Garage Ready Freezers
 

Does anyone have knowledge or first-hand experience with what are called “garage ready” freezers, sold at local big-box stores and at Major Brands? From information I have found, they are advertised as “proven to operate where temperatures run between 0 and 110 degrees Fahrenheit." It is also noted that they probably only function at the zero degree temperatures if the garage is insulated or is partially heated to some extent. My parents purchased a chest freezer around 1951 and it ran continuously with no issues for 62 years in a shed attached to the house, which was both unheated and uninsulated. It may have had a minimal amount of heat coming in from the house. I don’t recall how low temperatures reached in the shed during the winter. When it stopped operating in 2013, a search was done in the hopes of replacing it, but at that time the only freezers manufactured would not function in temps that went below 32 degrees. The new “garage ready freezers” came on the scene around 2018, but whether they are the same as the old ones, I don’t know and have been unable to find out. My question is, will they run in the same cold temps as the old ones did? I remember that a neighbor had one outside in a lean-to, covered with a tarp and apparently had no problem with it.

I would greatly appreciate input from anyone with knowledge concerning the new “garage ready” freezers of today. The ones available at the above stores are General Electric models, but I believe Frigidaire also has similar ones. I would hate to take the plunge and find out the hard way that my "garage ready freezer” was not quite “ready" enough to withstand a Lakes Region winter.
Chickie

Many are garage-ready these days. I have garage-ready freezers in my garage. It is a simple heating element and sensor that is affixed to the compressor. I would not be concerned.

FrigidAire
 

We needed a new beer/soda fridge for the garage several years ago, (not a freezer, but same concept). We used a local appliance store near where we lived at the time and when we explained that it was going in the garage, which was neither heated nor cooled, the appliance dude recommended a model that would withstand the extremes of cold in the winter and heat in the summer, (ie., "garage ready")

We ended up with a FrigidAire fridge. Basic white; freezer on top; not overly large; not particularly expensive. Still going strong 6 years later...

Interesting. Up until last year I always shut off my garage beer fridge around Columbus day. Last year, after moving here full time now, I kept it going well into December...............which I guess was a mistake because some where along the time the freezer stopped working and I lost everything I had in it. I figured it had to do with the cold. I also figured when I plugged it in this spring it likely wouldn't work but it sure did. Ill be shutting it down mid October.

We always had just regular ol’ freezers in our garage and still do. Never had a problem.

If it's just a freezer, what difference does it make how cold it gets?

In the summer, just remember to keep some windows open if your garage gets that hot.

Good luck!

I also have a FrigidAire fridge, same config. as you. Been in my garage last 2 houses, going on 15 yrs. I bought at an appliance store in Mass that deals in new and used appliances, mine was used at the time of purchase.

The store buys back appliances from property landlords, that change out appliances every so often as tenants change. They then fix if needed, and resell to the public 'as used'. Mine is still running fine 15yrs + now.

If the freezer is built like a refrigerator but has no "fresh food" section, then I imagine it has an automatic defrost cycle for periodic melting frost off the evaporator coil. That melt water drips down into a pan and subsequently is evaporated by fan-driven air blown across the coil in normal operation. If that pan and the air moved by the fan are well below freezing, that water might refreeze and ultimately back up condensate onto the evaporator coil. I don't know how a "garage-ready" freezer might be built differently, but I imagine disposition of frost on the evaporator coil might be the main concern.