OT: Fridge thermostat range

Are you sure there is no calibration control on it ? If you can find the re al part number maybe you can look it up and get a spec sheet. Don't count o n them to tell you anything.

It may be the way it is, the part may fit a newer model and they don't want you running the freezer as cold because it works their little peewee compr essor harder. That is the trend, less power longer on time. They say it is more efficient, and while that is true, it is also conveniently cheaper. Th e colder temperature slows freezer burn and gives you more slack in case of a power outage or if you have to move the food. They don't care about that .

And, I must say that I think that 41 is not cold enough for the refrigerato r. I used to want to get them right at 32.001 if possible, which it isn't. The problem with coming that close is there will be cold spots that will wr eck your veggies. About 34 is better or if you get any freezing (veggies tu rn mushy) you have to go even higher. But milk, meat and cheese last a hell of alot longer, and the extra energy is nothing compared to the cost of go od food. Shitty food yes, but not good food. And I like some drinks really cold and I get them colder from the fridge than they would be with ice in t hem. Plus they don't get watered down by the melting ice.

That is my opinion based on where I live. Things may be different for you, climate and energy costs among the most important.

The old one has a very tiny Torx screw between the contacts, on the new one I couldn't see any. It is Sears Kenmore P/N 2161284.

Actually setting it to "normal" would drop the freezer to -20F and stuff would ice up in the fridge, beer bottles could explode.

Yeah, those tiny compressors these days, they have to run almost flat-out in the summer months. I love my wine fridge which I turned into a fermentation chamber. That has a classic big compressor and runs at very low duty cycle.

I grew up in Europe and we like the fridge to be around 45F (this new thermostat doesn't even want to go there). The main reason being that that is the recommended temperature for Pilsener and lots of other beer. I am a homebrewer.

I remember I and another engineer (also German-born) had a 2h layover in Denver and went to a bar for a cold one. "Need glasses?" ... "Nah". Said cheers, tried to drink a sip, nothing. There was a 1" column of ice in the neck of the bottles. Couldn't believe it.

Energy is really pricey in the People's Republic of California. Over $0.21c/kWh and a lot higher if you get above a rather measly "allowance" level.

onsdag den 9. maj 2018 kl. 19.07.17 UTC+2 skrev Joerg:

knob put on wrong?

Is it plugged in? :-)

The knob only goes on in one position and the 3 o'clock peg is correct.

would ice up in the fridge, beer bottles could explode. "

Beer... ... ... explode ? Hold on I need a safe zone lol.

There are, or were 2 types of conttrol systems. In one the fridge temperatu re directly controls the compressor and the air is controlled to affect the freezer temperature. In the other the freezer temperature directly control s the compressor.

In more electronic terms, one controls the temperatures in the common mode and the other in the differential mode. Which of them directly controls the compressor determines how the controls interact. I thought you were talkin g about a control for an air mixing vane, but if that control affects both temperatures the same, not differentially, then it is compressor control.

Since the ambient is warmer than the cold source, any added thermal resista nce between that cold and the sensor will slew the reading high which will make the cabinet too cold. It is like a car when the O2 sensor goes bad and the fault code says too lean, it is really too rich because the control sy stem is fine but the sensor is off. (slewed)

These sensors in z fridge are typically located close to the evaporator coi l. Usually they have plastic standoffs. You would have noticed this replaci ng it. If that is the case, perhaps moving the sensor closer to the coil wo uld change the range in the direction you want. If the insulation is really good it might not have much effect, if the insulation is not so good the e ffect may be quite significant, maybe even too much. In fact, older insulat ion that is not as good as it once was could be the root cause of this symp tom in the first place. Sensor too warm - compressor runs more. The rest of it means nothing, only the sensor.

Of course it might be too much of a bitch to take it back apart when actua lly it is working well. Who cares where the knob is ? IF it actually gets t o where you need it the rest is being a bit on the persnickety side. Nothin g wrong with that but is it worth the effort ?

I keep my beer in the basement. I used to like it ice cold and still do for the first couple, but all cold seems to give me heartburn. Plus the flavor is not quite there. If you don't have a basement, you could dig a hole in the ground. A few feet deep the temperature might be just about where you w ant it. It does depend on the lay of the land though, there are places it j ust won't work.

