The garage might seem like the ideal out-of-the-way place to park a bulky and unsightly ‘big white box’ appliance. But keeping your freezer in a garage – or an unheated room – could actually cause it to break down.
Why? In a nutshell, freezers work by transferring heat inside the compartment outside. In cold room temperatures, this heat-transfer process can cause condensation on the outside of the freezer. If these water droplets find their way into the freezers’ innards it can damage the insulation, which can cause the appliance to pack up.
Fridge and freezer climate classes
Most of the freezers you can buy simply aren’t designed to work in rooms that get colder than 10°C. All refrigeration appliances have a climate class which tells you the range of room temperatures it’s designed to work in, and 10°C is the absolute lowest on the room-temperature scale (covered by the class ‘SN’).
When you consider that the average UK minimum temperature in February is barely more than 1°C, picturing a chilly garage being less than 10°C is absolutely no stretch for the imagination. Clearly then, this rules out garages and outbuildings as suitable homes for your freezer, and even calls unheated utility rooms into question.
There are exceptions to this rule: Beko says its freezers will work in colder temperatures, and claims that some can withstand room temperatures of down to -15°C.
Keeping your freezer in a garage
However, the obvious question is why do most manufacturers make appliances that aren’t geared up to work in the way people want to use them?
Of course, lots of people have kept freezers in garages for years without any problems. So perhaps the climate class system’s 10°C errs on the safe side, meaning that it might not be much use in the real world. This may or may not be true (and is something we’re looking into), but it’s important to point out that going against the climate class advice and keeping a freezer in an unheated room could invalidate its warranty.
To help us get an idea of whether the 10°C rule has much bearing on real-life experience, I’d really like to hear from anyone who keeps their freezer in a garage. Did you know that doing this might just shorten its shelf-life? Has your freezer ever broken down, or has it been running fine for years?
Do you keep your freezer in your garage?
Yes (84%, 2,180 Votes)
No (16%, 425 Votes)
Total Voters: 2,605
Loading ...
