Refrigerator Temperature

A very important one of the kitchen appliances, the refrigerator is a part of every household nowadays. The refrigerator keeps all your food stuff fresh by preventing the growth of bacteria in it. An incorrect freezer temperature alters their texture, flavor, taste, nutrient content and the food safety. The temperature of the refrigerator surrounding keeps changing and the refrigerator has to adjust its internal temperature to keep your food fresh all the time. The refrigerant gas like ammonia and chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) are compressed and cooled to form a liquid. The liquid is then evaporated by the heat drawn from the surrounding leading to the reduction of the internal refrigerator temperature. But setting the ideal temperature is important to ensure complete safety of the foods from bacteria and to avoid altering the taste. Setting the right temperature also ensures conservation of energy. But then what should be the ideal temperature for your refrigerator? Read the following article and you will find the answers to all your questions.

Refrigerator Temperature: Settings

A knob is usually provided in the refrigerator to help you in changing the temperature settings of your refrigerator. Normally, it will have the numbers 1-5 or 1-9 in the refrigerator knob, and a dial representing the letters A-E in the freezer. If you have the 1 to 5 format the best way is to set it to three. Whereas, if you have the 1 to 9 format make it 4. The ideal refrigerator temperature settings range between 34 °F - 38 °F or 1 °C - 3 °C and the ideal freezer temperature settings range around 0 °F (-18 °C) or lower. But be carefully not to allow the temperature of the refrigerator cross 41 °C, because that temperature can foster bacterial growth. Also, do not let the temperature drop below 34 °Celsius, because that will lead to the freezing of food items and they no longer be eatable. Moreover, the change in temperature that you make will take at least a day to take full effect.

The ideal temperature range is set at 38 °F and it may shut off at 35 °F. Although if you have meat items in your refrigerator consider lowering the temperature below the standard value. This range of temperature is very energy saving. Your energy bills will also reduce saving money. The CFCs released from the refrigerator also remains in control if the right range is set. Remember that the temperature knobs may be different for different freezer models. Therefore, before you try your hands on setting the freezer temperature, make sure you go through the user manual provided by the manufacturer of the refrigerator.

Along with all the above, try to follow the general rules for the proper and long term functioning of your refrigerator. Keep the refrigerator door closed when you are not using it. When you are using it, open it for minimum amount of time. Clean the entire refrigerator once a week otherwise your food items will get some foul smell whenever they are kept in the refrigerator. If your refrigerator has become very old, chances are that it is not working energy efficiently and it may also be releasing a lot of CFCs. To avoid doing harm to nature and save money buy a new refrigerator. Nowadays many energy efficient refrigerator models are available from which you can choose. Some of these new models also have the feature for automatic temperature control and maintenance. This is a very useful feature. You also do not have to defrost these new breed refrigerator. I hope you have acquired all the information you wanted about how to set the ideal temperature in your refrigerator.