This goofy fridge has a really clever design. It's also kinda terrible. 

"In order to simulate a well-stocked fridge, I stocked my fridge well" Bless this man

I can't wait for the final instalment of this series on the refrigeration cycle where we see Alec build his own refrigerator from scratch. 😂

If this man made a six hour long documentary on the drying properties of different types of wall paint, I'd still watch it.

You made me laugh several times because I would think..."Just add a little fan inside. That will fix it." And then you do. And down the rabbit hole we went together.

Most youtubers are worried they can't hold an audience for 2 minutes, meanwhile you are an absolute legend and trust us to stick with you for an hour. And you are not wrong! Love every second of it!

i am a Refrigeration tech, and I would like to give you some insights, so the type of mechanical thermostat this fridge, (actually the type most small commercial units use) is actually quite interesting. When you adjust the knob your not actually changing the temperature at which the switch closes. It is what's known as a fixed cut in switch, meaning what you are actually changing with the knob is the differential between the cut-in and cut-out temperatures, they are used to essentially make an extremely simple auto defrost. by attaching the switch to only a uniform diameter tube instead of a sensing bulb the pressure the switch sees is the average of the entire tubes length. then by inserting that tube inside the evaporator we get an average evaporator temperature. all you need to do then is calibrate the switch so that it takes an average temperature of 33deg. along its length before it has enough pressure to overcome the snap action and you can be sure the evaporator will defrost entirely every off cycle. Also, as you already found out in your testing, because you are reading evaporator temp and not air temp, when the refrigeration circuit has more BTU capacity than the refrigerator evaporators absorption capacity (a necessity with this series freezer design.) The thermostat will always satisfy before bring the box to the desired temp whenever the thermal load inside the box is larger than the evaporator capacity.

This is a scary accurate portrayal of what engineering looks like at times. The chaos also reminds me of my silly idea of someday building a kart with a steering wheel that controls angular velocity of the wheels instead of position.

I’m from the Netherlands, I grew up having fridges very similar to this one. One of the things I was told growing up, was to change the thermostat setting depending on how full the fridge was and definitely not add large quantities of fluids at the same time if the fridge was empty or near empty. Not sure if this was something done in my family specifically or this was something everyone that had similar fridges did. But maybe it was something my parents noticed happened and they adjusted their behaviour to make it better? But yeah, we never really kept food in there long enough for it to go bad I guess.

I just watched an entire 1 hour show on a low budget fridge. I was completely encapsulated by the development of events from beginning to end. Just to find out why it was 1 whole hour. Good job.

It's not weird that you did an hour long video on a fridge, and it's also not weird that I sat down in excited anticipation to watch it.

I have this EXACT fridge, well, black. Fits perfectly in my 250 sq ft San Francisco studio, and has been a really good fridge so far. The self-defrosting feature has been the best, as my last fridge needed to literally have ice chipped away every month, this thing gets almost no frost, and when it does, it is gone within a day. At least now I understand why the sides get warm :) As far as the temp zones, they can be annoying until you figure the out, then they become useful. I like my fridge colder than usual, but this causes things in the very back of the fridge, especially on the top shelves to freeze, had this happen to eggs. I turned this into a useful feature, anything I want extra cold, such as soda, meats, etc goes on the top near the back. It works out for me personally, but I also have a BAS in Culinary arts, I can see how this could be a headache for someone without cooking experience.

I work fixing fridges in brazil. We've got a lot of simpler fridges that work exactly like this, in fact i'm pretty sure ive seen this same exact thermostat/lamp unit before , altough we don't have galanz fridges. There are also a lot of what are called "frost free" fridges, which are the ones you are probably most familiar with, where the evaporator is on the freezer part only, and a fan circulates the air around and to the fridge part. There are also intermediary ones, like the one from the video but with automatic defrosts from time to time. The r600a refridgerant is also very common (which sucks beacuse the compressors tend to be worse than the older r134a counterparts, usually the piston gets stuck). Also, i think r600a is "heavier"? Because the compressors seem to have bigger hp ratings for the same cooling amount when compared to r134a.

I am amazed how you can make a 1-hour video about a fridge, and I'll watch every second of it. Never change.

