Beer fridge in garage is freezing drinks
Not sure this is a valid BT question, but I’m guessing someone will have an idea or 2….
We have an Amana fridge (circa 1993) with freezer on top in the attached garage for beer, drinks and surplus food storage. This winter, anything non-alcoholic in the fridge section has been freezing. This has led to some nasty Coke and Sprite explosions. This is the second winter the fridge has been out there. I don’t recall similar problems last year, although the weather wasn’t as cold last year.
The garage is well insulated and has heated living space above it and to one side. I am in central CT and we have had a very cold winter, but I don’t think it gets that cold in there (I have not actually measured ambient temp on cold days). I have fridge section temp control set to lowest (warmest) option.
Any thoughts on why this might be happening? Many thanks.
Replies
Rick,
I am 400 miles south of you and last Friday night the temp in my attached garage, very similar to yours, was around 28 degrees. It was around 15 outdoors. So .... the first thing you might want to do is verify the actual temp in the garage. Is anything else frozen ... stuff not in the fridge ? It only stayed that cold here for one night, but I imagine if it was like that for a few days stuff would definitely be frozen here too.
Bill Koustenis
Advanced Automotive Machine
Waldorf Md
Edited 1/25/2009 1:27 pm ET by MrBill
The problem is your drinks have insufficient alcohol content.
I was thinking the same, ditch the Bud Light and stick to some finer German or Czech brews.
Obviously being stored to long. Get some breaktimers over there!
Mike
Small wheel turn by the fire and rod, big wheel turn by the grace of god.
I suspect it's getting below freezing in the garage. Not only does that cause the drinks to freeze, it can cause the compressor to burn out.
Of course, even if the temp isn't getting below freezing in the garage, the freezer section is apt to call for cooling (to keep it near zero) when the fridge section doesn't need it (because the outside temp is in the low 30s). The damper will be closed between the two, but the fridge section will still get enough of the cold to drop it several degrees.
could the door seals be bad , causing the ridge to constantly work . temp set correct , something jamming door open
Believe it or not, a plain old fridge is not made to work in low ambient conditions. Your fridge will not keep the interior temp above freezing if it gets cold enough outside of the appliance.
Gladiator Garage Works offers a model that will... it lists out for just under $1k.
Might be other commercial offerings.
I'll take two!
So, what is the lowest temp that a fridge should be run at?
Bryan"Objects in mirror appear closer than they are."
Klakamp Construction, Findlay, Ohio - just south of the Glass City
what is the lowest temp that a fridge should be run at?
The owner's manual for my Frigidaire says 60º. YMMV.Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
So setting my room temp back to 55 deg would not be a good thing?
I doubt that there are any refrigerators that can't handle 55F, even if the spec sheet says 60.
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. -John Kenneth Galbraith
I routinely would turn my stat back to 55 and on cold nights it would reach that temp and my fridge always seem to work fine. Never had a problem. Maybe at cooler temps inside, the fridge may have never had a need to turn on? I've never heard of a fridge not working in cooler temps (notwithstanding the OPs question/situation).
Around here people learn to not keep fridges and freezers in their garage fairly quickly -- they commonly burn out in the first winter.
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. -John Kenneth Galbraith
How 'bout just keeping a cooler, throw some ice in once in awhile. Makes it harder for the warden to keep an accurate beer count, as well.
setting my room temp back to 55 deg would not be a good thing?
Only versus the warrantee on my fridge <g>Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
Capn.The Frigidaire top freezers can have a part put in to control the compressor/cold temp problem....costs over $100.Here in Dallas it can occasionally happen, but not often.Pete
Probably about 45 is a practical number. Below 40 and I think you could have problems, even if the compressor still likes it.
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. -John Kenneth Galbraith
My Kenmore fridge has the opposite problem. If it gets really cold, i.e way below freezing like we have now, the thermostat must get confused. It doesn't keep the stuff in the freezer frozen. I've come out to find items such as ice cream or frozen waffles defrosted. Meats that were thoroughly frozen are still usually frozen (due to their dense mass I guess) and can outlast the intermittent "defrost".
If it is WAY BELOW FREEZING where the unit is the frozen food will stay frozen.It depends on the unit that you have, but commonly there is only one thermostat and it controls the refrigerator side.If ambinate temperature is low then the refrigerator does not need to run and the freezer will slowing warm up..
William the Geezer, the sequel to Billy the Kid - Shoe
It depends on the unit that you have
True enough. The thermocouple in the freezer has normally been used to regulate when the compressor runs. Which is logical, inside most houses, the freezer section is more likely to need cooling before the fridge section. Out in a freezing garage, that's going to be less likely the case.
But, the fun likely occurs when the no-frost kicks in. That's a heated wire, IIRC in the freezer compartment designed to get the temp just high enough to melt away accumulated frost, then shut off.
Could be a difficult sequence, defrost cycles, compressor does not.
Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
Probably no lower than 55*F... no spec sheets in front of me.
get rid of the Coke..... buy more 'Gansett
If the garage is below freezing the stuff inside the fridge will freeze - plain and simple.
When I did homebrew, I kept the fridge at the desired temp by disableing the light switch for the light inside the fridge. In otherwords, the light waas always on. Even a 25w bulb was enough to keep the contents from freezing.
- Paul
Have you tried sitting a can of coke on the floor next to the fridge? That would be a good measure of whether it is getting cold enough to freeze everything out there. If it is, then you can start following the advice of the other posters about trying to run a fridge in a too-cold place.