[Fridge in a garage]a plain-English guide

A fridge or freezer in a garage, outhouse or unheated utility is a very British arrangement and it produces a very predictable complaint: it works all summer and then the freezer starts thawing in January. That is not a fault, and the reason is counterintuitive enough to be worth explaining. A fridge does not make cold. It moves heat out of the cabinet into the room, and it decides how hard to work by reading a thermostat. Whirlpool put the consequence plainly in their garage FAQ: if temperatures are lower than 40°F, about four degrees, your thermostat may not allow the appliance to turn on. On a fridge freezer with one compressor the thermostat that decides is usually in the fridge compartment, so when a cold room satisfies it the freezer stops getting cold too — that mechanism is our explanation rather than a manufacturer's, but the outcome is Samsung's, whose manual warns that frozen contents can thaw or the frozen food compartment can become too warm if the appliance is sited for an extended period where ambient temperatures are constantly below those it is designed for. The result is a freezer that thaws while the room outside it is close to freezing. The designed range is the climate class on the rating plate.

Samsung print the table from the standard, IEC 62552: SN, extended temperate, plus ten to plus thirty-two; N, temperate, plus sixteen to plus thirty-two; ST, subtropical, plus sixteen to plus thirty-eight; T, tropical, plus sixteen to plus forty-three. Beko publish the same SN and N ranges and give ST as plus eighteen to plus thirty-eight, the older standard's figure. Nothing in that table goes below plus ten, which is why Beko say plainly that traditional freezers have a minimum ambient temperature requirement of ten degrees and are not recommended below it, and that their larder fridges and static fridge freezers should ideally be somewhere ten degrees and above. LG publish warnings at both ends and give them as warnings rather than errors. Their Lo warning means the ambient temperature has dropped below minus ten degrees, and their HI warning means it has risen above plus fifty, and in both cases their published statement is that the product will not function optimally in an environment with such temperatures. Neither is a malfunction and there is no repair; the answer is where the appliance is.

Some manufacturers sell garage-rated models specifically for this. Beko's Freezer Guard range is the best-known UK example, published as suitable for ambient temperatures down to minus fifteen, and Beko say most of their frost-free fridge freezers can go as low as that too, with the instruction to check the manual or the specification for the particular model. And heat is a problem too: a fridge crammed into a cupboard with no clearance, or standing in a conservatory in August, has nowhere to put the heat it removes and will run continuously without ever getting cold enough. Whirlpool give 100°F, about thirty-eight degrees, as the point above which the appliance runs more and becomes less efficient.

1. 1

   Find the climate class on the rating plate inside the appliance. SN means plus ten to plus thirty-two, N plus sixteen to plus thirty-two, ST up to plus thirty-eight and T up to plus forty-three, so no standard class covers a British garage in winter.

2. 2

   Check whether the problem tracks the weather. A freezer that thaws in cold snaps and behaves all summer is telling you it is the room rather than the appliance.

3. 3

   Give it clearance. Air has to get to the back and away from it, and the gaps in the installation instructions exist for that rather than for looks.

4. 4

   Clean the condenser at the back if it is accessible and dusty, with the appliance unplugged. It is the part that gets rid of the heat, and a blanket of dust on it is the same as putting the fridge somewhere hotter. Samsung publish this as an owner job: unplug, remove the rear access panel at the bottom and vacuum the dust off the fan and compressor with a brush attachment.

5. 5

   If it has to live in a garage, move it somewhere heated or replace it with a garage-rated model. There is no repair for an appliance being in the wrong room.