Debating Garage Refrigerator Temperature Settings

[tewitt1949]

My wife and I have been debateing this (some would call it an argument) but here goes.
We live in mich and gets real cold here. We have a regular refridgerator that we keep in the garage which is unheated and uninsulated. The debate is if the thermostate in the refridg is set at about 35 degrees, during the winter months, below 30 even down to zero degrees, will the fridg run an stay above the thermostate setting, or will it eventally get down to the outside temp (even though the fridg is insulated) and freeze everything in the fridge.
Thanks Terry

 

[skeptic2]

Why not stop arguing and put a thermometer in the fridge?

 

[ModusPwnd]

The fridge will always approach the garage's temperature, but slowly. If the garage stays less than 30 for an extended period the temperature inside the fridge will slowly approach the less than 30 temperature.

How fast your fridge approaches the garage temperature depends on the insulation of the fridge and the temperature difference between the fridge and the garage.

 

[kjamha]

The fridge will stop working in cold temperatures without a Garage Refrigerator Heater Kit - which by the way, you can investigate at

http://www.frigidaire-store.com/gakithecokit.html

Because the freezer will no longer work, it will eventually, but slowly, reach equilibrium with the garage temperature.

 

[russ_watters]

It's a trap! Science be darned, the correct answer is whichever one your wife says!


...though there is no heater in a fridge...

 

[DaveC426913]

Here's a question: is it possible in principle that, if cold enough outside, the fridge could actually work in reverse? The liquifying/evaporating heat exchange process working the other way?

 

[russ_watters]

No. The refrigerant is flowing in the wrong direction.

 

[tewitt1949]

My wife says she occasionally hears the fridge running when its 25 deg in the garage. I tell her its not possable because its colder in side the fridge than the thermostate is set so it can't be running. She says the insulation is keeping the cold out. She really isn't a blond. Talking to here is like talking to a "I" beam. I do love her though and she is all mine.