Common Issues With Garage Refrigerators

While it is a big convenience to have extra storage space for beer or snacks, it is generally not recommended to keep a refrigerator in your garage or other non-temperature controlled space. Yet, while not recommended, tons of people do it anyway. The reason it is not recommended is that it is pretty hard on the appliance and can lead it to an early trip to the junk pile.

When you keep a refrigerator in a garage or a shed space, it is usually subject to just slightly better temperatures than the outdoor temperature. This means when it gets up in those high summer temperatures, your refrigerator has to combat that in order to keep the food stored inside cool. As a garage refrigerator is typically an older model, it can struggle. The higher temperatures place more pressure on the condenser and motor. Obviously, this also means higher energy bills, but it means a dramatically short lifespan as well. You may think a garage refrigerator will go out on you because it is older, but it is likely because the working parts were just placed under more stress. Most often, you will find that the motor on a garage refrigerator is most likely to go out in the summer as it struggled to keep the interior cool until it just couldn’t anymore.

There are two things you can do to help keep your garage refrigerator working if you already have one. The best thing you can do is to keep it full. This way it will not have to work as hard because of the food or items inside store cool air. However, if you only have a sparse few things inside it, it may be best just to unplug your garage refrigerator until you need it. It is better than just letting it eat up energy and potentially wearing itself into the ground.