Climate Classes for fridges, freezers and fridge-freezers
Nutella says
Very informative website! Thank you for your quick response! Problems with the fridge I bought from Comet have lead me to research the subject. The concern is that my drafty kitchen gets very cold – only 2 Deg C in January this year, brrr! So whether the current fridge is class SN or N won’t matter because neither can cope with such low temperatures. I’m looking for a fridge that can cope most of the time, say down to 6 Deg C but I haven’t been able to find any capable of operating at less than 10 Deg C. Any suggestions?
From your other articles it seems that a larder fridge would be more likely to keep working in low ambient temperatures, rather than one with a 4* ice box / freezer compartment?
Washerhelp says
Hello Nutella. The issue raised in this article relates to fridge freezers with only one thermostat in the fridge, where if the fridge compartment turns off because the ambient temperature of the room is cold the side effect is that the freezer compartment also stops working and can partially defrost. This is because such an appliance only has one compressor pumping the coolant around and it stops running when the fridge thermostat shuts off.
If you are talking of a fridge unit only, what problems are you experiencing? If it’s class SN it should operate OK down to 10 degrees Centigrade. However, I have to confess I’m unsure why a fridge, who’s sole purpose is to reduce the temperature inside to between 0 and 5 degrees centigrade should stop working if the temperature of the room is between 5 and 10 degrees C.
I can understand the issues at the top end of the temperature range. I can understand it struggling to work in a very hot environment, but I would have thought maintaining an internal temperature of 0 – 5 degrees would be assisted by the outside temperature being say 8 degrees, not hindered.
On the other hand, when the temperature in your kitchen is only 2 degrees then presumably your fridge doesn’t even need to be on. Have you used a fridge thermometer to observe the temperature inside when it is cold in the kitchen?
My article How are fridges and freezers affected by the room temperature? points out that a fridge would normally only stop running if the temperature drops to around only a few degrees. In this situation though I would have thought it wouldn’t be a problem unless it was a fridge freezer with only one thermostat in the fridge because the freezer would then stop working.
Anyone wanting to run a fridge freezer in a garage should ensure it has separate thermostats for the fridge and freezer, or buy separate fridge and freezers to reduce this problem.
Nutella says
Hello Washerhelp, My fridge is Climate Class N but that wasn’t included in the product info in the store, and when complaining to their Store Manager, he confessed he wasn’t aware of it!
As you quite rightly pointed out, the freezer compartment of my fridge defrosts when the fridge cuts out because they share a common thermostat and compressor, although like you, I would have thought that cooler ambient temperatures (but not below 5 Deg C) would help a fridge dissipate heat energy?!
I agree that when the temperature in the kitchen is 5 Deg C or less, I don’t need a fridge BUT I need to keep my food below 5 Deg C when the ambient temperature is higher. According to MET Office data, the AVERAGE temperature for South East England during 2008 was 11 Deg C. Do you know of a Climate Class which goes down to 6 Deg C, or which manufacturers provide fridges that can operate down to 6 Deg C?
Washerhelp says
Thanks for clarification Nutella: In comment #4 you kept referring to “fridge” so I became confused about which appliance you had problems with.
As far as I’m concerned the idea of having a fridge=freezer controlled only by one thermostat seems bizarre. I’m assuming it’s only on cheaper fridge freezers as it’s only advantage I can imagine is saving money on a second thermostat or sensors for the freezer section.
Your particular issue hinges on whether it’s reasonable to expect that a fridge freezer installed in a kitchen should work properly even if the heating isn’t on. What if you go away on holiday for a fortnight in winter and the heating is (quite reasonably) turned off? This would mean potentially all your food in the freezer could defrost.
I would think it’s possible this isn’t reasonable, or that a fridge freezer so designed is possibly not fit for its purpose – particularly a class N. Is it reasonable for a manufacturer of fridge freezers to expect your kitchen to never drop below 16 degrees? (in the case of a class N appliance).
You would need to seek the advice of the consumer people Consumer Advice Guide to get an opinion. Please keep us informed.
Nutella says
Hi Washerhelp, You’ve hit the nail on the head here – it is totally unreasonable for an appliance designed for use in the UK and on sale here, to be incapable of operating at temperatures below 16 Deg C when the average temperature for the region is only 11 Deg C. It is definitely NOT fit for purpose in the UK! I’ve e-mailed Consumer Direct with all the details and I’m waiting to hear back from them. This issue has made me so angry its been really good to receive your feedback, help and advice, to give my arguement better structure. Thank you so much!
Washerhelp says
Thanks Nutella. Please keep us informed of developments.
Washerhelp says
Thanks for the feedback Nutella: Consumer Direct are there to advise us. I’m not sure they take up many specific cases unless they are test cases or big ones. They wouldn’t have advised you to write to head office if they didn’t think you had a case.
I understand your thoughts about taking on a large retailer without more direct help. That’s probably how most people feel and is why most people give up. BBC Watchdog may help though they are likely to be interested only if it makes good TV, is a safety issue or affects a lot of people.