Freezer in a garage (how much, loading, laundry room, insulation)
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When I move my family down, we have a chest freezer in our basement. Since we will no longer have a basement, I was thinking if the garage is a good place for it. Wondering if during the summer it will run almost constantly. Anybody have one in a garage?
We have a fridge/freezer in our garage. A lot of folks have refrigerators/freezers in garages down her e and they seem to run fine.
I keep it a bit 'warmer' than I do my inside fridge but it maintains the same temperature -- I suppose because we are opening it less? This way it runs a little bit less. We also tend to keep our garage door closed, so it is definitely cooler in the garage than it is outside. I have to clean mine more frequently than my inside one b/c of dust/pollen.
I don't know anyone that has just a deep freeze out in their garage so cannot answer to that. Try it and see what happens.
You'll want to have it emptier during hurricane season down here -- in case you lose power. We've had to eat/cook foods in our freezers during power outages in september/october hurricanes. Just something to consider as you rotate stock.
The other thing I do, is freeze sherbet containers of water ahead of time (if enough warning in advance of a big storm) to have some nice 'ice blocks' to keep the fridge and freezer colder if I am worried about power outages. That way, it is a bit of 'extra potable water' on hand as well. <smile>
Its really more importnat to keep it pretty full or keep sopem jugs of foraen water when not full. We and alot of other keep it i agarge here;always have.
Freezers manufactured today use about 40% less electricity than those manufactured 10 years ago, and about 70% less than those manufactured 2 decades ago. Top-loading chest freezers can be as much as 25% more efficient than front loading freezers, as cold air doesn't spill out when the door is opened. They’re also quieter, as their cooling coils are built into their walls.
Manual defrost freezers use less electricity than automatic defrosters, but only if defrosted regularly. The manual model also doesn't dehydrate frozen food, which automatic defrosters do.
Overall, I'd say the annual cost between a freezer in a basement versus a rather tightly sealed, but non-conditioned garage is probably less than $8.
Understanding the efficiency and function of a refrigeration system will help.
The manufacturer of my freezer warned that the freezer should be placed anywhere the room temperature would climb above 85°F or below 40°F. My garage goes above 85 often in the summer (nearly every day) and overnight temps in the winter drop below 40. So far, it still runs fine.
And even if it is running "non-stop in the summer" (which it doesn't), the cost must be very small. My electric bill in the summer is actually lower this year than previous years (added some insulation). I can't give a hard figure on what it costs without measuring the kwh spent on just the circuit running the freezer, but it is negligible.
Technically putting a fridge or freezer in a garage isn't the best thing for it, but a lot of people do. There are freezers designed to be in garages. We have a small dorm fridge in our garage to hold pop/water, etc. It works fine for that. We have an upright freezer that is in our laundry room too.
We just replaced an Amana upright freezer which we received form my Mother-in-law in 1975 (now8-2013) It was still working in the garage. (Wow) In Colorado temps get pretty warm in the summer and -10 or so in the winter. Our only upkeep was to use a yard blower every few months to blow out the coils. Every 4th of July we would defrost it and pack all the food in ice chests. It took 8 hours to let the ice buildup melt away using a small fan. Our local library has power meters to let you know how much electricity it was using. don't know yet about the new one, but we expect it to be about 40% less or more. We put the new one in the basement near a drain.
Last edited by Coloheberts; 07-30-2013 at 11:01 AM..
Reason: added wow.
When I move my family down, we have a chest freezer in our basement. Since we will no longer have a basement, I was thinking if the garage is a good place for it. Wondering if during the summer it will run almost constantly. Anybody have one in a garage?
We have a refrigerator/freezer in our garage (just about everyone here does). It's a very basic Montgomery Ward model - and has had zero problems in 16 years. FWIW - I don't normally have a huge amount of frozen food in the house - and I really try to keep it to a minimum in the summer due to hurricane season. Robyn
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