I honestly love how so many of us became so engaged that we watched an hr long video on a shitty low budget fridge is a testament to this channel

can confirm the chest freezer thing. those units last forever. my great aunt got rid of hers just a few months ago, it was working still, she just wanted to replace it with something more modern and convenient. it was one of the pre-insulation plugs, so it was bought before 1984 at the latest

17:00 From watching Kitchen Nightmares, Gordon Ramsey would always tear into staff who put hot items in the walk in fridge, likely for this reason. The fridge just can't compensate fast enough for the sudden heat source and now everything in the freezer or fridge is now going to get warm for a bit. He says you should let the food cool to room temp then put it into the freezer/fridge. 26:30 My guess is that the compressor is so small that to protect it from burning itself out it has a run time limiter that prevents it from running continuously so once you put the cans in it could only cool it part way, then the compressor cools off, then it runs some more, cools off, etc. 39:40 I like how you can see his progressive rage building out of frustration and confusion. "What? One fan didn't work? How about one big one? How about one on each shelf? Hah? You like that!?"

It is comforting to know that there is someone else in the world who exerts considerable time and effort on such projects.

I love the way you call this a "mini fridge", in the UK we'd call it a "fridge". The large double door units are often referred to as "American fridges" 🤣

Big fan here. I repair fridges for a living, and i really liked this video, it was really fun seeing you figure out what's happening. Here in europe these kinds of fridges are really common. So the thermostat sensor is placed on the middle of the evaporator, the thermostat wont let the compressor start until it is fully defrosted. It is made this way so it wont accumulate frosting in the fridge and the compressors running long periods of time will overheat and can cause the motor coil to get damaged. Keep in mind that these compressors are not that efficient. The temperature issues was solved with a bigger evaporator and a fan placed above it. The fan only runs when the compressor is running and the door is closed. Really nice video

You might also need to monitor the temperature of the compressor - it might not be fitted to run for extended periods of time and better thermostat might just kill it faster. Or I might be giving the engineers too much of a credit, but they went through all the troubles of coming up with the original design (I mean, sticking the sensor that deep obviously took some thinking and effort)

This is literally every fridge I ever used. I had no idea there can be more to a fridge than this.

"Automatic defrost added complexity, and that came with costs. First: cost." Alec, you just... you get me, man.

This system is actually pretty common for freestanding fridges here in europe, I don't really get the obsession with huge massive fridges. The primary rule is 1) do not keep the doors open, 2) let things cool down entirely before putting them into the fridge or freezer, 3) put stuff in the right places for the required temperature and 4) the thermostat cools relative to environmental temperature so you have to turn it up in summer.

i do not own this fridge, nor do i have any interest in refrigeration, but for some reason i watched this whole video and was thoroughly entertained. i appreciate the amount of effort you put into this and i look forward to watching your lava lamp video next. cheers.

I legit just bought this exact fridge on Facebook marketplace a couple weeks ago with the intention of making it the main fridge for a household of 2. I normally would not want to watch a 60 minute video about a random fridge, but ya got me on this one. Well done sir.

the thing is, most of the european fridges are build similarly. the freezer is at the bottom, but other than that, no fans, no double doors, no ice maker and the condensers are in the walls.

I find it interesting, that this freezer is called "mini freezer". For me it appears really big. From my point of view, that size is the regular size here in Germany.

HOLY SHIT THANK YOU FOR MAKIHNG THIS VIDEO. I live on a boat and my only fridge is a magic chef mini fridge. it is basically identical to this fridge in terms of having the same insides and the only differences are on the outside and are cosmetic. You have given me so many explanations for things that hadve had me puzzled about my fridge for ages. things like everything in my freezer being melted and me wondering how it could have possibly happened with the door closed(i now think it was after putting a semi warm crock pot in the fridge). the freezer working a little too well sometimes that you physically cant scoop ice cream without thawing it first and have to cook frozen food much longer than the directions say. things on the back wall of the fridge being frozen solid while things in the door and drawer are just cool. cheese and milk going bad well before their expiration date when they are inside the bottom drawer. you gave me so much good knowledge about how this fridge works and it will forever change how I fill and arrange my food in it... as soon as I got done watching this video I immediately went and rearranged all of the food in my fridge. THANK YOU for unlocking the mysteries of the universe for me and helping me hopefully not have spoiled milk and cheese anymore

