Is your second refrigerator in the garage? 3 things you need to know this winter.

Many times when we remodel a kitchen, the existing refrigerator moves to the garage as a secondary food storage area. There are a few things to keep in mind when you do that. First, there is a much bigger variation of temperatures in the garage then what the inside of the home experiences. Most people think the hot summer months would cause a problem. Actually winter can be more of an issue. Most refrigerators determine how much cooling to send to the freezer compartment by the amount of cooling required to maintain the temperature in the refrigerator compartment. In winter,it would not be uncommon for the garage temperature to be very similar to the temperature in the refrigerator compartment, thus requiring very little cooling. However, the freezer compartment will still require cooling to maintain a temperature of 0 degrees F, or slightly below. At best this puts a strain on the refrigerator and at worst causes an unacceptable temperature in the refrigerator or freezer. The simplest and most economical way to monitor this is to keep a thermometer in both the refrigerator and the freezer compartments.