Appliance Repair in 19055 · Levittown, Langhorne & Yardley

When there is no basement, the extra refrigerator or freezer goes in the garage, a converted carport or a breezeway. These spaces follow the weather. In a hot, humid July the compressor works hard against a warm room, and in January an uninsulated garage can drop low enough that a standard refrigerator stops behaving normally.

The cold-weather problem surprises people. Most refrigerators sense temperature in the fresh-food section, not the freezer. When the room is near or below the temperature the fridge is trying to hold, the thermostat rarely calls for cooling, the compressor barely runs, and the freezer section warms up even though the room is cold. Some models are sold as garage-ready and are designed for a wider range, and some manufacturers offer heater kits for certain models. Check the owner's manual for the room temperature range your model expects.

Summer brings the opposite. A condenser coated in garage dust cannot shed heat, the compressor runs nearly nonstop, and the door gasket on an older unit lets in humid air that becomes frost. Vacuuming the coils, leaving space around the cabinet and plugging into an outlet that is not shared with power tools all help. If the refrigerator still runs constantly, a technician can check the fans, defrost system and start components before anything bigger is assumed.

Open the garage door or clear the side entrance before we arrive, and make room to pull the refrigerator away from the wall. Note the rough temperature in the space when the problem occurs. If the outlet is on a GFCI that trips, mention it, since a tripped breaker in the garage can mimic a failed appliance.