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February 20, 2021

Refrigerator in the Garage

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I learned something new at about 1 a.m. this morning and it was all I could do not to call Vince and share it with him. I could be the last to know this . . no .. next to last because I called Vince this morning and he didn’t know it either.

This is why I say “I only know what I know . . I don’t know what I don’t know!” I never knew any of this.

Someone posted in a group last night that their freezer in the garage fridge had gone out. Then someone mentioned that when it gets well below freezing in the garage, the fridge gets colder than the temp thermostat is set to maintain, so the fridge kicks off, or slows down, and the freezer begins to defrost.

Same thing with when it’s super hot in there. The fridge keeps working harder and things start to freeze.

I always assumed it was like the thermostat on the a/c. Set it to 74 . . and it keeps the house at 74 no matte the outside temp.

Here’s more info on this but there’s a lot on the internet.

This does not apply to big freezers – the chest type freezers or big upright freezers.

There’s some kind of gizmo you can buy to put on your fridge – Vince will figure that out, and I’m not even sure it’s available for ALL fridge/freezers. The fridge repairman who was writing last night said it’s very inexpensive and can be done by most people without needing a repairman.

Here’s why this caught my attention. A few days ago, I went to get a package of bacon out of the fridge freezer in the garage and it was halfway defrosted. I assumed I had not closed the freezer door tight, so I brought the bacon in to use. Every time I walked past that fridge, I mashed on the door to be sure it was closed . . and it was.

A day or so later, I went out there to see what I could find to eat and a package of cube steak caught my attention so I grabbed that and it wasn’t frozen solid. Thinking the freezer was going out, I took things that mattered out and put them in the big freezer. A whole chicken was still frozen solid, a container of beef stew was still frozen solid. I left a milk jug in there that I had filled with water for ice if I needed it in a cooler. I also had two gallon bags I had filled with ice cubes in case we ever needed extra ice. I left those two things in there. After reading that article, I went out and looked at the bags of ice and they’re still cubes. I expected to find a bag with one solid piece of ice. I don’t know why it affects some things. The bacon and cube steak were right in the front; the bags of ice were in the back. I wouldn’t know if the jug of ice had melted or not but it was near the front too.

Also, the article said that in the summer when it’s over 100 degrees in the garage, the fridge will start to freeze things in the refrigerator. Our fridge in the garage in Texas . . I hated it because it froze lettuce, kale, carrots. I kept threatening to replace it but it wasn’t an old fridge. Now I know why that was happening.

Growing up in southwest Louisiana, we didn’t have many cold days/nights and though it stayed hot a lot, with tons of humidity, we didn’t have a lot of days over 100 so this just isn’t something I ever learned.

I called my dad, thinking he wouldn’t know that . . and he did! But, he said why aren’t you keeping the heat on?” I said “what heat?” He said “the garage heat.” I don’t have heat in my garage. His garage in Louisiana is heated. I never knew my parents were such wimps! 🙂

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Filed Under: Home & Garden 14 Comments

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  1. Dottie Newkirk says

    February 20, 2021 at 10:36 am

    Interesting – when we knew our temperatures were going to be SO low, we moved our eggs from the garage refrigerator to the house refrigerator. I’m not sure how many things in the refrigerator are frozen, but the milk we had in there is frozen solid.

    Things in the refrigerator freezer haven’t changed (defrosted) – they’re frozen solid.

    Reply
    • Judy Laquidara says

      February 20, 2021 at 11:58 am

      I left water out in the garage and our lowest outside temp was -16 and the water did not freeze, even being close to the garage doors and the furtherest I could put it from the house since I was experimenting.

      Reply
      • Dottie Newkirk says

        February 20, 2021 at 12:43 pm

        Our garage is a stand-alone metal building on a concrete slab and NO insulation. Pretty sure that’s why our stuff in the refrigerator freezer stayed frozen and some of the things in the refrigerator froze, LOL.

        Reply
  2. Phyllis says

    February 20, 2021 at 11:49 am

    When recently buying a chest freezer, some are garage ready and some are not. the sales person was not that great at explaining, but that was first I knew of it.

    Reply
    • Judy Laquidara says

      February 20, 2021 at 11:57 am

      I’ve noticed that and haven’t gotten a great explanation either but when we do buy another one, we will get garage ready. Though in Texas and before in MO, we had freezers in garages and never had problems.

      Reply
  3. Debbie says

    February 20, 2021 at 1:59 pm

    A couple years ago we had to buy a refrigerator for our garage. When I went to Home Depot the salesman told me to get a garage ready refrigerator,,,they are set up just to adjust to the garage temperature fluctuations. I got it, and there are lots of them at the big box stores, you just have to ask. They are even online. I never knew about a difference, but he also said since I was buying a new fridge to replace one that had lasted 31 years that if I bought a residential fridge, and something went wrong, warranty service would most likely be denied, because there is a clause in the warranty about where the fridge is placed, and yes, I checked, the language is there….

    Reply
  4. Linda B says

    February 20, 2021 at 3:42 pm

    We had the same thing happen last weekend to our garage top of fridge freezer. Didn’t lose too much as we had just bought a chest freezer a few months earlier that had the beef in it. We were only into the 20’s at night but didn’t get above freezing during the day for several days. I wish freezers had an alarm to let a person know when something causes it to stop working. Will have to look into what can be done so it doesn’t happen next winter. I recently learned about garage ready fridges also.

    Reply
  5. Cheryl Behning says

    February 20, 2021 at 6:33 pm

    Our “pop & beer fridge in the garage is like that. So, before Thanksgiving it must’ve emptied and wiped out for the winter. Usually goes back into service around tax day. Big inconvenience. It’s newer maybe 3 years old, I was surprised to find out it is normal. Who buys a refrigerator that only works 7 months of the year.

    Reply
    • Judy Laquidara says

      February 20, 2021 at 8:39 pm

      Think about Texas – it freezes from about June – September and then December – February, it thaws. It is crazy but I guess we can’t have everything work like we think it should.

      Reply
  6. Sandi B says

    February 20, 2021 at 7:21 pm

    Our local weatherman posted about that last night. We checked. Everything was thawed. Took care of all of that. A couple of hours later, we took the dogs out. Water was pouring out the garage into the driveway. Turns out the filter had cracked the entire length. Who knew? Not us!

    Reply
    • Judy Laquidara says

      February 20, 2021 at 8:38 pm

      I had asked Vince to put a water line to the fridge in the garage so we could have an ice maker and water from the door and he said NO WAY because of freezing. After the bottled water I had in the garage hadn’t frozen, I was going to make my case again for the water line (which would be just behind the water line to the fridge in the kitchen so not a big deal) but after hearing your story, I think I’ll pass on that idea.

      Reply
  7. Mary E Atchison says

    February 20, 2021 at 8:13 pm

    I didn’t know any of this. I will say that the stuff in my fridge in the garage freezes in the summer. When our temps last week were so stinking cold, the grapefruit cups I had in the garage fridge was frozen to slushy….oh my gosh…so good!!!!

    Reply
  8. Bon says

    February 20, 2021 at 9:32 pm

    Many years ago in Michigan when I bought a small chest freezer for the unattached garage, the salesman told me to get a 25 watt bulb, turn it on, and put it behind the freezer during the winter. It prevented the problem you had.

    Reply
    • Judy Laquidara says

      February 20, 2021 at 10:38 pm

      Thank you! That makes sense. I’ll try that next time.

      Reply

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