Up here if I didn't have a basement it would work. Lining for the hole, cla y would be natural but you van use many things, then a bucket and a rope to raise and lower the beer in a bucket. Then it doesn't get warm if you have a power outage. Your food might be bad but at least you'll have nice prope rly chilled beer to drink.

If you drink enough you don't need to eat :-)

A part number (on the part) comes from a thermostat manufacturer. The refrigerator manufacturer gets it as an OEM part, and stocks under a completely different scheme (or, asks the thermostat mfgr to mark it according to a 'came-from-supplier-A' variant of the refrigerator manufacturer's scheme). And, Sears/Kenmore branding gets put onto Whirlpool-manufactured goods.

So, the numbers printed on the part are intended to confuse you; ignore 'em, the repair-parts maze is kept out of user comprehension for a (disreputable) reason.

real part number maybe you can look it up and get a spec sheet. Don't count on them to tell you anything.

nt you running the freezer as cold because it works their little peewee com pressor harder. That is the trend, less power longer on time. They say it i s more efficient, and while that is true, it is also conveniently cheaper. The colder temperature slows freezer burn and gives you more slack in case of a power outage or if you have to move the food. They don't care about th at.

tor. I used to want to get them right at 32.001 if possible, which it isn't . The problem with coming that close is there will be cold spots that will wreck your veggies. About 34 is better or if you get any freezing (veggies turn mushy) you have to go even higher. But milk, meat and cheese last a he ll of alot longer, and the extra energy is nothing compared to the cost of good food. Shitty food yes, but not good food. And I like some drinks reall y cold and I get them colder from the fridge than they would be with ice in them. Plus they don't get watered down by the melting ice.

, climate and energy costs among the most important.

Yeah, I've found that since I dialed my fridge back the milk will last for a month or more. I buy a gallon and don't have to worry it will go bad. I

F! Once in a while something will freeze like ice will form in milk, but m ostly things freeze at a lower temp than water because they are solutions w hich depress the freezing point.

Rick C.

That has bad problems with freezing water and wet vegetables. We have a fridge in the village hall that at maximum chill setting could freeze and shatter anything left in overnight like bottled water or celery (yuck). It often got left like that from evening events when having it on maximum chill setting helped cool lagers down more quickly.

UK fridge recommendation is 3-4C or about 38F in US terms. Anything over 6C is risking unnecessary rapid spoilage.

Got served a part frozen can of Sam Adams on an AA flight once. It made a real mess of the stewardess and the carpet.

It has to get pretty cold to freeze beer and even colder to freeze wine.

Does that make PV solar panels cost effective there then?

It can freeeze and blast the bottle. It can also overcarbonate and then grenade a bottle with its neck and other pieces flying clear across a large room.

This is a much simpler deal. The sensor capillary is loop around a styrofoam block at the freezer to fridge duct outlet. This outlet also has a flap that set how much air exchange is allowed from freezer to fridge. So the thermostat senses the fridge temp but the coil is in the freezer, with a fan driving the cold air around.

The thermostat simply turns it all on and off. The defroster interrupts the works as needed, via what looks like an electro-mechanical timer.

Yep, the sensor I have is clearly slewed but it works and that's the main thing.

Sure, I'll leave it like that. All I wanted to know is whether it rides too close to the edge where some day it might flick into the "off" mode and we come back to a freezer full of rotted food. The "off" mode is entered by turning the knob CCW way past the "1" position, and it is slightly past that position now to the proper hold temperature.

Exactly, it's the flavor that suffers when too cold. Most Americans drink and serve beer way too cold.

That would require blasting out here.

In Germany we used to call beer liquid bread.

In Germany 7C is usually recommended in the middle of the fridge (text is in German):

Maybe because that is also the recommended pouring temperature for Pilsener.

Not really, it just makes things expensive in general. Body politicus is rather stupid in California. For years they are lamenting the extreme housing shortage, high rents, high building costs and the resulting homelessness. Now they are about to institute a new law requiring that all new construction has to have solar. Adding north of $10k per home or unit.