Garage Freezers
 

Hi - I’m wanting to purchase a freezer and place in my garage, so I can stock up in bulk from frozen items from Costco. I’m new to Florida, so want to know of any issues with our hot and humid summer temperatures. Do I need to purchase a special kind of freezer to sustain the high temps in a garage? Anything else I should be aware of, or is this all as simple of just purchasing a freezer, plugging it in, and I’m good to go?

We recently bought a second refrigerator for the same reasons and was told that you should be able to find out if they are Garage Rated. We bought one that was, it was made by Fridgidare. The Garage Rating indicates that it can tolorate the heat, humidity or the cold and can get wet.

We have had one in garage for past year and no problems.

I wouldn't go out of of my way to find a garage rated freezer, or pay a lot more money for one. A regular freezer should function fine in the garage. They say the same thing about "outdoor" televisions in a lanai. A regular television will function fine in the lanai.

One other piece of advice. Plug a small nightlight, or similar light into the same receptacle as the fridge/freezer. Set the light on top of the unit, or somewhere you can see the light. Like most of us, we don't go into the unit in the garage as often as the one in the kitchen. If you lose power to that receptacle, the light being out will be the first sign of an issue.

I agree. I had several nightlights in my house until I realized that, when the power goes out at night, you are in total darkness. I replaced some of them with rechargeable emergency flashlights ($12 on Amazon). Now, when the power goes out, the flashlights come on. The flashlight coming on may be more noticable than a nightlight going out.

Thanks for catching that. Indicator light is what I meant to type Here's what I use.

I had the same concerns about a refrigerator in the garage. Had several in the past up north, and they would struggle/die in the summer, and if the winter was too cold, they would fail also.

Obviously cold weather isn't the issue, but heat is. I researched and found the "garage rated" as well. Got an 18.1 cubic inch from Best Buy, their Insignia brand. Got it delivered in April, so it has gone thru the summer. Very happy with it, and it performs great. Wasn't any more in price than a comparable "standard" refrigerator. All things equal would go with the "garage rated". Not sure if this made any difference, but I put a $15 fan I got from Amazon and pointed it at the compressor to increase the air circulation. I would plug it in when the garage began to get too hot, and otherwise, leave it unplugged.

An alternative would be to find a used freezer/fridge cheap here on TOTV, if you have the ability to transport. Then, if it dies in a few years, you aren't out too much, assuming you can rescue your food in time!

Brought a well used garage freezer we bought second-hand down here over 12 years ago and it is still going strong.

I would be concerned that ALL garage POWER OUTLETS ARE ON GFI, if it trips your out of your bulk food. Our neighbor had this happen and lost 20 lbs of shrimp couldn’t get rid of smell had to get rid of freezer.

Yes, be sure not to plug it in to a GFIC. We've had a regular freezer in the garage for several years, never failed.

Same here we've had one for 3 years and no problems.

Yes. Biggest risk in garage is the GFI required outlet. They are usually daisy chained around other places in the house. An patio outlet receptacle can have a bad load, trip the GFI in the garage, and thaw $1000 worth of food. Beware. I'd run a separate circuit for just the freezer.

Plenty of time you will see the fridge in the kitchen is a separate circuit from the rest of the outlets in the kitchen and on the counter.

I had two outside contractors that are mentioned on TOTV often give me a quote for a new outlet in the garage and both said they could/would only install a GFI outlet in the garage.