Our fridge has a winter button inside. That's not what it's actually called, and I seem to recall that it's supposed to be on when the temperature of the room the fridge is in is low (I don't know how low).
All it seems to do is make the fridge light stay half-on when the door's closed.
What does it do?
Daniele
Completely uninformed guess: When it's cold, there's only a small difference between the room and the fridge interior, which means the fridge struggles to pump heat. By leaving the light on at, say, 10W, it warms up the interior of the fridge a little such that the heat pumping works properly.
Does it modulate the light - so that when the fridge is not pumping it's off (to retain the cold), and then on when it's pumping? Or is the light on all the time?
Theo
I presume you have a fridgefreezer? Most cheaper ones only have one stat (in the fridge compartment). If this is kept cool by low ambient temperatures then the compressor stops and the freezer isn't actively cooled. By powering the light (and providing a small heat source) in the fridge compartment, the temperature is raised enough to activate the stat and keep the compressor going, ensuring that the freezer contents don't thaw.
Tim
I'll have to check!
Daniele
Yes, I could only guess that its function was to warm up the thermostat.
But in that case, why not simply say in the instructions: turn down the thermostat?
And I guess this makes the fridge compartment unnecessarily cold.
Daniele
Turning down the stat in a one-stat fridge freezer won't work as it's not intended to freeze the fridge contents. Of course if the stat calibration is a bit off you might well achieve this but would you want too? It's meant to hold the fridge contents above zero and if it can do this without running he compressor (because it's in an unheated garage say) then the compressor will never run.
Tim
The instructions for my fridge freezer say its function is to warm up the whole fridge - so that the thermostat then triggers and cools it down again.
Because that would make the fridge unnecessarily cold?
I don't understand what difference there is between:
so that the compressor turns on sooner and more often.
Daniele
ambient
actively
activate
Because that would move the set point of the fridge compartment, making it too cold.
No, it's been heated by the energy from the light... The set point remains the same but because there is too small a heat loss from the fridge compartment when in a cool/cold enviroment the compressor doesn't run and the freezer also warms up. By artificially warming the fridge compartment the compressor comes on and keeps the freezer closer to the right temperature.
Oh my. So it actually warms down the fridge that it's trying to keep cool. That seems rather inefficient.
Daniele
Because fridge stats aren't designed to make the fridge compartment lower than zero. If the fridge is already at or near zero due to cold ambient temperatures, then the compressor won't run and you freezer will warm up to ambient temp.
Having the light on adds a bit of heat to the fridge triggering the stat to start the compressor.
My freezer runs at -18. You would want a stat that allowed you to drop the fridge temperature to that level and nor would you want your freezer warming up to low ambient temperatures, even if they were a bit negative.
If you have a fridge freezer in a cold environment you either get one with two stats or add heat to the fridge compartment (which is what yours does.
Tim
"Warms up" I think you mean, and yes, it is a bit inefficient. It is however a lot cheaper that a fridgefreezer with two stats and compressors.
Tim
And how do you think that will enable you to explain things more clearly?
Yes, I understand now.
What I found difficult to understand was that the light would warm up the *entire fridge compartment* (I assumed it was just supposed to nudge the thermostat in the desired direction), which just seems bizarre.
Daniele
Hallelujah! ;-)
Um, it doesn't need to warm the "entire fridge compartment", just the stat which is normally situated near the top of the fridge. As warm air rises, the top of the fridge will be warmer than the bottom but as long as the stat gets triggered to cool the freezer it doesn't *need* to warm the botton of the fridge.
Tim
Some stats used to have or may still have a resister in them. It would get warm and the stat would kick in. I think it was a resister, it was a long time ago. You must have a fridge with a glass door to be able to see inside with the door closed?
Mechanical room stats do, but that is make the room temperature control a bit closer to the set point with out wild over/under shoots.
I wouldn't expect such fine temperature control is required in a fridge with relatively low thermal mass and faster response compare to a building heating system.
It was a tight fit, but after taking the shelves out I was able to squeeze in.
Daniele
Foolish boy. That's what children are for. Much easier to squeeze them in to a fridge. ;-)
Tim
My wife can see through walls.
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