4 ms·

But do they? Does the person taking on that broken refrigerator know that it has a flaw that makes it consume so much electricity that in 3 years the power use

But do they? Does the person taking on that broken refrigerator know that it has a flaw that makes it consume so much electricity that in 3 years the power use alone would cost more than buying a brand new refrigerator? (ok, in this case they gave it to someone that needs a temporary 'fridge during renovations, so it's kind of a moot point, they aren't just giving it to "poor people")

b112 1y ago
Probably not any better than the last two LG fridges which both broke due to compressor issues, causing me to lose $1k of food each time. In one case, during the high summer, I didn't notice one was slowly getting warmer. I had constant bowel problems, because I was eating rotten mayonnaise. This was compounded by the fact that I bought fancy spicy mayonnaise, which I'd never tasted before, which masked the rotten flavour. So -- my lessons learned, never by LG horrible fridges again, and keep an analog thermometer, which I bought for $5, in the fridge. (General FYI, LG has had more than one class action law suit because of their compressors, and, they even make it very hard to obtain replacements. Evil bastards.) My point is, you should take care with any fridge, new or old. (edit: some clarity on mayo)
- RedShift1 1y ago
  You need to smell your food before you eat it. Trust your senses.
  - b112 1y ago
    Please. I've definitely smelled off food, and of course don't eat it. The mayo in question was some weird spicy stuff, and it didn't smell or taste bad. Note: https://www.sciencealert.com/sniff-tests-wont-save-you-from-food-poisoning-an-expert-explains-why https://www.sciencealert.com/sniff-tests-wont-save-you-from-... You cannot smell or taste all forms of bad food. At all.
- kasabali 1y ago
  > So -- my lessons learned, never by LG horrible fridges again You'd need to be careful because many other manufacturers are using LG made compressors in their products.
  - deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]
  - cogman10 1y ago
    LG and Samsung are the two that I think everyone should stay away from for major appliances. GE and it's spinoff brands tend to do better.
- Marsymars 1y ago
  I plan on putting some LoRaWAN temp sensors in my fridges/freezers to alert me if the temp goes out of spec for very long. (As soon as YoLink has their Local Hub available and functioning with Home Assistant.)
  - b112 1y ago
    I have remote gauges with alarms in my freezers, but I'm in my fridge every day, and nothing beats a simple analog gauge. In the freezers I also employ either the "freeze some ice cubes and put them in a baggy" or "freeze a small jar and put a coin on top" methods. If you see the ice cubes have melted and refroze, then trouble. If the coin is not on the top of the jar -- same thing. Fail proof methods.
  - scottlamb 1y ago
    I doubt you'd be able to get a signal through from inside the fridge. I made a Home Assistant "food safety" dashboard and alerts. I found two challenges: * Connecting to the outside world. I didn't go wireless because a fridge/freezer cavity is basically a Faraday cage, because I didn't want to deal with replacing batteries, and because high humidity + low temp = wet, sad microcontroller. And even a "flat" 4-conductor telephone cord disturbed the magnetic seal enough that there was a noticeable gap. I ended up buying a 4-contact, 1mm pitch, 200mm flat flexible cable to run across the seal. I separated the contacts with a utility knife, soldering them to other cables on both sides. I also heatshrinked the conductors individually and the whole junction together for strain relief. Then I superglued it into place. And 4 conductors is enough for ground, supply voltage, and either TX/RX or 1-Wire+unused. * Getting a reading that matches what foods actually experience rather than the air temperature. The latter fluctuates a lot more when you open/close the door or depending on what the defrost/compressor is doing. I ended up buying waterproof 1-Wire temperature sensors (elecrow sells them for $1.20 each + reasonable shipping), 4 oz plastic bottles, cable glands, and propylene glycol (relatively safe antifreeze, though I wouldn't chug it). I drilled holes in the lids for the glands to run the sensors in, then closed the bottles up while immersed in the solution. Cheap DIY buffered temperature probe. I currently measure buffered temperature, air temperature, and humidity, but really only the buffered temperature matters.
- crazygringo 1y ago
  > $1k of food each time What, is it chock full of exclusively ribeye steaks and smoked salmon? That feels like a crazy number. I keep a lot of nice vacuum-sealed protein in my freezer but even then I'd say the value is $300 max. How do you get to $1K?
  - b112 1y ago
    Canadian dollars, so 1.45x USD, and some expensive meats. Lamb is 3x the price of beef, for example. Name brand bacon is not too bulky and thin, 10 bucks for 500g. Some fish is expensive too. It adds up surprisingly fast.
analog31 1y ago
You can borrow a watt meter at my local public library. I'm not saying the average person would have the knowledge to think of doing this, but it's not out of reach.

