Can hot water be placed in the refrigerator?

Refrigerators have become an indispensable household appliance in every household. Refrigerators can be used to refrigerate vegetables and fruits to keep them fresh; they can also freeze fish and meat. Many people like to drink ice water to quench their thirst and cool down, but we all know that always drinking raw water is not good for health, and boiled water is too hot to drink immediately. At this time, the refrigerator naturally comes in handy. So can hot water be put directly into the refrigerator?

Generally speaking, it is not allowed. There are four harmful effects of putting hot water (hot food) in the refrigerator:

1. The food does not get the expected low temperature, making the internal temperature of the food suitable for the growth and reproduction of bacteria, thus causing the food to spoil.

2. Affect the refrigeration operation of the refrigerator, thereby shortening the life of the refrigerator.

3. Make the refrigerator cooler and increase power consumption.

4. The reason why hot water (food) cannot be placed in the refrigerator is not only because it increases power consumption, but also because the temperature inside the refrigerator is relatively low. When hot food encounters cold, the water contained in it will evaporate rapidly and then solidify on the internal evaporator, forming a thick layer of frost on the evaporator in a short time. It blocks the evaporator from transferring heat from the refrigerator to the outside, affecting the refrigeration effect. At the same time, the thermostat probe is also covered by the frost layer and cannot detect the temperature inside the box, causing the compressor to stop working and resulting in failure to refrigerate. The compressor can only work again after the frost layer melts.

Therefore, hot water (food) cannot be put directly into the refrigerator. It should be put into the refrigerator only when the temperature drops to room temperature.

When using the refrigerator, you should pay attention to:

1. The temperature inside the refrigerator should be maintained at around 4°C, so that the food stored in the refrigerator can be kept for a long time. If you put hot things directly into the refrigerator, the temperature inside the refrigerator will rise, and the condition of "the inside of the refrigerator should be maintained at around 4°C" will not be reached, and the food stored in the refrigerator will easily deteriorate.

2. When hot things are put into the refrigerator, some heat is brought into the refrigerator. The refrigerator needs to work to lower the temperature, which consumes electricity and increases the burden on the refrigerator, thus reducing its lifespan.

3. Because the temperature inside the refrigerator is low, when hot food meets cold, the moisture contained in it will evaporate rapidly and then solidify on the internal evaporator. A thick layer of frost can form on the evaporator in a short time, blocking the evaporator from transferring the heat in the refrigerator to the outside.

If you are in a hurry to drink water and put the cup in the refrigerator to cool it down, I can tell you clearly that the cooling effect is not ideal, and it is not even faster than putting the cup full of water in cold water (take a basin, put the cup in, add cold water to the basin until it is about 1 cm lower than the water in the cup). After the water is cold, if you want to "chill", put it in the refrigerator for "quick freezing" for an appropriate time.

But the method I usually use is: I pour cold boiled water into the refrigerator's special container for cold drinks - the ice tray, and then put it in the freezer of the refrigerator to freeze it into ice cubes "for future use". When I want to drink cold water, I first pour some boiled water in a cup, then take out the ice tray from the refrigerator, and put a few (appropriate amount) ice cubes in it. This way I have "iced water", which is very convenient.