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

Seriously. Sometimes it's not worth having so much information.

Here's that video I mentioned of Big Clive's:

Technology Connextras (my second channel where stuff goes sometimes)

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00:00 Intro / A Story
02:01 The basics of a fridge
05:32 Auto-defrost and the complexity of modern refrigerators
07:53 The little red fridge is cleverly simple
13:29 It's not perfect, though
16:53 But... how bad is it?
19:42 Test 1: How quickly can it cool things down?
24:58 Some unexpected weirdness
28:59 Test 2: How uniform are the temperatures inside?
32:18 Attempts to make it better with fans
39:44 Figuring out the thermostat and its weirdness
47:06 Replacing the thermostat with something better
50:19 A note on compressors, the oil in them, and upright operation
52:47 A repeat of Test 1 and improved results
59:58 Why I was bothering with all this
1:02:31 Bloops

[samschwarz]

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

[ianyboo]

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!

[tobiaskumutat]

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

[stzsch]

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.

[jajssblue]

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. 😂

[kallenbridges]

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.

[blaster-zyxx]

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.

[georgivasilev]

bro I work for a refrigerator manufacuterer and you did more investigation for a youtube video than our whole research and development team does for a month amazing

[ricardomaragna]

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

[ewithnall]

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.

[jasonbraun]

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

[gerebalpar]

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

[technotion_]

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.

[ClaytonDorris]

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.

[gadgetroyster]

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.

[bakednapkin]

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

[kathleenlestrange]

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

[theprogrammer]

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!

[thejobe]

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.

[laurenkirby]

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.