Fridge light upgrade.

[Pamela]

I saw that but my fridge-freezer doesn't need that sort of heat.

[T i m]

On Fri, 08 Mar 2019 16:14:28 +0000, Scott [e-mail]> wrote: <snip>

And does this still relate to just fridges, or fridge freezers (with a single thermostat / compressor)?

Cheers, T i m

[Brian Gaff]

Sounds a bit odd if the lamp and the thermostat are linked. problem waiting to happen if they rely on a bulb as a ref or something. Brian

[Scott]

I honestly don't know. Mine is a fridge freezer but the light is in the fridge compartment. I assume the same principle applies to fridges and freezers as both are doing the same job.

We need someone who knows about thermodynamics. Anyone out there?

[Scott]

Exactly. Mine is manually operated with a switch. If I forget to turn this on in cold conditions the food in the freezer goes soft. I promise you all it is true.

[T i m]

I think the issue is limited to fridge freezers or fridges with freezer boxes and that only have one compressor / thermostat controlling both. eg, If the fridge is in an environment where it's already below the normal working temperature (a cold garage in the winter), the stat (in the fridge) wouldn't call the compressor to run and so the freezer (/box) would therefore defrost as *it* needs to be at a much lower temperature (or summat). ;-)

I think it's more to do with the fridge / freezer and compromise of design (when used in extreme conditions).

Cheers, T i m

[T i m]

I believe many vehicle charging systems relied on the presence of the ignition lamp to provide excitation to the dynamo (/alternator?).

I know my BMW motorbikes do.

Cheers, T i m

[Pamela]

It is odd isn't it and that's why I never suspected the cause of the failing fridge freezer. It nearly got thrown out because setting the thermostat about half way would cause the condensor to stop after a day or so and the entire contents of the freezer would defrost.

That's why I got some wireless fridge feezer thermometers to provide an alarm when this happened. I would then put the stat to max and let everything freeze down.

The interior bulb was blown in a way that on ocassion it would light up and I wonder if that was a loose filament which intermittently improved the circuit function.

Never mind, a new bulb cured everything and the fridge freezer now works perfectly as well as being well illuminated!

[Scott]

Thanks. It sounds like you know more about it than I do. I am relying on user experience.

[T i m]

<snip>

Only what I read from your links. ;-)

And I can't as I've never had a fridge with such needs (or a fridge freezer for that matter, let alone one left out in the cold). ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[Johnny B Good]

I 'pushed the boat out' and spent about 4 quid on a pair of 1.8W ses pygmy lamps a few months ago to replace the 15W tungsten bulbs in our under counter fridge and the chest freezer[1]. It never occurred to me that they could be used to compensate for extremely cold ambient temperature operation. In both cases, there wasn't any sign of a 'Low Ambient' switch to keep them lit for such a purpose so isn't a potential problem that, in this case, won't arise since our kitchen never gets any colder than 15 deg C anyway.

[1] I did it because I could and was curious as to whether it would offer any improvement in lighting and reliability rather than because of the minuscule savings to be made in electricity consumption.

[Jac Brown]

Its got nothing to do with thermodynamics. Its just that with a very low room temp, there isnt enough heat leaking in past the insulation to see the compressor keep being needed. With the light on, the heat from that eventually sees the thermostat decide to turn the compressor on because the fridge internal temp has got above the room temp. With no separate thermostat for freezer section.