can i put refridgerator in unheated garage?

Question

i have an old refridgerator that i want to put in an unheated attached garage. will i have any problems using it or should i just get rid of it. i live in the chicago area. fridge is about 10 years old.

Answer 1

I know of alot of people that put an older fridge in the garage to store extra pop, beer, veggies from their garden and a whole host of items that need to be refridgerated. The fridge will operate just fine being in a unheated garage because it has its own built in insulation. My father has one in his unheated garage and uses it for the reasons I mentioned above. He also stores those little wigglers used for ice fishing in the winter, they are ofcourse in plastice containers. Put a open box of baking soda in the fridge to absorb odors as you would in your house fridge. Its a great idea to try and get some use from things we may be able to use that are out of date, instead of filling our landfills with it. Good Luck.

Answer 2

Yes, but a point to consider>> A ref. t-stat is located inside the fresh food compartment side , where the operating temp. is above freezing(32F)==A good range would be around 37F=39F or so. As you can see==if the surrounding air temp. is below this==then the t-stat will not operate the compressor==things inside the fresh food side will/may freeze. Chicago gets pretty cold in the winter=unheated garages can/may drop below the freezing point thus changing your ref. into a "ice box". Throw a couple heavy blankets over the ref. to help stabilize the temp.inside==should take care of it.

Answer 3

I live in NJ. Our old refrigerator has been out in our garage for over 10 yrs. We rarely had below freezing temps but when we did, it held up fine. Humidity was our problem. The rfg would sweat thus creating mildew on the outside. I washed it down at the end of summer with a bleach cleaner & it was fine.

Answer 4

Don't see why not. Depending on where you live it will work harder in summer and not at all when the weather is cold. Might freeze stuff in the fridge during the winter so you will need to turn the temp up a little during the winter. My house had no heat for two winters and I was freezing stuff all the time in the winter.

Answer 5

Yes. the refrigerator will operate in the garage. One might consider the cost of electricity for the unit and how much will it be used. It may be cheaper to not use the machine.

Answer 6

yes, you can

my mother has had a refrigerator on her back porch for 10 years or longer, she just feels the need to have an extra refrigerator

when it gets below freezing outside do not store anything in it that can not be frozen....cola will freeze and explode...but water will be fine

when having a second refrigerator, it tends to get empty, or it ends up being beer storage
remember to keep if full of bottles of water when it is empty, for energy conservation

Answer 7

You should not have any problem with this. The garage is probably dry so the connection should be okay. As long as the fridge works normally, it shouldn't hurt it.

Answer 8

if the refrigerator which is normally set at about 40 degree F. is in a room at a lower temp. the freezer will not turn on. So the freezer will go to room temp the same as the refrigerator.

Answer 9

it depends on were you live if it gets realy cold in the winter you my need to put a space heater in the garage but it should be fine i have 2 in my garage never had any problems in the winter i put a space heater out thier because it gets realy cold here

Answer 10

You can try. I don't think that a garage actually makes it below freezing much.

I see many answers saying that the contents will freeze. Isn't a refrigerator insulated?