Friday, February 28, 2014

Too Cold, Too Hot… Where is JUST RIGHT???

OK - now I know I am really stretching myself. 7 posts in 7 days just to make it happen is quite a challenge! I need to go around and find some link-ups to do on various days of the week if I am going to continue at any kind of similar rate of posting! Then I will have an idea to spring off from!!

As it is, it is near the end of the day and I have very little to share that I have a photo to go along! I like pictures. They make reading my drivel a little better, no? So, where does this leave me? Hunting in iPhoto for something to share.

AHA! THIS:
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What is "this" you might wonder! Well, let me tell you about this. These are ice crystals that were in my pitcher of strawberry lemonade in my side by side refrigerator-freezer in the kitchen. The beverages are stored on the top shelf (Heat rises, but apparently not in a this fridge.) and I poured myself some lemonade and it was very cold!! Would be extra appreciated in the summer!

So, what is so great about these ice crystals? We currently keep the thermostat in our house anywhere between 68 and 70 degrees F. The thermometer on the cupboard says it is 79 degrees (but it IS sitting right next to the printer…) in the kitchen. The freezer in the same appliance freezes things rock solid. The settings are such that we expect the freezer to freeze hard and make PLENTY of ice continuously. Somehow, the freezer is freezing things in the refrigerator, though. My vegetable drawer is producing frozen lettuce, frozen cucumbers, frozen carrots, frozen mushrooms. I am pouring lemonade crystals into my cup. The cheese is freezing. The LEFT-OVERS are FREEZING!! (This might be a good thing considering how long some of them sit in there!)

But, here is where things get a little more interesting. We have a refrigerator -freezer in our garage. It is the kind you probably had growing up with the freezer on top and the fridge on the bottom. It is out there in the unheated relatively cold garage. It has been quite cold lately and I wouldn't venture into the garage without at least socks on my feet and sleeves on my arms. (I am currently wearing a tank top, but would put on a jacket, sweater or sweatshirt to go into the garage.) Things in my refrigerator out there are at a normal refrigerator temperature. It is gonna get crazy here so hold onto your hat…

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The temperature in the garage is probably under 30 degrees F. The freezer of the fridge/freezer combo cannot seem to keep ANYTHING frozen. There is a chest freezer out there and it freezes rock solid. But there isn't a thing out there that will stay frozen in the fridge. I need to take all those frozen pizzas and bring them inside my nice warm house and put them in my refrigerator to keep them frozen… WHA????????? So, the heat is rising in that appliance where the air temperature around the appliance should keep the stuff frozen if I just open the door! I would imagine that it might have something to do with the temp outside being too low for it to work efficiently, but my chest freezer is working great. The fridge portion is working great and now houses all fresh veggies so they stay cold, not frozen. 

What to do? What to do? Have any of you had this problem? How do I fix it? I am tired of frozen stuff in the fridge and thawed out things in the freezer. I don't want to live in backwards world!! Help?? Ideas please!

(And… this post is definitely squeaking in under the wire for 
Friday at just before 11 PM… but I did make it! Woot! Woot!!)

1 comment:

  1. So my experience with a side by side fridge is that one must be extremely careful not to allow any item to overlap the edges of the shelves. If you do stuff starts to freeze as the air cannot circulate around the inside of the box effectively. When my tribe was home for Thanksgivakuh I loaded up the side by side and right away had problems with freezing things. Sad indeed. However, when engineer GranDude investigated he found that I had packed said fridge to the walls which then prevented adequate air circulation. Once I made sure nothing touched the walls the freezing speed. One solution. Maybe this will help. I don't know how tightly your fridge is packed, but I do know about shipping and food prep for large groups,

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