To feel confused about a freezer...

[Pancakesbythedozen]

Dd recently left home and we did the usual purchases - cooker, washing machine etc. Fridge freezer brand new after 2 weeks still isn't freezing and staying frozen.. Apparently - and my mind is hearby blown... Dd's kitchen is too cold for the freezer to work.
Despite her having a baby and 2 dcats which haven't yet got blue extremities... It's too cold for the freezer to stay on.. Engineer came out today and his report states no faults at all.
Mind blown and freezer going back.
What now?
Any help is appreciated..

If the freezer is going back, just buy a different brand? There is clearly a fault! X

Absolute nonsense. Loads of people keep freezers in their garages and they seem to work fine.

If it is in her house the it should work ok. Some brands specifically state/make for unheated spaces and you can normally search for “garage use” or they state lowest operating temperatures

You can google :

why do freezers have minimum ambient operating temperatures

to get an explanation of this.

It is usually about 10C, but some operate down to -15C.

My guess is chest freezers are more likely to be the lower temp, as the manufacturers know they are often put in garages.

We have an upright freezer in our garage and it’s a Beko, suitable for use in an unheated environment. They make fridge freezers like this as well. We got it from AO, just filter your search on “suitable for garages”.

Isn’t the standard minus 18 for freezers?

Most wont work below 10 degrees but is her kitchen below that?

Or is it in an outsidey bit?

Beko do freezers that go very low, down to minus 5 or something, you have to find something suitable for outhouses or garages.

Probably depends on whether it is a fridge freezer or a freezer and also brand specific.

Your missing the point. Yes inside the freezer should be around -18.

But the temperature of the room it's standing in eg the kitchen, garage, utility is too low for it to work properly (which I think isn't true anyway) The engineer is saying that the freezer already thinks it's cold enough and isn't freezing properly because the room is cold

I think the highest minimum operating temperature is 10 C, but surely her kitchen isn't that cold? They would be freezing cold if it was and not a healthy environment for a baby.

You have to get ones that work at low temperatures. Not all do.

Yeah- freezers have minimum operating temperatures which is why most freezers aren't suitable for garages (there was a whole consumer thing in the Times on this about a week ago), but I'd be surprised if a house ever got that cold.

Yes, I realised that after reading the posts properly! Put it down to a senior moment!

The technical reason is that a lot of fridge freezers only have a thermostat in the fridge part. If the room/garage is very cold, the fridge will reach operating temperature quickly and be able to maintain it, while the freezer never gets cold enough to freeze properly. Beko seems to be the best brand for use in very cld rooms. Interestingly my Electrolux integrated fridge freezer, has a switch that stops the light turning off, the heat generated supposedly means the cooling has to work a bit harder, never tried it but it sounds a reasonable theory.

I'll bet it's a fridge-freezer with just one thermostat; the ambient temperature is cool enough for the fridge to stay at 4-6 degrees inside - which is what the thermostat does - but the compressor doesn't operate long enough to get the freezer below freezing.

It needs to be in a warmer room.

It's a Hoover brand top /bottom model . Situated on an inside wall nowhere near the back door. The man was adamant the house needed to be warm. We lived in an ice box of a house and my ff worked just fine. It was even situated at an unused glass panelled door!! Well it's going back tomorrow.. Will try Beko. . Thanks people.. Thought I was going mad!

How cold is her house, though??

We have a Beko F/F in the garage because they are okay for cold environments. It's fine.

My heating is busted and my house sits around 11C and the freezer is fine

My heating is busted and my house sits around 11C and the freezer is fine

I had this problem when my ff was first put into the unheated utility.

Had to move it into the kitchen.

Was an Indesit

Well hang on, how cold is her kitchen/how warm did the engineer reckon it needed to be?

It's true some FFs won't work properly in an unheated space like a garage, but it's inside a house. I would expect any freezer to work down to about 10-15C room temperature no issues. If the kitchen is under that then he might have a point but I find it a bit unlikely?

Mate I have miss read so many posts on here I should be delivering for Evri

It's definitely a thing, as other posters have pointed out. My sister bought a fridge freezer to use in her conservatory but it was too cold. I didn't believe it first of all, but I did read up about it.

They couldn't return for a full refund as the blurb said it wasn't for use in areas that regularly dropped below a particular temperature. They did get a refund, less pick-up costs etc.

I always have a freezer in the garage and never had that problem! I never have chest freezer either.

I understand that in theory it might mean a freezer woudn't work - garage is fleeping freezing, but completely unacceptable in a kitchen