Fridge failure due to heat is real in homes, too. You can likely prevent it easily. And it's not just fridges. Read on.
About 5 years ago here, a "heat dome" event pushed temps into the 40s °C. We were holed up in the bedroom with the portable aircon cranked, and that just made it a bit less broiling. My computer (Macbook) was dragging and hanging for no apparent reason. It sucked.
I went to the kitchen to refill my water. The fridge was screaming, its (variable-speed) compressor running at a pitch alarmingly far higher than I'd ever heard, and it wasn't cooling down to its setpoint.
I pulled the fridge away from the wall, took off the back cover, and found the consenser coils clogged up with lint and dust and cruft. So I used the vacuum cleaner and a canned-air duster to clean them. Immediately the compressor pitch dropped. Still high, but not as high.
I pointed a floor fan so as to push air past the back of the fridge, and the compressor slowed down further. I put the fridge's back cover back on; it serves to guide air through the condenser coils. I left the fridge spaced further from the wall than usual, to allow more airflow.
I went (sweatily!) back to the bedroom, opened the Macbook, and found it similarly full of lint and cruft. Canned air, etc; powered back up, it ran at normal speed without hanging.
Half an hour later, the fridge was at setpoint and holding.
Speaking of air conditioners: those, too!
Saw on other social media that it seems like every supermarket fridge and freezer in the country has broken down. Made it to a coop near us, and, yup, no freezers. The fridges were working though! These places had better start getting better ones.
