We are looking at chest freezers, and have space available in an unheated shack, or porch, but I vaguely remember that this may not be a good idea - or does that just apply to fridge/freezers?
We are in NE Scotland, and the porch gets very cold in winter. Could that be a problem?
Thanks.
It's all about thermostat operation: most fridge-freezers have one thermostat which maintains the fridge at 4 deg or whatever, and the freezer just has to tag along with whatever the fridge decided to do. That's fine in normal house temperatures, but if the ambient temperature goes below 4 deg the thermostat will not cut in, so the freezer part is also not cooled.
Personally I've had a separate fridge and freezer in my garage for years without problems.
David
In message , Lobster writes
Thanks - yes, that is the part that I thought I remembered. The temp. here was -19 last winter, and the unheated porch/shack was about the same temperature. I'm assuming that a standard chest freezer would still function as normal.
The porch is of wooden construction, not brick, so tends not to absorb or hold any heat.
Get one thats rated for that environment temp range, or itll rust away rapidly, and may not work as intended.
NT
You need to be careful with what you buy - only some of those available are suitable for use in outbuildings etc (they usually say in the specs).
What's the issue though, other than the single fridge/freezer thermostat thing?
I just ask, because I can well imagine that 'outbuilding-rated' equipment would cost a packet; wondering whether it's worth it (thinking of my own ebayed garage fridge and freezer which cost pennies and are running fine after years...)
David
When you have a refrigeration system with a compressor in the cold, and some other part of the system warmer (such as indoors), and it isn't running for some time so it gets cold, you have to heat the compressor oil. This stops the refrigerant condensing into it. Don't know if this is likely to be a problem if the whole system is in the cold. OTOH, the oil itself may start waxing up at the sorts of temperatures you are talking about, which might prevent the compressor starting and will reduce the bearing lubrication.
What you could do is make up an external crankcase heater which you attach to the compressor and run it from a froststat in the garage. Don't know if it would be necessary - you'll probably only find out by seeing if it works without one, and without burning out the compressor. I would have thought 5-10W would be enough, attached low down on the compressor.
I have found the climate classes below but none appear to go cool enough for your requirements. You could try enquiring of a commercial freezer supplier.
Freezer climate class
Every freezer has a 'climate class', which tells you the range of room temperatures with which it can cope.
Freezers: Climate class temperatures
Climate class Temperature range (oC) N 16-32 SN 10-32 ST 18-38 T 18-43
it would be interesting to know the temperatures at which waxing etc takes place. All I can add is that I've had a freezer in the cellar for
5 years now, and the ambient temperature range is 0C to 18C, freezer temp -15 to -20C (when I've looked at the thermometer). Never had any problem.If you don't need fairly constant access, putting the freezer in the coldest part of the home seems most sensible anyway.
Rob
I don't know. It can happen in the expansion jet if too much of the lubricant gets into the refrigerant pipework, but that's going to be colder than the normal freezer operating temperature.
In terms of heat loss, yes. However that's not the only factor to consider. Operating them a long way from their design temperature may well reduce efficiency in other ways.
In addition to what others have already mentioned, there are a couple of extra potential problems:
The cold outer skin of the freezer can cause condensation to form, and if this soaks into/through the insulation it can freeze against the inner skin. The ice is not a good insulator, so the compressor has to run more often to try to keep the temperature down.
The way a fridge or freezer operates requires the liquid refrigerant to be in the correct temperature range after it has passed through the heat exchanger. If it's too cold, then it won't evaporate when it gets to the expansion chamber, which means no cooling plus problems for the compressor when it tries to compress liquid.
I ran one in an outhouse along with a tumble drier for 20 years. We left the outhouse door open when the drier was operating, but other than that I never had a problem with either.
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