Dear readers: If you have a garage refrigerator, you might have noticed that it won’t keep frozen food hard enough this time of year.

Most manufacturers say refrigerators should be in environments no cooler than 55 degrees. When the temperature drops below about 50 degrees, the thermostat doesn’t cycle on very much and the compressor doesn’t run often, if at all. The sensor is in the fresh food side of the fridge, and if it doesn’t call for cooling, the freezer temperature will increase gradually.

One solution is to fool the system by adding artificial heat to the fresh food side from a regular incandescent light bulb. Buy a work light – the kind with a removable metal dome reflector – unscrew it and clamp the remaining socket to a shelf. The cord can present a bit of an issue as it needs to be threaded through the crack between the weather stripping along the side of the door. It’s important to not pinch it or you’ll cause a short circuit; if it only squishes against the rubber strip, it will be fine. Use a regular 18-gauge lamp cord, which is the thinnest material that will carry the electrical load of the light bulb.

This extra heat likely will cycle the compressor on enough to keep the frozen foods at the right temperature. Start with a 25-watt bulb, and check the freezer temperature once in a while. If it’s about zero, you’re set. Otherwise, graduate to a 40-watt bulb but don’t go higher. Finally, make sure the light is plugged into a GFCI-protected outlet.

Dear Ken: What is your opinion of installing a pet door in a sliding glass patio door? – Sandy

Answer: I’m not crazy about them. Patio doors are challenging enough from a security standpoint, so installing one of these systems, which leaves the door partially open, likely diminishes your protection more. If money is no object, a better choice is to have a custom, tempered-glass slider panel fabricated with the pet door built into it.

Have you considered the menace of having other critters in the house besides yours? There’s no way to stop impetuous squirrels, raccoons and other dogs and cats from coming through the flapper – not to mention burglars who can slide through the larger- sized versions.

The best configuration for a pet access door is in the wall of a garage. That way, pets have the benefits of shelter and owners have control over who or what comes and goes.

Dear Ken: Someone said you had an article about how to clean whirlpool tubs. Could you repeat it sometime? – Roxanne

Answer: Water always is sitting outside the tub’s walls in the hoses and in the pump. Unless the tub jets are used at least once a week, the material in the pipes tends to fester and create a layer of scale and scum. Once in a while, toss a few tablespoons of dishwashing powder into half a tub’s worth of hot water and let the pump run for about 15 minutes. Drain and then follow up with a tub full of plain water and, again, run the pump to rinse.

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Moon is a home inspector in the Pikes Peak region. His radio show airs at 9 a.m. Saturday on KRDO, AM 1240 and FM 105.5. Contact him at aroundthehouse.com.