Freezer

[suelandress]

We're both about as mechanical as.....well, there's nothing less mechanically inclined than hubby and me, so forgive me if this question seems stupid, but....Can we run our freezer in an area that gets below freezing, or will the parts freeze?

[prometheus]

I know people who do it, but I've also heard it's bad for them.

[rikithasta]

My knowledge on freezers is mostly theoretical, but I'd think it mostly depends on what temperatures you're talking about. Negative degree weather might freeze it up, but it won't break it (and you won't have to worry about food defrosting in those temperatures).

I also poked around a bit on a few websites, it seems like the only thing you need to worry about is the thermostat going colder than normal.

So, in most cases I'd have to say you'd be fine.

[green5acres]

I have had an upright in the shed for around 15 yrs. I am in NC and it does go below freezing quite often here. I have never had a problem. Hope this helps!

[ronbre]

check with the manufacturer..older freezers were not designed to run in cold areas..some are..we have one small chest freezer out in a shed..some work well outside some do not..so be careful of the model you coose

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

it is zero ferinhite now here I have one in my garage right now doing just that , it may be bad for them , but i paid nothing for this freezer or the one sitting next to it that isn't running so if it fails prematurly oh well it was already over 25 years old , now that you mention it my wife did say the electric bill was a little high last month so it may well draw more current to start the motor but it is working fine

my neighbor is profesional refrigeration tech for a living , he didn't thing it was a problem

i plugged this one in temporarily after deer season , and it turned out to be less temporary than originaly intended , wife hit a few good sales on frozen vegatables and i scored some beef , we froze a bunch of soup , these thing just happen.

[suelandress]

Thanks guys. Right now, we have it so close to a heat source, that I think it's working harder to freeze stuff. But we're limited on indoor locations for it, save the garage. I guess we'll give it a shot!

[Old Vet]

If it is a manual defrost one it will do fine but if it has automatic defrost then you need it in a heated area.

[suelandress]

It's supposed to be a frost free, but it isn't. Looks like an igloo in there right now.

[highlands]

Older freezers do great in the cold.
Many modern freezers fail in the cold - ironic.
Frigidaire(?) claims to be okay in the cold. I read that in the online manual. No guarantee. It was chest freezers I was looking at.
My 40 or 50 year old chest freezer uses half as much power as my two year old chest freezer of the same size. Very disappoint that the new one is not more efficient.

Cheers

-Walter
Sugar Mountain Farm
Pastured Pigs, Sheep & Kids
in the mountains of Vermont
Read about our on-farm butcher shop project:
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/butchershop
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/csa

[Hank]

I don't know about the freezer, but the stuff inside might freeze!

Hank

http://www.doublemfarmandchuckwagon.webs.com

[Humburger]

Our freezer is in our unheated garage and has been for seven or eight years. No problems.

[FoghornLeghorn]

We have one freezer in the front porch and the other in the back porch. Haven't had any problems so far. Right now it's 5F here and getting colder. I've also heard it's not good for them and want to get them in the basement where it at least stays above freezing but haven't got that far yet.

[Ravenlost]

My mom has always had her freezer on the carport as long as I can remember and I'm 50.

[LFmenagerie]

Our garage is unheated and is about -20 Fahrenheit at this moment. The chest freezer in there has been working just fine for the last five or six years. I wouldn't put a frost-free unit out there, but I expect the one we have to last another 20 years.
Tom

[suelandress]

How about a frost free that isn't?

[Joshie]

We've had ours in the basement for years. Moved and don't have a basement. It's in the garage. My mom has had hers out in the garage for at least 25 years. Hers runs well. I've heard that it's not best to store them outside but it's the only place we have for the freezer. We're in IL and it gets way below freezing here.

[pfaubush]

I asked DH this question (he's an HVACR Tech) and he said it's fine for a freezer, but bad on a heat pump.

[wy_white_wolf]

Originally Posted by suelandress

How about a frost free that isn't?

Depends on why the frost free isn't working.

[suelandress]

LOL. Don't know. Hasn't worked since we bought it new 9 years ago.