Appliance Repair in 08080 · Sewell, Glassboro & Williamstown

A spare refrigerator in the garage is a fixture of suburban life here, holding drinks, party trays and overflow groceries. It also works harder than any other refrigerator in the house. On a July afternoon an attached garage can get much hotter than the kitchen, and a refrigerator built for indoor temperatures runs nearly nonstop to keep up.

The strain shows in predictable ways. Condenser coils covered in garage dust cannot release heat, and the compressor overheats. The door gaskets dry out and let warm, humid air in, which leads to frost buildup and sweating. Some units trip their compressor overload in extreme heat and cycle on and off. Over a few summers, that extra load can shorten the refrigerator's life.

There are ways to help. Keep the coils clean, leave several inches of space around the unit, and park it away from the garage door and any sunny wall. If you are buying a refrigerator for a garage, look for one the manufacturer rates for garage use; many standard models list a narrower operating temperature range in their manuals. Winter cold creates the opposite problem, and some garage units stop keeping the freezer cold when temperatures drop.

When a garage refrigerator does fail, we will diagnose it and give you a written estimate, along with a straight answer on whether an older second refrigerator is worth the repair.

Clear a path to the refrigerator and enough room to pull it out from the wall. Empty it into a cooler if it is warm. If it plugs into a garage outlet with a GFCI, check whether the outlet has tripped and reset it before calling.