For me in the UK, this is a VERY standard fridge. While plainer on the outside, every fridge Ive had has been identical to this on the inside

Alec, fun fact for you to keep in mind when building your own "Fridge" is that when I was an apprentice refrigeration Mechanic in the 1970s and worked in a factory making commercial refrigerators for well known brands of Ice cream and soda. The Cap tube and length of copper pipe was determined by trial and error (The compressor size could be calculated very easily by using well known BTU / volume math) We would take a length of Capillary tube and try different lengths and diameters (It comes in many different thicknesses) cut a length and test it for a few days with a recorder inside and then try a different length and diameter. We got pretty good at it and could predict how much to use by when we got a consistent result and the lowest Amperage drawn over the same length of time. Yes power draw changes by the diameter and length of the cap tube. By the way, a smart thing to mention was that the cap tube was wrapped around the suction line just before entering the compressor for the purpose of "Heat exchanging" the heat left over from the condenser entering the evaporator and stopping liquid from entering the compressor as liquid is non condensable. Love your channel so please keep it up.

The reason why it kept stopping to cool even though it was above target is probably just the system trying to preserve the health of the condenser

Update: I've been using this as our household fridge for a family of 2 for the last 6 months. I added a smart thermostat to the door which sends a push notification to my phone if the temperature rises to 40 degrees. Early on I received a few push notifications after stocking. To mitigate this issue we've used a couple of re-usable ice packs to help maintain temp. We keep one in the freezer and one in the door and swap them when we restock the fridge. This simple hack has prevented it from ever hitting 40 degrees again.

I think most fridges here in Europe use this design. Our most recent one came with two thermal ballasts to put in the freezer with instructions to keep them there if you're not keeping products in there too help with efficiency.

As an European, I'm pretty sure every fridge in every house I've ever lived in had this design. It's really common here.

Given the price point and simplicity, I'd be happy to have something like this as a shop drink cooler. Especially with the T-stat mod. Of course, used fridges are good options for shops too. But this is also a nice option. Too bad the cheap one isn't available anymore.

Wire rack shelves might help with the top to bottom temperature differential, and they might be cheaper too. A thin layer of insulation around the compressor cubby might help prevent heat transfer to the interior, and it wouldn't cost much.

I think my favorite part about this channel is that it touches so many nerds in so many different ways. Like the fridge engineer probably watched this video and was like "Uhhh.... yeaah duh..." and maybe even added something in the comments, but the sprinkler dude was fascinated by this video while he watched the rotating sprinkler video shocked that more people didn't know these things already.

If anyone would have told me previously that I would willingly sit through an hour long video about a "mini" fridge, I would never have believed them. Your level of detail and thoroughness piqued my inner nerd and your hysterical tongue in cheek comedic delivery made this a complete joy to watch. Thank you for your content! Outstanding work!

Who knew you could make an hour-long mystery adventure out of a refrigerator

When I bought my first home in 1975 one of the bedroom windows looked directly into a neighbours kitchen. At the wall furthest from their window I could see something intriguing but it was something I had never seen before though the shape was familiar. The colour was the stumbling block though. Tomato red! Yes it looked like a fridge but red, in 1975 not likely. So I made friends with them purely to get invited in so I could see the red thing. Yes, it was a fridge. A normal fridge for the era on the inside but not on the outside. It had been in the house when they had bought it 3 yrs prior and they couldn’t wait to have enough money to get rid of it and buy a new white one, which they did not long after that actually. ( in those days people kept items that were functional whether they were nice or not decor wise until they could pay for them. Houses and children were the only thing worth going into debt for. (still not sure about children really) The main problem today with people is they cannot wait until they are able to afford things. The have now pay later scheme has ruined many people. Keeping up with the Jones’ has been turned into an art form. But I digress…needless to say I have not seen a red fridge in the last 48 yrs.

How on earth did I find an hour long video on a refrigerator to be this captivating? This was really enlightening- thank you!

With it being on the table for a moment there, I felt there was a chance that he had bought two of them, and was going to tear one apart, and put a plexiglass window on it, or something.

