Freezer

[Steve Maskery]

I have two fridge-freezers, one in my kitchen and a smaller one currently standing in my conservatory.
The latter is a cheap and cheerful Beko something-or-other which I bought when I became, er, Independent, about 6.5 years ago.
The light comes on but it no longer freezes stuff very well. The contents are frozen, yes, but only just. Some of the fruit is squidgy, but I would expect that as it is the leftovers of making rhubarb gin and blackberry whisky, so it is stuffed full of alcohol (makes a great filling for a pie, I can tell you).
The conservatory is unheated, so it's quite chilly out there. I've not measured the temperature, but let us say that it is only a few degrees above freezing. Is that going to affect the operation of the freezer? The radiator on the back is not at all warm to the touch as I would expect.
It's not a power problem, the light comes on.
Do I have a defunct freezer?
All advice welcome.
S

 

[dc_ni]

Managed to find this Steve, it says that if you keep a fridge freezer somewhere cold the freezer might not keep stuff frozen:

But supposing your kitchen is unheated, or if you move the fridge-freezer to an unheated garage, and the outside temperature falls to 2C, say? In that case, there is no reason for the fridge thermostat to demand any further cooling. So your milk, cheese and lager will remain nicely chilled, but your lamb chops, fish fingers and frozen peas in the freezer compartment will warm up to 2C. In other words, they will start to thaw out.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/...82/Can-fridges-and-freezers-get-too-cold.html

 

[Rorschach]

The fridge freezer may not be coping well with the cold temps, most will have a min working temperature.

 

[Steve Maskery]

Thank you both. Not really what I wanted to hear, but it makes sense, sort of.
So I just need a bit of warmer weather to get my stuff cold! Bonkers.

 

[Brandlin]

Nominally a domestic freezer runs at around -15 to -20C. If yours is only just below freezing I would guess thats not ideal and may(?) have an effect on the longevity of the contents?

A refrigerator (and freezer) is basically a heat pump. It creates a differential in temperature between the ambient temp and the interior temp. So if your unheated conservatory is 'quite chilly' then your freezer really isn't doing very much work. It might be that the temp sensor in the unit is failing so shuts off.

There's not a lot in a freezer that can go wrong. Most typically you get a motor/pump failure where its probably simpler on a cheap unit to replace the whole freezer. Or you get a coolant leak. Evaporating coolant means that you dont get the same expansion and condensation of the fluid which provides cooling. If the motor and pump are still running ok then this is your most likely option.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Yes, they work on heat exchange and are not recommended to be used in cold areas.

 

[Brandlin]

Managed to find this Steve, it says that if you keep a fridge freezer somewhere cold the freezer might not keep stuff frozen:

But supposing your kitchen is unheated, or if you move the fridge-freezer to an unheated garage, and the outside temperature falls to 2C, say? In that case, there is no reason for the fridge thermostat to demand any further cooling. So your milk, cheese and lager will remain nicely chilled, but your lamb chops, fish fingers and frozen peas in the freezer compartment will warm up to 2C. In other words, they will start to thaw out.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/...82/Can-fridges-and-freezers-get-too-cold.html

You need to read that article carefully, the quote you make from it is specifically for fridge freezers where there is only one sensor in the fridge compartment, so the cold ambient temperture shuts off the cooling because the fridge is cold enough but the freezer warms up!

Thats not the case with just a freezer which steve says he has.

Yes there are class limits (as the article states), but many many people operate a freezer in an unheated garage or outbuilding for years. I've done so for 20+ years through some bad winters without a failure. The ambient temperature matters to a freezer because if it is too low then it can cause the refrigerant to fail to evaporate and condense correctly, or more likely the exposed coils and electronics can be subject to condensation problems.

If your freezer WAS working and now isn't i would suggest its a failure rather than the current temps. Best way to tell - move it somewhere warm for a day.

 

[RogerP]

So you'll just have to heat the conservatory so the freezer can work. :? :shock:

 

[Steve Maskery]

It's a fridge-freezer.

