Freezers outdoors/breezeway in Central Pennsylvania?

nathan · 08-17-2009, 05:32 PM

I moved north from North Carolina. In NC I had freezers (both standup and chest freezers) in an un-insulated garage and had two-stage controllers with a heat lamp inside, so if it got real cold, the heat lamp kept the kegs (in the chest freezer) from freezing or the carboys (in the standups) from getting too cold to ferment.

Has anyone done this in the north? How far north? Does it work okay? I have a breezeway, but it's not insulated at all, and some airflow will occur, so it's pretty darn close to just being outside, maybe marginally better. Will definitely get below freezing. BUT, if it's feasible to use a heater in it for fermentation (45F-70F depending on style) and for my chest freezer for kegs (38F), it saves me precious indoor space.

Catt22 · 08-18-2009, 12:14 AM

Sure, you can heat the freezers and keep them outside on the breezeway. The cold won't harm the freezer. So long as it's out of the weather it should be fine. You may need more than a the infrared bulb to heat it when the temps drop very low. You could use multiple lamps if needed or consider one of the small ceramic type space heaters. I used one of those for this same purpose and it worked well.

nathan · 08-20-2009, 01:59 PM

thanks! I figured it would be alright, given enough heat is available. I do use the ceramic bulbs in dome lights now, but could get other kinds of heat to try as needed.

nathan · 02-11-2010, 05:59 PM

turns out my breezeway stays right about freezing and doesn't get much below it, even when it's 8F outside. Pretty sweet.