Freezer or Fridge kept in a none airconditioned

[Lavndrgrl]

garage, shed, or unfinished house. Who all has done this or is doing this without any problems? My husband and I are moving into our unfinished house which has an attic that is insulated and all the outer walls are on with the outside hardy board and inside osb but no insulation or sheet rock up yet on the outer ones yet. We have electricty but no ac for a while. The house actually stays pretty cool. Is there any harm in us hooking up the fridge and deep freeze even though it is not ac controlled yet?

Sorry meant to put non airconditioned in the title.

Blessings,
LG

[suitcase_sally]

It would help to know where you are. Finish your profile.

[Backfourty,MI.]

I keep a upright freezer and also a refrigerator/freezer in our garage(not insulated or heated/air conditioned. The old freezer run's fine out there year around but for some reason I can't use the fridge/freezer during the real cold months here or the fridge freezes everything & the freezer thaws everything. Can't figure that one out other than it's a newer model.

[GoldenMom]

I have the same issue Backforty,MI! I was hoping it was because my fridge *isn't* a newer model-guess not. My freezers work great all year around and the fridge is fine in the spring/summer/fall.

[oz in SC V2.0]

We had a fridge and a freezer in our little shed in the backyard,both worked okay although the fridge did like to freeze things.

We have now moved the fridge up to our place in WNC so we no longer have to use ice chests.

I believe it should be fine.

[arabian knight]

What is the difference then a soda machine standing on the outside that is a refrigerator, and say an chest in front of a store selling bags of ice? They all have insulated cabinets both have compressors, as well as any home frig or freezer.
The only difference is the Soda machine standing outside in very cold weather has a Heater that comes on, if the temps drops below freezing inside the cabinet enough to freeze the soda cans.

[Willowdale]

Good to know. I plan to keep a chest freezer on the screened in porch. Zone 7b/8, so not too bad a winter, but it does freeze often enough.

I'm planning to keep it stocked with popsicles when I have grandchildren :-)

[beaglebiz]

my understanding is it has to do with the cold on the outside, throws the freezer into defrost. My mom has this problem with a freezer in her garage, and one year we had a fridge on our enclosed deck...same problem

[Stephen in SOKY]

I keep both in my essentially unheated shop & they work fine. If I were buying specifically for outdoor, I'd look at manual defrost freezers as they're supposed to be superior in that application.

[Old Swampgirl]

I keep both in an unac/un heated room in the heat & humidity of South Louisiana. Just got new ones after many yrs. Had trouble with rust on the outside finish, which didn't bother me & lots of mold & mildew on the door gaskets, which wouldn't have been so bad it I would have cleaned it more often. You should leave extra space around the units for air to circulate, if you have the space to spare.

[Kathy in MD]

If I can survive in my non-air-conditioned house …I’m sure my frig and freezer can thrive…

[Beltane]

I'm not sure where you are, but we've kept one of our freezers out in the barn for a few years now. It is protected there...but we do go through quite the temperature changes here!

[culpeper]

I've never had air-conditioning in my life, and I've never had a problem with fridge or freezer. Of course, in the heat of a subtropical summer, they have to work a bit harder to keep the food at the right temperature, and that increases the electricity bill a bit, but I can cope with that. It's balanced by the fact that the thermostat can be turned down a notch or two in winter.

There IS life without air-conditioning, you know!

[Callieslamb]

We kept both of our freezers in a unheated/un AC-ed shop. They did just fine. We were zone 6/7. I am sure it cost us more to keep things frozen in the summer than if they were in a place with AC. the only problem I had was mold growing on the seal around the door. YUCK.

[Old Vet]

If they are manual defrost you will be fine but if they are automatic defrost you may be in trouble during the winter. My freezer is a manual defrost and it is on the back porch and does fine.

[Ravenlost]

My mom has no air conditioning (never has) and her fridge is fine. One of her freezers is in the carport which is open on the East and South side and one freezer in her unheated utility room. She's had this set-up over 30 years and the heat/cold (she's in zone 7) has never been a problem.

Wanted to add that her fridge and freezer are all manual defrost.

I have a self defrost fridge in my uninsulated garage and have no problems (also in zone 7). It's been there five years now and is a really old fridge. We keep it on the lowest settings and use it for overflow on holidays and for drinks in the summer (keep two liters of ice in the freezer section for emergencies).

[Ruby]

We are in NE Texas and have both refridgerator and chest type freezer in an uninsulated shed with a tin roof. Have no problems. The refridgerator is a self defrost but the freezer is a manuel defrost.

We quit using the air conditioner back in '05. We live in a silver aluminum trailer. It gets really hot in the summer and we have no problem with our refridgerator.

[Lavndrgrl]

Thanks everyone I appreciate your words back. DH and I live in the deep south of MS but it wont get really hot till about June and hopefully we will have a little more done in the house. We are hoping it is only temporarly. We have a portable ac unit just in case but were mainly going to use it in the the bedroom were we will do most of our living for now.

Blessings,
LG

[Micheal]

Here in NY I've had freezers and an old refridgerator (drink cooler) in the garage with no problems in them running ever since we moved in in 1971. The freezer now is going on 15+ years. Of course I do have to say they do run harder in the summer and hardly at all in the winter though... who woulda thought!

[turtlehead]

I kept a chest freezer in the garage around Macon, GA and it was fine even in the summer time. The winters don't get very cold there so the freezer never thawed the food in the winter.