b112 1y ago

Probably not any better than the last two LG fridges which both broke due to compressor issues, causing me to lose $1k of food each time. In one case, during the high summer, I didn't notice one was slowly getting warmer. I had constant bowel problems, because I was eating rotten mayonnaise. This was compounded by the fact that I bought fancy spicy mayonnaise, which I'd never tasted before, which masked the rotten flavour. So -- my lessons learned, never by LG horrible fridges again, and keep an analog thermometer, which I bought for $5, in the fridge. (General FYI, LG has had more than one class action law suit because of their compressors, and, they even make it very hard to obtain replacements. Evil bastards.) My point is, you should take care with any fridge, new or old. (edit: some clarity on mayo)

RedShift1 1y ago
You need to smell your food before you eat it. Trust your senses.
- b112 1y ago
  Please. I've definitely smelled off food, and of course don't eat it. The mayo in question was some weird spicy stuff, and it didn't smell or taste bad. Note: https://www.sciencealert.com/sniff-tests-wont-save-you-from-food-poisoning-an-expert-explains-why https://www.sciencealert.com/sniff-tests-wont-save-you-from-... You cannot smell or taste all forms of bad food. At all.
kasabali 1y ago
> So -- my lessons learned, never by LG horrible fridges again You'd need to be careful because many other manufacturers are using LG made compressors in their products.
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
- cogman10 1y ago
  LG and Samsung are the two that I think everyone should stay away from for major appliances. GE and it's spinoff brands tend to do better.
Marsymars 1y ago
I plan on putting some LoRaWAN temp sensors in my fridges/freezers to alert me if the temp goes out of spec for very long. (As soon as YoLink has their Local Hub available and functioning with Home Assistant.)
- b112 1y ago
  I have remote gauges with alarms in my freezers, but I'm in my fridge every day, and nothing beats a simple analog gauge. In the freezers I also employ either the "freeze some ice cubes and put them in a baggy" or "freeze a small jar and put a coin on top" methods. If you see the ice cubes have melted and refroze, then trouble. If the coin is not on the top of the jar -- same thing. Fail proof methods.
- scottlamb 1y ago
  I doubt you'd be able to get a signal through from inside the fridge. I made a Home Assistant "food safety" dashboard and alerts. I found two challenges: * Connecting to the outside world. I didn't go wireless because a fridge/freezer cavity is basically a Faraday cage, because I didn't want to deal with replacing batteries, and because high humidity + low temp = wet, sad microcontroller. And even a "flat" 4-conductor telephone cord disturbed the magnetic seal enough that there was a noticeable gap. I ended up buying a 4-contact, 1mm pitch, 200mm flat flexible cable to run across the seal. I separated the contacts with a utility knife, soldering them to other cables on both sides. I also heatshrinked the conductors individually and the whole junction together for strain relief. Then I superglued it into place. And 4 conductors is enough for ground, supply voltage, and either TX/RX or 1-Wire+unused. * Getting a reading that matches what foods actually experience rather than the air temperature. The latter fluctuates a lot more when you open/close the door or depending on what the defrost/compressor is doing. I ended up buying waterproof 1-Wire temperature sensors (elecrow sells them for $1.20 each + reasonable shipping), 4 oz plastic bottles, cable glands, and propylene glycol (relatively safe antifreeze, though I wouldn't chug it). I drilled holes in the lids for the glands to run the sensors in, then closed the bottles up while immersed in the solution. Cheap DIY buffered temperature probe. I currently measure buffered temperature, air temperature, and humidity, but really only the buffered temperature matters.
crazygringo 1y ago
> $1k of food each time What, is it chock full of exclusively ribeye steaks and smoked salmon? That feels like a crazy number. I keep a lot of nice vacuum-sealed protein in my freezer but even then I'd say the value is $300 max. How do you get to $1K?
- b112 1y ago
  Canadian dollars, so 1.45x USD, and some expensive meats. Lamb is 3x the price of beef, for example. Name brand bacon is not too bulky and thin, 10 bucks for 500g. Some fish is expensive too. It adds up surprisingly fast.

analog31 1y ago

You can borrow a watt meter at my local public library. I'm not saying the average person would have the knowledge to think of doing this, but it's not out of reach.