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1. chriswilk - Member

   I put my old FF in the garage in the summer as extra capacity to store those special offers from the supermarket, beer, etc.
   Anyway now that it's cold (my garage is probably at about 3C today) the freezer part has stopped working.
   A bit of research suggests this is because there is only one sensor, in the fridge compartment and this is cold enough already, so the compressor never fires up, and the freezer part warms up and thaws.

   Anyone else had this and got a solution?

   The suggestion is to put a small heater / light bulb in the fridge compartment to heat it up a bit and make the fridge work a bit, which will also make the freezer work correctly.

   Posted 5 months ago #
2. IHN - Member

   Yep, I had this problem. My solution was to not use the freezer

   Posted 5 months ago #
3. organic355 - Member

   also had this problem.

   solution is to get a separate fridge and freezer or movre the fridge/freezer inside.

   what kind of heater would you use in the fridge? hows that going to work?

   Posted 5 months ago #
4. Junkyard - Member

   unless you can trick the sensor with some electronic "stuff" or you want to heat thebgarage then I have no suggestions
   Think they make special ones for garage use iirc

   Posted 5 months ago #
5. Frodo - Member

   I have this problame in my kitchen! Kitchen is prtially below ground and always cold. FF is by door in a stone alcove, probably not the best place. Solution provide a small heater in the kitchn on a thermastat so the ambient temperature never gets that low.

   Posted 5 months ago #
6. CaptJon - Member

   Thanks for the reminder. I'll have to remember to keep the kitchen a bit warm over night.

   Posted 5 months ago #
7. euanr - Member

   It's worth double checking your instruction manual.

   I had this same problem (Bosch F/F)and found out that there was a little switch which made the freezer work when the temperature was low. I leave this on permanently as our garage never gets that warm, even in summer.

   Posted 5 months ago #
8. chriswilk - Member

   thanks all,

   thing is this is my old FF, I have a new one in the new kitchen, so taking it inside is not an option.
   I tried it just now, opened fridge, used hair dryer to heat up fridge for 2 minutes. This caused things to kick in and now the freezer is fully frozen.

   The idea is to get a small light bulb (say 20w) and put this in the fridge compartment, the wires will set through the seal ok.
   I will then use a timer to have the light on for maybe 1 hour, 4 times a day.
   This will cause a small amount of heat and cause things to kick in.

   I really only want to use the freezer to store extra food for the xmas feast, so a little extra heat in the fridge is not an issue.

   Posted 5 months ago #
9. hs125 - Member

   But suruly the light will go off when you shut the door, won't it?????

   Posted 5 months ago #
10. john_drummer - Member

    leave the fridge door open?

    Posted 5 months ago #
11. Inbred456 - Member

    Our FF has a switch inside the fridge part that needs to be switched if the temp is below a set amount. Probably for this very problem. Have a check inside its normally next to the light.

    Posted 5 months ago #
12. spacemonkey - Member

    Hmm. Odd. We have a second freezer in he shed - it's been there 4-5 years by now. Also have a wall heater but that only kicks in around 5deg. Has worked perfectly.

    Posted 5 months ago #
13. nealglover - Member

    spacemonkey - Member
    Hmm. Odd. We have a second freezer in he shed - it's been there 4-5 years by now. Also have a wall heater but that only kicks in around 5deg. Has worked perfectly.

    Won't be an issue if it's just a freezer.

    Only a problem on Fridge/Freezers where the sensor is in the Fridge part.

    Posted 5 months ago #
14. spacemonkey - Member

    Ah. Fairy muff.

    Posted 5 months ago #
15. chriswilk - Member

    No switch in my FF, as I understand it, that switch simply leaves the light on in the fridge even when the door is shut, for the very reason I have described.

    Leaving the door open will not work as the temperature in the garage is colder than what the frdige ususlly is.

    Off to buy a small desk lamp and a timer to see if that works.

    Posted 5 months ago #
16. Mary Hinge - Member

    Will run off and check my garage fridge freezer.

    Can't have warm beer and defrosted chicken kievs! And what about all my Iceland party bites!

    Posted 5 months ago #
17. 5lab - Member

    chuck a resistor in to reduce the input from the fridge sensor?

    Posted 5 months ago #
18. spooky_b329 - Member

    As 5lab says, just find the wiring to the sensor (probably comes out the back of the fridge somewhere) and cut it. Use a multimeter to measure the resistance through the sensor when you've used the hair dryer to heat the fridge up. Then pop down Maplins, buy said resistor for a few pennies, and bingo, fridge permanently running. If you want to be clever, use a switch so you can swop between winter/summer mode, when you will want the sensor working again. Stick it on a socket timer so it doesn't run all the time and you won't have a huge electricity bill either. (Fridges and freezers don't draw a huge amount, but over a year they can cost hundreds to run, specially old/faulty models)

    Posted 5 months ago #
19. organic355 - Member

    this prompted me to check my fridge freezer in the garage.....

    ....The cats loved the tescos finest honduran prawns that had defrosted in the freezer compartment, luckily nothing else was in there!!

    Posted 5 months ago #
20. chriswilk - Member

    quick update, put in a small desk lamp with a 7w bulb. On timer to come on for 1 hour, then off for 3, etc.

    After the first hour the freezer was working correctly, and in the morning it's back to normal.

    Just need to thin the insulation on the cable so it goes through the seal better.

    Posted 5 months ago #
21. Mary Hinge - Member

    I checked mine, it's rated down to -15! So it stays un-modified in the garage.

    Posted 5 months ago #

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