Chest Freezer in Garage in the Winter - Is this OK?

[Jlems]

Like many of yall, i have a substantial amount of cryovac’d / foodsaver’d meat in our freezer. This is a new situation for us, and we were given the freezer from a friend and have now enough meat that it would be quite terrible if something happened to it all. I’m looking into wireless alerts/therms to alert me if something happens, which will help ease my worries.

But I’m curious if anyone has advice on having a deep freezer in a detached garage during a michigan winter. The garage is insulated but is not heated and any owners manual will tell me this is not great, but I’m guessing people do this anyways. Will I be ok with this, or should I rethink this location?

Thanks!

 

[Whisky]

I've never done it, but there was a recent thread on a hunting forum with the same question, where every person chimed in that they have done it for years without any issues.

 

[mike243]

Yes it will be fine, 0-5 is the normal temps and I have never had to work on 1 for not cooling in the cold, a refridge though might run on fresh food temps and you get in the 40-50 it wont run enuff to keep stuff frozen, had a call last week rats eat the electrical up on a freezer in a out building so there are issues possible

 

[smoke ninja]

I live in Warren. My chest freezer has been in my garage for 5 years with no issue

 

[Mikhail]

We have had a freezer in our garage in Cincinnati area for 25 years. No issues, except when the first one, which was 20 years old when I got it, crapped out finally.

 

[jzadski]

So being on the paranoid side we got one this fall that is garage rated. We have a full size fridge only garage rated too for the wife when she was doing cakes. No issues with that what so ever.

 

[WilliamKY]

If the temperature is below freezing for a substantial amount of time you could probably just unplug the freezer and save money.

 

[dward51]

32 years and not an issue (other than compressor dying of old age and buying a new freezer in 2005).

 

[Titch]

I wished I had put my shed freezer on a plastic pallet.
Sometimes I get water ingress, may not apply to you

 

[Happy Hapgood]

We have the opposite here. +90*F in the garage at times. That is why I will not put a freezer in there. The compressor would run 20 hours a day. Being a retired HVAC guy, I can tell you that the internal thermostat of the freezer is going to try to maintain the proper internal setpoint temp of whatever temp you set it at. For you that means efficiency from it. The freezer will cycle very little during the cold time because of the quick heat removal from the condenser on it.



I would ask what is the coldest temp you expect the space to be? Just for curiosity.


About alarms and such,



1. Poor man's alarm: Take a small Styrofoam cup and freeze water in it. Then set a quarter on top in the center. Make sure you put it in a place where it will not get tipped over in the freezer. Check it once a week. If you go out of town or do not check it for awhile, when you return, look for any melting. The quarter will sink as the ice melts. If it melts halfway down, your meat is still good. If it's on the bottom your meat has thawed even if power comes back on and your meat refreezes.



2. High $$$ alarms. They make scads of them. Do you want Wi-Fi, Bluetooth etc? You can go hospital or meat warehouse on this. I'll just say none of them work without a battery backup in worse case scenario. You can also buy a rig with a siren on it if you go out there enough. It will sound an audible alarm etc.



I like option 1.



I'm seeing efficiency here but not an issue. Just my .02 and good luck!

 

[Mht150]

Live in New Hampshire and have a beer fridge with freezer in the garage (unheated) with no problems. Fridge stays nice and cold and I think the compressor actually runs less in the winter.

 

[billbek]

One of the problems with low ambient temperatures is that the refrigerant will migrate into the oil of the compressor. This will raise the level of the liquid (oil and refrigerant) in the compressor crankcase and could cause liquid slugging on start up.
Leave a 60 watt incandescent trouble light next to the compressor during low temperatures and that bit of heat will keep the refrigerant out of the oil.

I doubt they make crankcase heaters that small for residential stuff but you never know.

 

[jasonjax]

I have been very happy with this product for monitoring my freezer. Between the venison from the deer I take during hunting season, some wagyu stuff, and vacuum sealed leftovers from all my BBQ, losing the freezer (which we did due to my significant other not shutting it in 90+ weather) sucks both mentally and finacially.

https://www.sensorpush.com/

 

[thirdeye]

I'm in Wyoming and have both a fridge and a freezer in the garage with no issues. You might want check your homeowners insurance policy. Mine has a freezer failure clause and it pays a flat rate of $1200 or $1500 for contents.

 

[gcs]

You won't have a problem, at least down to zero....

 

[Mikhail]

interesting point about insurance coverage. I will have to investigate that.

 

[robertm]

Was about to recommend the sensorpush. I've got it down on my Christmas wish list. I like that it lets me know via my phone whenever I'm in bluetooth range. Will install on both my and the wifes phone. That will cover us pretty well.

 

[thirdeye]

interesting point about insurance coverage. I will have to investigate that.

Mrs ~t~ thought the food spoilage coverage was less than my guesstimate above ↑↑↑, maybe I was confused with the drain back-up damage. I do recall several goofy add-ons, like for $20 that bump the standard coverage.

 

[jzadski]

We are a bit gun shy since we have a fridge/freezer mess up in the winter for us before. Fridge froze and freezer thawed.

 

[Dweverett]

I've had an old upright in the garage for at least the 17 years we've lived in this house. Probably horribly inefficient based on it's age (more than 17) and the environment in the summer. That said, never had an issue that wasn't caused by someone (mostly kids) not closing it.