Old British fridges 'cannot cope with the heat' - Published As Britain braces itself for another hot week, experts are warning that many fridges in UK homes and supermarkets are unable to cope with the sort of record-breaking temperatures we have been experiencing. Bristol-based refrigeration expert Dr Alan Foster said the appliances were "designed decades ago in a much cooler world". Fridges are typically designed to operate in air temperatures up to about 32C.

When temperatures rise above that – as they did last week and may again next week – they can struggle to stay cool or fail completely. Shoppers in Somerset and Bristol reported supermarket fridges switched off and empty, while engineers in Wiltshire reported record call-outs to home fridges that have "given up the ghost". As the Met Office warns that heatwaves are becoming more common in the UK, the question is whether the nation's fridges can keep up.

More from Bristol - Festival for women creatives launches in beauty spot - Published3 hours ago - CPS considering charges against MP after rape arrest - Published17 hours ago - Identical twin dies weeks after setting up leukaemia fundraiser - Published1 day ago Why do fridges struggle in hot weather? In a testing lab in Lower Langford, Somerset, Foster runs experiments to see how fridges cope with rising temperatures. Inside a climate-controlled chamber, a standard fridge is fitted with sensors and filled with gel blocks to measure how evenly it cools.

"We can test the temperature across different parts of the fridge," he explained. Crucially, they can also make the room warmer or cooler, to see how the fridge survives in a warming world. His team at Refrigeration Developments and Testing, (RD&T) work for many of the big retailers, advising them how to cope with climate change.

"In most of the supermarkets out there, the fridges were designed for 32C, which obviously isn't enough, because these were designed decades ago. "It was a much cooler world." He said once temperatures go beyond what the system was designed for, the compressor works continually to keep things cold – eventually leading to breakdown. Why are supermarket fridges switching off?

When systems are under pressure, supermarkets may reduce the number of chilled cabinets in use to keep others working. The systems run on central refrigeration units, so by closing some cabinets they can keep enough crucial ones cool. A study commissioned by, external the UK Climate Change Commission found that the food industry was badly hit by the UK heatwave of 2022, which saw a maximum temperature of 40.3C for the first time.

The study noted increased energy costs, and failure of refrigeration systems in numerous retail facilities. At that time, they noted, supermarkets were forced to empty shelves as chillers stopped working. Shoppers noticed the same thing in the high temperatures last week.

As the Somerset village of Merryfield recorded a record high of 36,7C, shoppers in the nearby town of Cheddar spotted empty fridges in the shops. David Morris, who was shopping in Cheddar, said the situation was worrying. "It reiterates the fact we're entirely unprepared for this climate situation." He said people need to "pull together" to help resolve issues for the next generation.