Freezer not cooling enough

[harvey lee]

I checked the temp in my freezer in the garage today and it shows 18. I would guess it should be colder than that.

The freezer is a chest freezer and is 7 years old.

What else could my problem be besides low freon?

[McGurk]

I know it sounds completely counter-intuitive, but cold temps and many modern fridges/freezers don't work well together. The oil in the condenser gets really thick and makes it hard to do it's job. Plus, some of the new auto-defrost models shut off and try to defrost themselves even though it's impossible in the cold, and end up not working as they should. I'm sure someone with more knowledge can clear this up for you, though, as I'm just going off of some thoughts.

[harvey lee]

Pretty close. I talked with the repair man this am and after I explained what my issue was, he asked if the freezer was in our garage.

He said whe the garage gets colder, the thermostat will call for less cooling and therefore the warmer temps.

Makes sense as I did have a small issue like this last winter.

[BobT]

Quote:

He said whe the garage gets colder, the thermostat will call for less cooling and therefore the warmer temps.

I don't quite understand or maybe agree completely with this statement but maybe he was trying to keep it simple. I can't believe the outside temperature has anything to do with what temperature the freezer tries to maintain on its inside. If I set the interior at 0 degrees and the outside temperature is at 1 degree, I would expect my freezer to run until it lowers the interior to 0. Obviously, if it is below zero on the outside the freezer would have to heat up the interior to 0 but unless it has a means to heat up, that won't happen.

My guess is that as previously explained, the compressor is not able to work as it should due to the outside temperatures. The refrigerant has to be able to evaporate to effectively cool the interior and as it gets colder outside and thereby closer to the refrigerant's boiling point, it will evaporate less efficiently. If there is a defrost mode, it might actually be heating up the interior for defrosting.

[harvey lee]

I may have not understood exactly what he was trying to say but he said this problem does happen when it is colder outside in the garage compared to in the summer and it does effect how the freezer will cool.

For the heck of it, I placed a small heater by the vent where the controls are and after a few hours it did drop 4 degrees. So it must have something to due with the colder temps in the garage versus the house where it is warmer.

[McGurk]

So... In essence... You are heating up your freezing apparatus because it isn't able to maintain a hard freeze due to it being too cold out to work effectively, in an effort to keep your goods frozen.

Don'cha just love Minnesota?

[EyeChsr]

I just got a deepfreeze and in the book it said it was not to be used in a garage. Also says ambient temps below 50 and above 85 will hinder the performance of this unit.

[harvey lee]

Yep, that's what happening. One would think they could make a freezer for a garage.

[BobT]

I may have not understood exactly what he was trying to say but he said this problem does happen when it is colder outside in the garage compared to in the summer and it does effect how the freezer will cool.

For the heck of it, I placed a small heater by the vent where the controls are and after a few hours it did drop 4 degrees. So it must have something to due with the colder temps in the garage versus the house where it is warmer.

By applying heat where you did could be warming up the coolant to more efficient point. Either way, the outside air temp is affecting your freezer's performance for sure.

[harvey lee]

I warmed it for a bit just to see if the inside temp would drop and it did.

They need to make a garage freezer.

[shorefisher]

They will not work well in the cold. I turn mine off in the dead of winter as they can even warm to the point of things going bad in them if it gets to cold learned this the hard way.

[zent]

You could install an after market crankcase heater to your compressor. They are made specificaly for the purpose of keeping the oil in the crankcase of the compressor from jelling and causing compressor failure in low ambient conditions, This may also help in raising the heat of compression needed to maintain enough head pressure so the refrigerant can boil off in the evaperator and simply put make the freezer work, The heaters can be purchased at most appliance repair shops. They get wrapped around the base of the compressor and need to be wired so they are on all the time, the heaters are self regulating and only apply heat when the temps drop below a certain temp. Hope this helps you.

Z

[harvey lee]

They will not work well in the cold. I turn mine off in the dead of winter as they can even warm to the point of things going bad in them if it gets to cold learned this the hard way.

How do the items in the freezer stay frozen?

[harvey lee]

You could install an after market crankcase heater to your compressor. They are made specificaly for the purpose of keeping the oil in the crankcase of the compressor from jelling and causing compressor failure in low ambient conditions, This may also help in raising the heat of compression needed to maintain enough head pressure so the refrigerant can boil off in the evaperator and simply put make the freezer work, The heaters can be purchased at most appliance repair shops. They get wrapped around the base of the compressor and need to be wired so they are on all the time, the heaters are self regulating and only apply heat when the temps drop below a certain temp. Hope this helps you.

Z

Sounds like that is what I will do. I hate worrying about all the items in the freezer as it is almost full.

[BobT]

Unless the freezer is equipped with a heater, I don't know how it can warm up to a temperature above ambient. In other words, if it is -10 ambient and remains there your freezer will continue to get colder until it reaches that temperature as well. Insulation does not produce heat it only slows the transfer of heat from the warm area to the colder area.

[harvey lee]

Well, you can all laugh hard at me now.

I found the problem after spending much of this aft talking to people and G.E who made the unit.

I had the temp control turned to the warm setting and not to the coldest setting. I could not tell which way was which and I thought I has it on the coldest setting. As soon as I turned it, the compressor started to run.

This freezer can go in the garage according to G.E. It operates well in the temps from o-85.

Boy, I feel like a real dummy.

[chris63]

Harvey,they do make units for cold environments but they cost you an arm and a leg........c63

[zent]

Harvey, No harm no foul. Just glad you found the problem and won't lose any meat.

Z