Having plenty of freezer space is essential in a busy family home. The appliances are a life-saver when it comes to freezing left-overs and for storing quick dinner items which come to the rescue if there’s nothing else in.
The freezer is a staple in the majority of UK homes, with many now having more than one. It’s become more common to have an additional fridge freezer or chest freezer to store extra food, including money saving yellow sticker bargains and homemade dishes that can be eaten all-year round.
However, people who have an extra freezer in the garage have been warned to take extra care. Electrical experts believe the appliances may not be able to withstand outdoor temperatures. This could cause them to go on fire, or lead to malfunctions that could make your food unsafe to eat.
As garages are often filled with highly flammable clutter including cardboard boxes, oil, plastics and spare wood, this could exacerbate the situation if your freezer did go up in flames.
Coolingpost.com reports: “Fires caused by fridge/freezers have been found to exhibit a higher degree of fire spread than other types of appliances like washing machines, dishwashers or tumble dryers.
“[A] study pinpoints a number of components that can fail and act as an ignition source and these are located in close proximity to an extensive source of flammable material.”
Manufacturer Hisense also urges against putting a freezer in unheated spaces due to the risk of malfunction, reports the Express.
It says: “Avoid placing your fridge or freezer in unheated spaces like garages, where pipes could freeze and internal components might malfunction. Additionally, cleaning the condenser coils every few months with a vacuum or coil brush ensures your appliance remains energy efficient, preventing overheating.
“If you have a manual-defrost freezer, winter is a good time to check for ice buildup and defrost as needed. Excess ice not only reduces storage space but also forces the unit to work harder to maintain temperature.”
UK Chest Freezers.co.uk explains that every freezer has a rating known as a ‘climate class’ which determines the temperature it can safely operate in.
They said: “Although a chest freezer can maintain internal temperatures of -18 degrees Celsius, the mechanical and electronic components that make this happen don’t work too efficiently when the ambient air temperature in the room is below a certain threshold – defined by its official Climate Class.
“The lowest official climate class temperature is +10 degrees Celsius – not helpful if you want to keep the freezer in the garage during the winter.
“Of course, some people claim to have used a freezer in the garage for years with no problems, and some appliance repair specialists say it’s a definite no-no and that manufacturers are unrealistic when they say that their freezers are safe to be kept in an unheated space.”
Finally, one more problem is about the safety of the food itself.
When stored in an unheated space, a fridge freezer which is not operating correctly may end up switching off for long periods of time. This in turn could cause the freezer to defrost your food, before re-freezing it when it resumes operating.
This could be a huge problem for food like meats and dairy especially, which are not supposed to be frozen again once defrosted.