I was thinking that my car has freon and the temps don't bother it at all. I'm betting it's the defrost thing. Get a schematic for it and clip a wire to get rid of that. This is informational: There is no problem with leaving a refrigerator in an unheated garage. The only problem that you will have is trying to keep frozen things frozen in the freezer unless the thermostat is located in the freezer. If the thermostat is located in the fresh food section it is controlling temperatures between 35 degrees F. and 45 degrees F. . If the temperature in the garage is at or below 35 degrees .F. the unit will not run because the thermostat senses that it is cold enough in the fresh food section. The freezer however relies on the unit running to obtain below freezing temperatures and will not be able to freeze anything. If the thermostat is located in the freezer there will be no problem whatsoever keeping both the fresh food and freezer sections at a proper temperature. If the temperature in the garage gets below freezing for too long the things in the fresh food section could freeze so the temp. should be monitored during a cold period. Source(s): 40 years major appliance repair. MORE: A. The short answer to the question is that the thermostat in a frost-free refrigerator is reading the 38º to 40ºF temperatures in the fresh food section. That means when the ambient temperature in the garage drops to below 40ºF and thereby cools the ref rigerator to that temperature, the thermostat no longer calls for cooling and any food stored in the freezer at 0º to 5º F begins to thaw. Worse yet, when the temperature in the unheated room drops below about 55ºF, there's not enough compressor run time to keep the freezer cold enough. You’ll want to keep this in mind if you’re using a frost-free refrigerator as a backup in an unheated garage or porch. You’ll be able to store fresh food and beverages in the refrigerator section if you need the ‘overflow’ room, but I recommend you empt y the freezer section of perishables in the fall to prevent frozen food loss. Also a "frost free" freezer actually warms up every now and again (90 minutes to 2 hour intervals) to melt accumulating frost and if the thing isn’t cooling then the defrost heater is thawing the food as well as the long slow thaw at 40º. That feature is on a timer not a thermostat. They do in fact make refrigerators designed for garage or unconditioned room use. Your friends may have one. Sears sells one called Freezerator-- a 21 cubic foot model that sells for about a eleven hundred dollars and Chillerator, another brand, sells a smaller one for about $900. so I would have to disagree with that person who told you you couldn’t get there from here. I have to mention that it amuses me to see the old refrigerator go out to the garage or down in the basement after a kitchen remodel complete with new appliances. If you think buying stuff on sale and keeping it in the second refrigerator is anything li ke economical, you’ve got another thing coming. A refrigerator is second only to the water heater (not counting heating and cooling) in electricity usage at your house and the older they are the more they require.