Dorm Fridge Garagable?

[JayInJersey]

I'm wondering if anyone uses a Dorm Fridge (one of those 4.4cu jobbers) for fermentation control in a garage?

In NJ we can swing 100* in the summer and 0* in the winter and I'm concerned if they can live through that for long.

Opinions?

 

[AJC16]

Check your directions, I know old refrigerators are ok in the cold while newer ones are not. I have an old kegerator in my garage and my mini fridge as well. I shut the mini fridge off in winter. I am in Western New York.

 

[NoNothing]

You'll be fine. It'll just work harder in the summer to maintain temp (and radiate the heat into the atmosphere).

I'd put a box fan on low near it pointing away from the sidewall to help dissipate that heat in the summer.

 

[SweetSounds]

I've got the Haier kegerator in the garage.

It's a b**ch

My garage goes well over 100 degrees during the day, and there's nothing I can do about it. I installed a fan inside to keep the evaporator from icing over, and that helped a lot. But now, for the life of me, I can't get the thing to hold temp. It was 33 degrees the other morning, and last night it was 54.

It's driving me nuts!

I'm going to install a proper digital temperature controller in it and see if that helps any...

 

[DrHops]

I have a Haier kegerator that I used to keep in the garage over the fall and winter and would bring it inside over the spring and summer. It is not designed for outdoor use, neither are dorm fridges. This means that unless your garage is well insulated, heated and cooled, you can't keep it out there in the summer. Winter in Atlanta doesn't get very cold (40 is cold for Atlanta winter), so the fridge didn't need to cycle on very often in the winter. Considering the temp extremes in New Jersey, I would not put it in the garage.