Summer/winter Fridge performance

Hi. Why would you want it set colder in summer?

Regards, NT

It is because your fridge freezer has a single compressor for the fridge and freezer sections. Because of this, the freezer bit is only freezing when the fridge demands cooling.

In winter, the fridge will hardly need cooling at all if it is set too low. This means the freezer is effectively turned off and will defrost. If you turn the setting up, the fridge will turn on occassionally, ensuring the freezer works. In summer, the opposite happens. At a high setting, the fridge is on almost constantly, meaning the freezer section gets too cold, leading to wear, frosting up and worst of all, rock solid ice cream.

These problems can be fixed by having two compressors, and hence two independent thermostats. This would be found on more expensive (or well designed) models.

Christian.

Is it not due to the difference in ambient temperature affecting the efficiency of the fridge? What I'm getting at is in summer it's easier to vapourise the coolant, so the freezer is more efficient than in winter when it's colder and therefore more difficult to vapourise the coolant. Also from the point of view of a heat-engine, does a greater temperature difference not lead to higher efficiency (e.g. between a 0 deg fridge).

I also remember something about not keeping a fridge or freezer somewhere where it gets cold like garages.

The control is a thermostat, so basically directly sets the fridge temperature. Any changes in efficiency would be handled by changes in duty cycle of the compressor, rather than a change in temperature for a given setting.

Christian.