So I hit it with a hammer...
- Thread starter K'Ehleyr
- Start date
No, not really, whatever involves a hose and creating a waterfall indoors isn't what I'd call 'boring'...
I haven't actually broken a refrigerator, but when we first moved into our house, it came with a refrigerator. It wasn't new or anything, but it worked OK, except that it seemed to put out a LOT of heat - so much heat, in fact, that our cats sometimes liked to lounge in front of it on winter days when there wasn't any sun to bask in.
The refrigerator died maybe seven years after we bought the house, and when we moved it to make room for the new refrigerator, I was appalled to find these huge blotches of what I thought was ordinary, run-of-the-mill gunk. "Yuck!" I said. "Let me clean that floor before you put the new one in place."
Except...it wasn't gunk. It was scorch marks! That refrigerator had been burning the floor in our house.
So now I know: refrigerators are supposed to put out some heat, but not that much heat. Write that little safety tip down, folks.
The refrigerator died maybe seven years after we bought the house, and when we moved it to make room for the new refrigerator, I was appalled to find these huge blotches of what I thought was ordinary, run-of-the-mill gunk. "Yuck!" I said. "Let me clean that floor before you put the new one in place."
Except...it wasn't gunk. It was scorch marks! That refrigerator had been burning the floor in our house.
So now I know: refrigerators are supposed to put out some heat, but not that much heat. Write that little safety tip down, folks.
But you have to admit it could be called 'in need of a raft'
No, not really, whatever involves a hose and creating a waterfall indoors isn't what I'd call 'boring'...
My cat was doing exactly the same thing ~ hugging the fridge, not burning the floor ~ but scarey stuff!
I'm now having second thoughts of putting the freezer in the cupboard
Oh and as it's the season and you've reminded me of our shared love JustKate, after moving my pouffe I found the fairy lights had scorched that last year! Hmm fire and hazard in the same sentance
There is no escape from the scorching....
And just to show that we are cursed with electrical goods this week...
Son just retired to bed, plugged in his ipod charger and saw the light ~ the bright light from the plug which makes the rest of the electrics go out in the other parts of the house He was a little shocked, thankfully only mentally, but on taking the plug apart and looking at it it really could have been put together on Blue Peter!
Only one more pleasant electrical surprise to come then this week...
I think it would be a better plan. I have still not replaced fairy lights, probably best really
Son just retired to bed, plugged in his ipod charger and saw the light ~ the bright light from the plug which makes the rest of the electrics go out in the other parts of the house
He was a little shocked, thankfully only mentally, but on taking the plug apart and looking at it it really could have been put together on Blue Peter! Only one more pleasant electrical surprise to come then this week...
I think it would be a better plan. I have still not replaced fairy lights, probably best really
Plecostomus
Commodore
The un-techtitude of the Non-engineers scares me.
A fridge works by MOVING HEAT AROUND. In order for the process to work all that heat has to GO SOMEWHERE. That's what the coils are for. They reject the process heat to the environment. If you do not have proper air circulation around the coils, you fail. The heat can build up to the point where it slowly scorches and melts common floor materials.
A fridge works by MOVING HEAT AROUND. In order for the process to work all that heat has to GO SOMEWHERE. That's what the coils are for. They reject the process heat to the environment. If you do not have proper air circulation around the coils, you fail. The heat can build up to the point where it slowly scorches and melts common floor materials.
The un-techtitude of the Non-engineers scares me.
A fridge works by MOVING HEAT AROUND. In order for the process to work all that heat has to GO SOMEWHERE. That's what the coils are for. They reject the process heat to the environment. If you do not have proper air circulation around the coils, you fail. The heat can build up to the point where it slowly scorches and melts common floor materials.
But it did have proper air circulation around the coils. It's not enclosed, and I dusted and everything - that's why I was so surprised to see the "gunk" that turned out to be scorch marks. The dang thing just died, that's all. That it did so gradually instead of in a cloud of smoke or a whoosh of flames is blessing.
Edit: But thanks for the instruction, including all those emphasized words. You never know.
Plecostomus
Commodore
Interesting. Now you've got my Engineernish going. I suppose you didn't take pictures of the burn and of the failed bits of the 'fridge? No? 
I don't just use a bowl of hot water... I use a pot of boiling water, and swap it out every 10 minutes or so. Though I admit to helping it along with the judicious application of a letter opener from time to time.
Like RJDiogenes, I have the habit of letting the ice build up until I can only fit a few things in, mostly because I don't want to let my ice cream (and there's always ice cream) melt while I'm defrosting the freezer.
It doesn't help that my kitchen appliances all look like they came over on the Ark. The refrigerator only has one door, and the freezer is a little compartment at the top that has a plastic door inside the main door. My stove has push buttons across the top to control the burners.
