UK heatwave leave fridges struggling to deal with the heat

The food industry has recognised that heatwaves are causing it a problem.

Rupert Ashby, from the British Frozen Food Federation, said freezers are breaking down or being switched off in supermarkets in the extreme heat because the systems find it hard to deal with the high temperatures.

“The way the fridges work is to cool everything down and expel the hot air,” which normally works well in the ambient air in the UK.

“[However,] with heat like this, trying to expel that air is very difficult,” he added.

He said older stores tend to have a remote compressor on refrigeration units with the condensers outside. Because the system is on the outside, it is finding it hard to expel that hot air.

A spokesperson for Tesco said: “There were a few isolated issues affecting our refrigeration units in stores; however, these were not indicative of any broader issue across our estate.”

They said they had maintenance teams working hard to resolve any isolated issues “as quickly as possible… with customers still able to access fresh and frozen products across the vast majority of our stores”.

Next week, the Met Office is predicting another hot spell, with temperatures in the “low to mid 30s” across much of the UK.

Back at his research lab, Dr Foster’s team is working with many of the supermarkets to redesign fridges for a warmer world. But, he warned, there is no magic wand.

“It could take 20 years before all the refrigeration systems out there are at the maximum temperature they are being designed for today. And by then that will be too low.”