25 Refrigerator Facts To Know Before You Put Your Food In It!

Refrigerators are a boon to humankind as they help preserve food for months together.

Did you know? Before the invention of refrigerators, Greeks, Romans, English, Chinese, and Indians would use iceboxes and houses or dampening techniques to keep their food cold.

Thanks to the many scientists and inventors that made the refrigerators reality and helped make ice at home the most straightforward task for humans. A Scottish scientist, William first demonstrated the idea of a fridge which was later worked on and improvised by many other inventors like Oliver Evans, Jacob Perkins, John Gorrie, Alexander Twinning, James Harrison, and more.

Today the refrigerator or the ice-box is also commonly called a fridge which is used for commercial and residential purposes.

Read on to know more interesting facts about the machine that everyone opens and closes at will when hungry or bored.

History Of Refrigerator

Refrigerators have a fascinating history that includes the American inventor and connects to the famous Albert Einstein as the patent for the same. Read on to know more about the past.

Earlier the refrigeration was done with the help of an icebox or a house that helped keep the perishable food cold.

The first-ever demonstration of an artificial refrigerator was done in the mid-1700s.

Around seven to eight scientists and inventors have worked and patented the idea and improvised machines over the 18th and 19th centuries.

All eight scientists and even more inventors have improved the machine's durability and efficiency.

Albert Einstein was a co-inventor of a refrigerator prototype created in 1930.

Commercial refrigerators were in use almost 40 years before the domestic refrigerator became popular in the American household.

Commercial machines were a common sight in supermarkets or restaurants during the early 19th century.

Types And Parts Of Refrigerator

There are five central and most fundamental parts that make the great refrigerators store food for later. Read on to know about these parts and the different types of this cooling machine.

Every refrigerator has these major five parts that complete the machine, namely the door, the back, the upper shelf, the bottom shelf, and the crisper drawers.

The doors have the warmest spot in the fridge, which is why they hold water bottles and space to keep non-perishable items.

The doors of the refrigerators have rubber sealing. This rubber door then helps lock the warm air outside the fridge.

The upper shelves are mainly used to store dairy and leftover foods with a constant temperature. This is good for food safety, while the crisper drawers are known to restore some moisture, which makes it entirely favorable for keeping vegetables fresh.

The back of the fridge is colder than the rest of the spaces.

The main portion in the fridge is the bottom shelf which is the coldest spot in the fridge. That is why it is favorable for frozen goods along with meat, fish, and the like.

Some refrigerators have these bottom shelves as freezers on the top as a different compartment which helps in flash-freezing with dual evaporators.

Working Of Refrigerator

Refrigeration is quite an exciting process to understand. It is a machine that compresses a liquid or gas into vapor, keeping the inside of the refrigerator cooler and releasing the heat through the second pipe; hence the outer body may seem warmer than usual.

There are five main working parts in a refrigerator: an expansion valve, a condenser, a compressor, a refrigerant, and an evaporator.

Ammonia was the refrigerant used earlier which was later switched with freon, and due to their harmful nature, HFC-134a (1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane) gas is used as a refrigerant in the modern electric refrigerator.

The energy efficiency of modern refrigerators has been increased with competitive technologies as these machines run 24/7, unlike air conditioning.

Saltwater or brine is sometimes used as a refrigerant as it absorbs heat.

Miscellaneous Facts

Read on to learn more about this machine's enticing facts to share with your family and friends.

Chinese people would celebrate the activity of cutting ice blocks and storing them for the entire year during the early ages.

Even before the concept of refrigeration was introduced, an icebox or a container that kept the ice solid and food cold had first appeared in the 19th century in England.

Air conditioning machines use similar processing like the refrigerators, wherein their compressors are placed externally due to fluid leaks.

There are four domestic refrigerators: compressor, absorption, the Peltier, and the magnetic refrigerator.

Refrigerators are one of the very few appliances with an extended life span.

November 15 is celebrated as Refrigerator Day worldwide.

Every year in the U.S., almost 8 million refrigerators are sold, and 15% of these Americans are known to have two refrigerators at home.

FAQs

Why is the refrigerator so important?

Bacterias are omnipresent, and they tend to grow significantly in the food that we eat under the right atmosphere, moisture, and temperature, making the food harmful for human consumption. To avoid the illness caused due to these bacteria, refrigerators are of utmost importance.

They keep food cold and reduce the chances of bacterial growth, keeping the food fresh for longer durations and healthy for human consumption.

Who invented the refrigerator facts?

William Cullen, a Scottish scientist, had first invented the cooling machine in 1748, which had its blueprint created by Oliver Evans in 1805.

What gas is in a refrigerator?

Earlier, Freon gas was used in refrigerators. Although, due to its toxicity, the gas was later replaced with  HFC-134a (1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane) gas commonly used as a refrigerant today.

Why is it called a refrigerator?

Frigus in Latin means cold, and as the machine repeats the cooling process to work successfully, gave it the name refrigerator.

Who made the first refrigerator?

Jacob Perkins, an American inventor who lived in London, was the first to build an actual cooling machine or refrigerator in 1834.

When did the refrigerator become popular?

Even though refrigerators were invented in the 19th century, their popularity was marked only in the mid-20th century. Around the '40s, almost every American household had a home refrigerator. They also became known due to their ability to create ice cubes at home.

Which gas is used in the refrigerator for cooling water?

As ammonia is an outcome of one nitrogen and three hydrogen atoms, it becomes an ideal gas to cool the water in the refrigerators, and hence, it is used widely for the same purpose.

What was used before the refrigerator?

Before the refrigerator was invented, people used to store their perishable food in ice houses or boxes, which were made of wood and insulated with zinc or tin.

What kind of plastic is used in refrigerators?

There are five types of plastics used in refrigerators, namely Polypropylene (PP), Polyethylene (PE), Polyurethane (PU), Styrene-butadiene-acrylonitrile copolymer (ABS), and Polystyrene (PS).

Where was the first refrigerator built?

The first refrigerator was built in London by an American inventor.

What is the coldest part of a refrigerator?

Depending on the model, usually, the bottom shelves of the fridge are coldest due to the dense and colder air getting stored there.