(And before anyone asks, "Why don't you buy new appliances?", I'm renting my apartment. If I ever manage to find myself making enough to qualify for a mortgage on a new condo, I'll get new stuff then. Until then, it's not my place to be buying new appliances. Though I should pull out my original lease and see if it says anything in there about whether the landlord is supposed to replace the appliances every so often. I've been living here for 13 years now.)
Like RJDiogenes, I have the habit of letting the ice build up until I can only fit a few things in, mostly because I don't want to let my ice cream (and there's always ice cream) melt while I'm defrosting the freezer.
It doesn't help that my kitchen appliances all look like they came over on the Ark. The refrigerator only has one door, and the freezer is a little compartment at the top that has a plastic door inside the main door. My stove has push buttons across the top to control the burners.
(And before anyone asks, "Why don't you buy new appliances?", I'm renting my apartment. If I ever manage to find myself making enough to qualify for a mortgage on a new condo, I'll get new stuff then. Until then, it's not my place to be buying new appliances. Though I should pull out my original lease and see if it says anything in there about whether the landlord is supposed to replace the appliances every so often. I've been living here for 13 years now.)
Interesting. Now you've got my Engineernish going. I suppose you didn't take pictures of the burn and of the failed bits of the 'fridge? No?
No, but the burned part of the floor is still there, hidden under the used-to-be-new-fridge because we haven't replaced the linoleum as yet. It looks pretty nasty, but I don't have to look at it (except on the rare intervals that we move the refrigerator), so it doesn't bother me. Much. Unless I think about it. And particularly if I think about the cloud of smoke or whoosh of flames that could have awakened us one night. But mostly it doesn't bother me, so there it still is.
There is a sort of general toasted look to the linoleum under most of the floor under the fridge, but the burned part matches up with where the condenser (I think that's the right word, but then again, I don't speak Engineerish, though it would be darned handy if I did) was on the old refrigerator.
But the old refrigerator itself went to that Great Appliance Store in the Sky, and we did not immortalize it with photographs before we sent it there.
I did it once as I tried to defrost the freezer in an apartment we were moving out of. Thankfully it was an ancient model and the landlord had planned on replacing it anyway so I got off scott free.I can't be the only one who has ignored caution labels, and, on reflection, basic common sense? Please make me feel a little less stupid than I do right now
But, boy did I *hate* admitting it to my then-husband! I think he felt sorry for me because he promptly did something every bit as dumb at the new place that required stitches in his hand.
Jan
A bit of applied physical force never hurt any fridge
Take it as an opportunity to overindulge in ice cream then
Luckily, my new fridge doesn't grow ice, so I don't have to worry about it anymore.
I did it once as I tried to defrost the freezer in an apartment we were moving out of. Thankfully it was an ancient model and the landlord had planned on replacing it anyway so I got off scott free.I can't be the only one who has ignored caution labels, and, on reflection, basic common sense? Please make me feel a little less stupid than I do right now
But, boy did I *hate* admitting it to my then-husband! I think he felt sorry for me because he promptly did something every bit as dumb at the new place that required stitches in his hand.
Jan
I don't think any of us are perfect, especially when it comes to fridges and hardware, (waits for people that are perfect to disagree)
Abso~bloody~lutely! We ate well that nightA bit of applied physical force never hurt any fridge
Take it as an opportunity to overindulge in ice cream then
Hair dryers and bowls of heated water are good for helping things along when defrosting. So also is a judicious application of a device such as this, but use in conjunction with a hammer is not recommended.
Take it as an opportunity to overindulge in ice cream then
I wish I could, but I've developed lactose intolerance. I suspect that even with Lactaid, there's probably a limit to what my stomach will accept.
I should have defrosted my freezer today, but I got caught up in doing other things, and then bought more groceries on the way home. So it's full again... or as full as it can get.
My dad just decided to defrost our chest freezer in the basement, so he moved all the food that was down there into the upstairs freezer above the fridge. That thing is now so full that you can't get anything in or out of it. Oh, and due to the avalanche of Freeze-Pops that drop on my head every time I open the damn thing, I have decreed that no more Freeze-Pops shall be bought for the next 5 years, which is surely how long it will take us to go through the ones we have.
Anyway, he just unplugged the freezer, and let it defrost that way...but I wouldn't put it past him to use a hammer. He doesn't always think before he acts, which is why he once suggested gluing the bridge on my brother's cello in place so that it wouldn't move. Thank God I was home to stop him...
Anyway, he just unplugged the freezer, and let it defrost that way...but I wouldn't put it past him to use a hammer. He doesn't always think before he acts, which is why he once suggested gluing the bridge on my brother's cello in place so that it wouldn't move. Thank God I was home to stop him...