Ok I nearly fell out of my chair from laughter when you showed the stock footage in the beginning with "professional reenactment"

As a former refrigerator repair technician I love older analog refrigerators. Usually you can tell just by the sounds it makes what the problem is.

As soon as you showed that first plot after adding a fan I thought to myself "Wow there must be something odd happening with the temperature feedback loop", and after you glossed past that and proceeded to try all those other things I could feel a small part of the engineer inside me writhe in agony.

The fact that this fridge rejects modernity to the point of using an incandescent light bulb makes me love it even more.

I love how you straight up just fixed their very big mistake in their fridge design. Love this so much

OMFG. Thank you. To being with, I was thinking 'why am I watching this person talk about a freezer'. Then you got to showing the simple workings of the device and I realised why my (fairly new, not inexpensive) fridge/freezer keeps icing up. Ten minutes later and I've now unblocked/de-iced the drainage hole which allows condensation from both fridge and freezer to exit out the back. Fingers crossed no more puddles resulting in wet socks in the middle of the night... Again, thank you!

Makes sense for Alec to buy something and then spend months obsessing over it and analyzing it, then making a weirdly fascinating video about the whole ordeal. Well done!

This is one of the nerdiest detective stories ever but it's also incredibly captivating and entertaining. So basically just what I subscribed for.

Used to rent a place with it's own simple fridge. In fact, here in Brazil our cheapest fridges are, indeed, this simple and mechanical. Had to defrost it manually with the pan trick a few times. Nowadays, frost-free fridges are increasingly common and cheaper but, for the majority of the last century and a portion of the current one, owning a frost-free fridge was a sign of social improvement, as they were expensive and marketed as a feature. I've my own fridge nowadays, thank God the days of defrosting it are over, but it's sure interesting to see how these aspects changes from country to country, especially from developed ones. Also, I'd love to see Alec do a video on the so called "suicide showers", our electric shower heads.

1:12 My sleep paralysis demon when I go to get a midnight snack.

From Europe: I don't think I've ever seen a fridge/freezer combo that has airflow or a fan between the compartments. I genuinely think every appliance I've ever interacted with has been of the design of your "little red".

Genuinely, if someone told me they had watched an hour long video on a fridge, I'd seriously question their mental state. And yet, this was an instant click. Love this channel.

Listening to your videos brings me a kind of joy like I've never known before. It's like sitting with an old friend chatting about anything and having a good old time.

RU-vid auto-playing the 1hr+ fridge video after the 'popcorn button' episode. "NotAgainNotAgainNotAgain...well maybe I'll just stay for a bit"

Most likely the thermostat was placed near the cooling coils to ensure they don't get too cold or that the compressor runs for too long, which could damage the fridge or cause other issues.

A lot of these design features seem to be quite common here in Europe, at least every fridge I've come across does everything very, very similarly. With every video you come out, I get an increasing notion that you'd have a blast travelling here and seeing how all our thingymagigs works differently from their US counterparts

I watched this video very soon after it was posted, as I had just bought a smaller version (35 or so inches tall) of this retro-looking type of ‘fridge for beer in my garage man-cave. Until recently, the ‘fridge compartment was keeping a pretty steady. But a few days ago, I stuffed it completely full and the unit started running as if the thermostat has gone mad. I found the temp varying wildly, mostly too low, but also freezing cans along the back wall while too warm for cans in the door. In fact, at times, the freezer would completely thaw. Then I recalled the details of this video, especially regarding air flow. So I reduced the beer cans by half (or more) and spread them out. The ‘fridge part got back to its original steady temp and the freezer stays frozen! Thanks Alec!

Celcius conversions are a god send, your efforts to add the conversions have always been appreciated, it also helps me get a better feel for farenheit

Something important: the fact that the crisper is warmer is a good thing. Most fruit and vegetables that you usually store in the crisper have their optimal storage temperature at 10*C, while for meat, cheese and leftovers, it is 5*C. So by the crisper being slightly warmer it actually improves shelf life of stuff in it.

I love it how you try to understand every fridge I ever owned / encountered and have a lifetime's worth of experience with. It's like a crime story you know the end of, but the protagonist doesn't!

