put a fridge/freezer in the garage this spring.  as I understand it at some point of cold (34 degrees?) the whole thing will shut down and you jeopardize the food in the freezer section will melt.   I'm looking for strategy/experiences with this.   yes I know there are heater kits.    questions:   If it shuts down will it start back up automatically when its safe?    are you guys okay with that or do you just plug/unplug on your own when you know its gonna get very very cold?    Or is the best option to just clear out the freezer when you know its possibly gonna shut down?     I would only have to clear out the freezer part right?  because refrigerator items wont "melt" if the fridge shuts down because of cold.

I'm interested in hearing your experiences.   thanks.    Oh..  the garage is attached garage..   I've never actually checked the temp on coldest days of winters but obviously I will now.    FWIW its mostly "above freezing" in the garage because anytime I bring the car in the ice melts off the car.

Just put a lightbulb underneath it to generate some warmth.  

I don't know about the fridge, but in your particular manual you should see details about how it works, especially in the service manual. I am a HVAC service tech, and we use a heater cable with a thermostat that turns on the cable only when the temperature dips below 40 degrees for condensate lines in uninsulated attics. Something like that should work without costing you too much in energy bills.

I have a fridge in a attached 2 door garage with rooms above it for 3 years, have never had a issue with it turning off.

Maybe my garage never got that cold.

Blknracer that’s what I’m hoping my situation will be.   Just barely warm enough to keep it running.    
 

can anybody answer the question about if it did auto shut down,   Would it start up on its own when it’s safe?   Or does it stay off until a manual replug the outlet?

We had a refrigerator/freezer in our shop for 30 years and never had a problem. Shop temp was kept just above freezing. I did hvac/ refrigeration for 45 years and doubt you will have any problems, if it did shut down it would restart on its own.

25 minutes ago, Barms said:

can anybody answer the question about if it did auto shut down,   Would it start up on its own when it’s safe?   Or does it stay off until a manual replug the outlet?

I've had one in a attached garage for decades, in multiple houses. It doesn't actually "shut down", but it just won't start when the temps get to fridge temps. The thermostat won't trigger it to start if the garage temp is the same as the fridge setting. So what happens, the stuff in the freezer (which is usually around zero degrees), might get a little softer. In these times, I'll notice things like a frozen pizza, won't be  a frozen/hard as normal, but it doesn't cause any issues. Ice in the freezer doesn't melt.

Once the temps in the garage rise above the set temp in the fridge, it will run like normal.

My garage fridge shut down the first winter that we had it.  Called the manufacturer and got a "garage kit" for it.  Works fine.