 

[Brandlin]

My apologies for misreading your intial post. :-(

 

[Sideways]

Intuitively it sounds more like a problem with the appliance than where it is. As previous poster said, freezers are very commonly placed in outbuildings and work fine. My father had one there for years without issue.

If I remember, fridges and freezers work like this ...
There's a thermostat inside the appliance.
Inside temp gets too high, thermostat switches on the pump (motor / compressor),
Refrigerant is compressed from vapor to liquid by the pump, making it hot,
It passes through the cooling grid on the back of the appliance where the cold ambient temperature does a great job of cooling it down.
Refrigerant carries on to the interior cooling coils, where it absorbs heat from the food and cools the inside of the fridge or freezer, the heat absorbedfrom the inside of the appliance vaporises the refrigerant.
Pump compresses it again and round we go until the thermostat says cold enough inside and switches off the pump.

Freezers etc have a hard time in hot weather when the warm ambient does a poor job of cooling the fins at the back. In cold weather I'd expect it to work efficiently, the pump shouldn't need to run as much.

If you had a refrigerant leak, that would explain the poor performance. The motor would run all the time without it getting properly cold inside. Or a failed thermostat might never be turning on the motor. Or a break in the electrical wiring, or the motor has failed .... You have proved that the power is there and reaching the light but it may not be reaching the motor.

 

[CHJ]

It's a fridge-freezer.

Often seen this with basic single pump fridges with small internal freezer compartment in outbuildings and unheated utility rooms, only wants the temp to drop below or close to the 4-5 deg, fridge threshold for the pump to stop running.

 

[Duncan A]

Some cheap fridge freezers have only one compressor with a single control circuit which starts only when the fridge demands cooling, and the freezer is then cooled at the same time as the fridge. Steve, if your f-f is of this type, it may well be a low ambient temperature that is preventing it from running.
Better quality fridge freezers have two control circuits which will monitor both spaces and start the compressor when required by either the fridge or the freezer, and direct the refrigerant to the appropriate evaporator grid.
Try heating the conservatory, or opening the fridge door and blowing hot air in. If that starts the compressor and cools down the freezer, there's nothing wrong and I would suggest relocating the f-f to your holiday home in the south of France!
Duncan
Edit: CHJ has just said much the same thing as me , but with far fewer words.

 

[AndyT]

Some fridge freezers are made for either warm or cold rooms. Others, like our Neff, have a little switch next to the temperature control, to swap from one mode to the other.
Worth checking whether yours has one.

 

[Steve Maskery]

Thanks Andy, but I really don't think you can realistically compare a Cheapo Beko with a Cheffy Neffy!
Next time, maybe.
Thank you all.

 

[Deejay]

Morning Steve

An alternative to blowing in warm air is a milk bottle full of hot water.

Cheers

Dave

 

[John Brown]

just to echo what so many others have said. We had a fridge freezer in a conservatory, and experienced the same thing. Looked it up, and read the same sort of article.

We do now have the same fridge freezer in our "utility" room, which is unheated and largely uninsulated, but it seems to be OK. Although I don't think it gets below 6 or 7C.

I also have a small Beko under-counter fridge in the same room, that I use for home-brewing(I have a small heating element inside it as well).
I paid £5 for it, as the thermostat was broken. I now control it with web connected electronics, and although it's only a fridge(no freezer compartment), it'll happily go below zero if I ask it to. So if you're only interested in freezing stuff, you might be able to modify the temperature control of yours in some way.

 

[Steve Maskery]

An alternative to blowing in warm air is a milk bottle full of hot water.

Whoo-hoo! It works! Put a bottle in this morning, came home to hear a gentle humm...

Thank you very much.

Lots of love
Steve
x

 

[whiskywill]

came home to hear a gentle humm...x

Name that tune.

 

[Geordie Joe]

came home to hear a gentle humm...x

Name that tune.

Baby it's cold outside