Placement of Your Spare Refrigerator or Freezer in Your Home
From the "Ask Martha" column in the 1/6/13 issue of the Richmond Times-Dispatch
Is the food I keep in the extra freezer in my garage absorbing gasoline toxins?
Martha Stewart sez: If you can smell gasoline in your garage, first make sure you don’t have a leak or a storage problem, which is a fire hazard. Once you’ve ruled that out, check if the gasket around the freezer door is sealing properly by placing a flashlight inside and shutting the door, recommends Patrick Schnurbusch, president of HVAC and Refrigeration Experts in Garner, N.C. If there is any light shining through, the gasket is not airtight, and you should call a refrigerator technician.
You also might consider moving the refrigerator to another location, such as a basement. “It’s not good practice to store food in a place where you also have volatile chemicals like gasoline and solvents,” said John Caporaso, a food-packaging expert from the CECON Group. If you plan to store hazardous substances in your garage, it’s safer to keep your spare refrigerator elsewhere.