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throw-the-towel • today at 4:39 PM • 4 replies • view on HN

How in the name of fuck was a fridge even designed to be able to heat itself to 50 degrees C?


Replies

alwa • today at 4:57 PM

Fridges tend to have built-in defrost cycles these days. Without that, ice builds up around the coils that ordinarily cool the compartment (and by extension the ambient moisture in the air, encouraging it to condense). And you'd have to thaw it yourself from time to time.

➕ show 1 reply
zacharycohn • today at 4:56 PM

Every refrigerator has a defrost cycle - which is just a heater. It normally only runs for a few minutes at a time, but if you change some bits around, it could run for a lot longer and a lot hotter.

dn3500 • today at 4:55 PM

It's probably just running the heat pump in the other direction. 50° sounds about right for the hot side. I expect that the hotter the better, because it will melt the frost without warming the food. And if a bad guy hacks in to the freezer, he can probably override any kind of temperature control and just tell the compressor to run full out.

gizajob • today at 4:53 PM

I thought that. Now looking for the heat setting on my fridge. I guess it’s in case you need to antifridge sometimes.