Little fridge tip if you put stuff in a small fridge like that make sure you have a good-sized ice pack in the freezer put the ice pack from the freezer in the top of the little fridge when you put stuff in it that is warmer which will help the fridge which will help cool down the warm item you put in it faster so keeping a good-sized ice pack in the freezer part is helpful

Thank you. You have successfully explained why the fridge at work immediately freezes up when you plug it in. That was driving me nutz.

As someone who's been tinkering with their PC for nearly a month straight for no apparent reason, that "No! Stop it!" had me laughing. I'm glad I'm not alone with running into these sort of insane rabbit holes.

I'm convinced that everything that is weird about that fridge is simply to keep the compressor from overheating. The drainage collects on top of it, and I bet the thermostat is calibrated to limit the run time. That would explain why the fridge didn't just keep on running until it hit the needed temp.

its been several months since i had this little gem of a video show up and i just came back to say thank you, ive really enjoyed spending my time with you and your channel. i've learned much and its helped me realize just how interesting somethings i thought to be mundane can be. thank you for sharing your interests and helping others learn ♥

I dont know how I got here, but I’m glad I did because now I know why my not-so modern fridge keeps icing in the back and what that little twisty thing with numbers actually does

The motor shutting off early could be due to a built-in duty cycle limitation. The compressor probably can't run permanently without risking damage, so it has a cutoff if it runs constantly for too long.

If TC ever creates refrigeration-cycle merch, i would buy instantly

Best channel on RU-vid, and my favorite infotainment of all time. This is exactly what I feel RU-vid was created for. It is the epitome of high quality, informative, entertainment. If I had kids I would watch this together with them knowing they would learn on so many different levels. Alec you have a rare gift my friend.

This is the third video of yours I've watch and I've now subscribed. Based on the data I thought the temp sensor was going to be close to the freezer, but I'm glad you figured it out. Love your solution.

I'm amazed at how this guy gets you to watch an hour video about a fridge and still makes it more interesting than the other videos in my ''to watch later'' list 😂 Great video, lot of work making this 💪

The "NO! STOP IT!" from off screen when talking about adding a fan by the compressor made me laugh out loud. This channel is the best.

Your style and choice of topics are such a breath of 80s/90s fresh air. Thank you for doing what you do

Strangely proud of the fact that I got halfway through you explaining the weird temperature patterns and realized it was something to do with where they put the probe.

I love your low key sense of humour. As a 75 y/o nerd who is somewhat "on the spectrum", I find the way you tackle subjects/ topics like this irresistable. I have, over the years, gotten myself bogged down in projects that seemed to be bottomless pits of time and ingenuity, so I can relate all too well. So it's quite a relief to know that I'm not the only crazy tinkerer on the planet.

"This opened up a can of worms (...) And now, I'm dragging you in with me!" There's next to no people on the planet who'd make me smile by saying those words like you did! Love your videos, love your ramblings, love your analysis and descriptions! Every time you appear on my feed I know it's a treat. Hope you're doing well! Stay healthy and nice! :* :)

“I spend a thrilling evening watching my fridge” Now it’s official: you are a nerd. And we love it!! Thank you so much for edutaining us with all this stuff you come up with. 🤩😍

“Closed course. Do not attempt” is genius. Back when I worked on a certain news parody TV program the “Reenactment” was fertile comedy ground

23:15 it ABSOLUTELY was a factor! like my other comment said, fridges rely heavily on the thermal mass of their contents to maintain their temperature.They are not designed to cool things quickly, they are designed to maintain a cold temperature. In the commercial kitchen they have special things known as "blast chillers" that are designed for the actual purpose of cooling down hot things. Even a commercial cooler is not designed to make hot things cold. You need thermal mass!

I used to be an appliance repairman 20 years ago. We always recommended keeping a fridge full. The oldest guy would always tell people to fill cool whip bowls with water and put them on empty shelves.

Stayed in a cabin last year that had this exact same fridge. Worked surprisingly fine. This was a middle of nowhere cabin where your primary water source was from the creek. No wifi, TV, and barely any cell signal. A nice disconnect spot.

