What's The Ideal Temperature For Your Refrigerator?

In this episode, Jonathan Strickland explains how bacteria spoils food and what temperature your refrigerator should be to slow their progress.

Whether the topic is popcorn or particle physics, you can count on the HowStuffWorks team to explore - and explain - the everyday science in the world around us on BrainStuff.

[privateprivate]

I see a lot written about trying to keep the freezer and refrigerator doors shut, as much as possible. That there’s a lot of cold/warm air exchange when you open the doors.

But, I think it’s actually more than there simply being an exchange going on actually. I think that one has to consider that, when they open the doors to their refrigerator, cold air isn’t simply, slowly floating out. To an extent, I think it’s actually being sucked out by the door being swung open. At minimum, it’s a good thing to envision for encouragement in keeping the doors shut, as much as possible.

Another remaining encouragement, is to just buy inexpensive freezer and refrigerator thermometers, with the refrigerator thermometer likely being the most important because a freezer should usually be around 0 degrees so, briefly opening it might not make too much difference since, it would take some time to get from 0 to 32. But, the temperature window between 35 and 40 for the fresh food compartment is not only easier to get past, but the refrigerator, at least in a top freezer unit where the fresh food compartment is at least twice as large as the freezer, is going to take awhile to get back to proper temperature, after you’ve replenished or retrieved something. But, if you have a thermometer in the fresh food compartment, it will provide you a consistent reminder and respect as to how quickly the temperature rises, while you stand there with the door open, vacillating over whether or not you want juice or soda.

[janievdamhuis]

You mention not to stuff a fridge full of stuff so air can circulate properly and keep the food chilled I presume? But I've also heard that when opening a (near to) empty fridge all the cold air escapes and the fridge has to re-cool itself, however if you have a fully packed fridge the temperature is maintained by all of your chilled food. So... what should I do?

[FyberOptic]

Keep in mind that when you adjust the freezer temperature that you're probably adjusting the refrigerator section as well.   On most fridges the evaporator coils are only in the freezer, so the fridge section gets its cold air through a vent, which is what the fridge temperature control opens or closes.  So if your fridge section can't seem to get cold enough, maybe you need to adjust the freezer first.

[robertof]

4.4 C to be precise. And for freezers it is -18 C

[electriccerix]

I forgot to empty out the fridge at my cottage at the end of summer... not a good discovery in the spring.  Bands of green, purple, black and white mold coated the entire inside of the fridge.  I think it was becoming sentient. We named it Larry. 

[StayPositive-sdop]

I rent my apartment. So last year or so I've been messing with the temp controller to get them both at recommended Temps. I notice the fridge will have stuff on top to freeze enough where any liquid will almost freeze solid and even my almond milk and gallon of OJ would freeze solid.
So the landlord sent over one of their people to come look at it and I'm sorry it was when I was gone so I'm not sure what he did except probably just adjust the temp switch I've been messing with for the last month or so, so I bought a temperature thing in electronic one or digital I think it is instead of just the normal temperature things that you put in the fridge or freezer. So now the freezer I have that the coldest not set and then the other side says cold and I has a dial all the way to the left to the cold but it's so becoming like -17 degrees in the freezer. And then the fridge stays cold where it's sometimes freezes whatever's on the top shelf. And I also noticed when I put bottle of water in the fridge on the bottom shelf where lettuce goes is when it starts to do it more so I don't know if that's doing something that's causing it..Any advice would be much appriated.

[macbookproearly]

I read/watched on multiple sources not to long ago that keeping a fridge full of stuff helps keep it cold and saves energy vs having a less filled fridge where the fridge has to use more energy to keep cold vs using the already cold items to help keep the set temperature. I think most fridges that have a freeze built in get the cool from the freeze and as long as those vents arent obstructed I don't see how having less food in a fridge would benefit. But hey just what I read and what a couple of appliance guys told me and I just got a brand new fridge 3 days ago the guy gave basically gave me a presentation on fridges during the delivery, lol.

[voiceofreason]

I had the pleasure of clearing out a fridge that hadn't been used for 5 years but was still functional AND it had quite a lot of food in the fridge and an almost freezer, the bottom of the fridge had a brown liquid that stunk and I mean hummed it was disgusting, the mould spores were horrific and scummy bits of fat or something had lodged their way in to every nook and cranny, it was like something you'd see on grime fighters or something

Even the freezer started to smell suspect and I wouldn't have trusted any of the food from with in it

The fridge belonged to my friends nan who had been taken in to care, the care was funded by the NHS and no-one had bothered to clear out her fridge and when she eventually passed away the clear out began

Grim to say the least YUCK!!

[andrielouilustrisimo]

The "bacteria" used to produce beer is actually a fungi which is called yeast. Bacteria is very different from fungi.

[omeraskin]

Good info....I have always wondered what the best temp for the fridge is

[eajoseph]

HA! The 'refrigerator episode' of Punky Brewster!!! It's a good thing Cherry was around! OMFG I've never forgotten that episode. I finally know I'm not alone! Thanks! :P

[SylphidUndine]

is this 4°C setting or 4°C ambient inside the refrigerator?

[miadalbariqi]

4 celcus for fridge, 0 celcus for freezer. THnaks for bacteria biology lecture.

[hakunamatata]

the lower you can get the better and makes you food last longer, but its not cost efficient.You can go even below zero oC without you food being freezed (if it doesn't contain to much water).

[RoboAddy]

I found a plastic bag full of cucumber soup in the back of my fridge once.
It had formed from whole cucumbers and there was little shrunken black husks in the middle.
Delicious.

[ajb]

2:53 he's telling the ideal tempure for the fridge. Thanks

[RogerSayers]

Jonathan, Love ya guy... Great sense of humor you have. Thumbs up on your video, and you have a new subscriber.

[HiAdrian]

I keep mine at about 8°C (~47°F), that's good enough.

[lovettworks]

I actually got the Punky Brewster fridge analogy!! lol that episode may have saved my life as a kid!!

[scrapetv]

Clearly the the answer is whatever temperature it takes to keep human thigh fresh until you can get around to it. Those things are huge.