Refrigeration: A Brief Summary Of Common Fridge Features and Functions

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Fridges and freezers come with a number of varying perks to make your life that much more simple. Depending on which perks are interesting to you will very often determine the price bracket of the refrigeration unit that you require. This work aims to consider a variety of the more common among these in the attempt to make your cold storage shopping experience a little more informed.

Automatic defrost/Frost Free

All larder fridges have an automatic defrost function and the term is specific to refrigerators. The function means that, throughout the duration of the refrigerator’s activity, a mechanism periodically heats the cooling element (or evaporator coil), by heating a separate element, in order to free it of icy build up. The timing is controlled electronically and a failsafe temperature switch is used to terminate the heating, should the temperature of the cooling element reach 5°C or 40°F. If you choose a fridge with an ice box, it will need to be defrosted periodically to remove the icy build-up. If the function is used by a freezer unit it is usually called Frost Free.

Antibacterial coating

Some fridges have an antibacterial lining which covers the fridge walls and door which helps prevent the growth of bacteria. This will obviously improve the hygiene inside your fridge. Some refrigerators use silver nanoparticles to resist any airborne bacteria. These also suppress the respiration of bacteria and adversely affects their metabolism resulting in inhibited growth. Similar particles are used in some air purification systems.

Quick cooling/Quick freeze function

This function is now common place among newer refrigerators and freezers. It is sometimes known by a trademark such as SuperCool/SuperFreeze or similar. This rapidly reduces the temperature when new items are added. It quickly cools the new contents to 2°C in a fridge or -18°C in a freezer and automatically deactivates when this temperature is reached. The obvious benefit of this is, since food reaches the ideal storage temperature more quickly, that your goods retain optimum freshness. It also prevents other goods from thawing or heating up when you introduce a large amount of warmer contents.

Active Cooling

This function is where refrigeration is assisted by fans which continuously move air around the compartment. This allows the whole unit to maintain an even temperature, instead of having warmer air pockets, so that your food is in a consistently good environment.

Humidity Control

This usually features in salad drawers of top end models. The humidity control allows the salad to be stored in the optimum moist and cold conditions to retain the best freshness and crunch; considerably delaying that soggy lettuce!

Air Purification System

Some fridges display cutting edge technology for maintaining freshness. Their air purification system allows the stale air inside the cavity to be refreshed and cleaned of bacteria. Such systems also keep food odours to a minimum. Be prepared to pay a premium if you wish to own a unit with such a system, however.

Conclusion

Some fridges come with none of the above features and, as you would expect, are cheaper than those that come with any. Many units combine a number of the above features and the cost usually goes upwards depending upon how many. These devices are offered to make your life more manageable saving you time, preserving your food or, simply, by preventing your fridge from smelling! The ones you require, if any, will be a choice for you and, perhaps, your budget.

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Source by Bruce Smyth