Interesting! I work at a Menards where we just had these fridges on sale as one of our black friday deals, and I had someone return one because "the freezer wasn't working" and I'm guessing it's because they didn't wait long enough

0:55 Remember kids, lift with your back, keep your legs locked, and do it as fast as you can

The interesting thing is the different definition of „food safe temperature“. In Europe in general 4-5°C is considered the optimal temperature of the cooling compartment and -18°C for the freezer. In Germany we even go higher with considering 7°C as optimal temperature of the cooling compartment. And - it is perfectly fine, never had or heard of problems with 7°C.

This channel is the only channel where I could watch a 1 hour video and be fully interested throughout the entire video. Well made!

I bought this exact same fridge for my basement 3 years ago. I keep my house pretty cold (around 63-65*F) and the basement stays around 62*F without any heat or AC turned on. The cooler room temp and seldom opening of the door until college football season kicks off again, makes this and pretty much any fridge very efficient in this environment. But now I want to change out my thermostat....thanks buddy...lol. I am going to buy those data logging temp sensors for all my fridges and freezers. I mainly want to compare differences between the house fridge and separate freezer chests and shop fridges and separate freezer chests. I love your content and the amount of detail you put in there. Keep up the great work.

For the thermostat, it isn't a sensing bulb but just the end soldered off. It uses a fluid pressure in the tube along it's entire length to actuate a switch in the dial portion of the thermostat. I use these style sensors as low or high cut offs in air handling units

This is just like any old fridge in Europe. I think I actually never saw another fridge design

Thanks for the informative video you’ve put together here. I actually just got this fridge as a backup fridge for beers, water, & sodas, but after having it for a couple days, I realized that it might not be sufficient for keeping food at a safe temperature. Thanks to your great video, I know now that I should just use it as a bar fridge.

I got a fridge similar to this. What I get from this for the best way to use this fridge is to use it as an auxiliary fridge/freezer and to pre-chill in a full size before adding to this unit.

I know you weren't planning on this being an hour long saga, but I'm kinda super glad you did because I was fully captivated all the way through.

This is exactly the fridge design that I spent my entire life with (except for the red retro outside), and never really considered it could or should be more complex. No idea why one would want wifi in the fridge.

My family had a large upright freezer like this, the whole thing was a freezer, it got super cold, and was absolutely reliable so long as it got defrosted. Just a compressor, a little refrigerant, and an analogue method of pressure regulation. Been around for about 30 or more years now.

I'm absolutely astonished. I always knew mini-refrigerators had some cringeworthy issues when it came to keeping things cold - but I had no idea they could be THAT bad. I'm legitimately concerned at the moment because I purchased a similarly sized refrigerator for my elderly mother to have in her living space, so she didn't have to make a difficult trip up a flight of stairs to the kitchen. I want to say that the interior design looks identical but with a more conventional exterior. Having seen how she loads the refrigerator and knowing she leaves the damned door open for way too long... I might actually go through a more simplified process of temperature monitoring and I might just order up one of those controllers. I enjoy projects and ventures such as this. And honestly I thank you for your efforts, in all reality - this should be watched by everyone everywhere who has a refrigerator. This is public safety awareness level stuff and it is superb! Thank you! You found a new subscriber!

I for one am still anxiously awaiting your first feature-length compressor-based film.

R600a is Isobutane, for those wondering. It’s composition is exactly like butane, only it’s put together in a different way that makes it behave differently, especially as far as boiling point. In refrigeration butane boils at a balmy -0.4C, while Isobutane’s boiling point is -11.75C. The lower boiling point means it has capacity to absorb more heat at lower temperatures.

I can't stress enough how much I love your channel. Have a fridge with a real shoddy freezer and a passable fridge space. Had a fridge repair guy come and look at it. He explained nothing just looked in the freezer and said that it was cold now and looked fine. His advice was to smack the side of the fridge occasionally to get it to kick on. The simple statement of the defrost running more than the actual refrigerant makes complete sense with the fact that ice doesn't build up on anything in the freezer.

I'm a General Electric Appliance Technician and the r600 (butane) refrigerant is more efficient but has been unreliable in people's homes. A service bulletin was sent out last year around June 2022 and they have addressed the failure of over 170k unit with r600. The repair is a complete rebuild of the sealed system with LOKRING joints instead of brazing because it's explosive. The LOKRING joints leak and are unreliable as well