Does running a home refrigerator in a chilly kitchen (55-60F during winter to save heating costs) slowly damage it and take years off the expected lifetime of the fridge? refrigeration

Tl;DR: Will running a regular fridge in a chilly kitchen (like ~58°F at night and ~55°F on winter vacations) wind up taking years off its expected lifetime?

I posted this to r/Frugal and it generated some discussion and I just now discovered your subreddit. Awesome.. Hope you can help.

All this was prompted by a comment I read on a blog (search for the word "refrigerator"...there are actually a few posts by that guy elaborating on the details of his view; his second response has even more detail).

The idea is that although one might want to keep their home thermostat set low in winter in order to save money on home heating costs, running the fridge in that chillier home (below 65°F) is damaging to the fridge and will result in taking years off its lifetime. If I understand him right, this is because the fridge will cycle much less than it is designed to do, and therefore the a) motor will be not cooled enough, b) the compressor will not be cooled and lubricated enough.

Here is the crux of the technical guy's point, and the "fix":

asking the fridge to operate outside its design parameters will cause it to run at a much higher watt to BTU ratio, run longer to do the same amount of work, add additional heat to the refrigeration system from the external electric, and do progressive damage to the refrigeration system that are not noticeable but are significant in the overall life of the system.

This problem is fixed by reducing the air flow on the condenser which makes it less efficient allowing additional heat to build within it raising the pressure and flow rate to the minimum levels for peak operational efficiency and cooling. It allows the system to "build enough head pressure" to flow at the proper levels.

So, is this guy's view accurate? (Both in the damage threat and his suggested "fix")? Or is he off base, out of date, or what?

In my case, I have a March 2009 bought Jenn-Air side-by-side normal kitchen fridge. Their product book only says, "Install the refrigerator where the room temperature will not go below 55°F. With temperatures below 55, the refrigerator will not run frequently enough to maintain proper temperature in the freezer." But this is a much different statement than it harming the fridge long term, and it doesn't address what happens if you run it at, say, 58°F every night for a few months each winter or 55°F on vacations.

Thanks!

Submitted January 26, 2016 at 12:01PM by Manbatton http://ift.tt/23pRtHb refrigeration