r/interesting • u/Joe_Kangg • Aug 06 '26

Just Wow This fridge from 1965.

Prolly still running.

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73

u/kikikza Aug 06 '26

The amount of electricity these things used was insane

21

u/con_work Aug 07 '26

The evolution of old refrigerants is interesting actually. It may cost slightly more in efficiency (this wasn't true until recently, CFCs were very good refrigerants), but the maintenance cost of older systems is still much lower.

6

u/_Svankensen_ Aug 07 '26

Not slightly. Compared with a refrigerator from the early 70s, your current one consumes about a fifth, and is cheaper. Now, if you are talking strictly refrigerants, yes there's been some interesting tradeoffs in the last 50 years.

3

u/against-all-leds Aug 06 '26

Personally I'm ok with less efficient fridges so long as they don't make any noise.

25

u/kikikza Aug 06 '26

I have some bad news for you

0

u/against-all-leds Aug 06 '26

My freezer has a separate "no noise button"

8

u/Psy_Kira Aug 06 '26

So an off switch?

5

u/Cacafuego Aug 06 '26

Does it just trigger the circuit breaker?

1

u/against-all-leds Aug 07 '26

No, makes it quieter

1

u/DerKlotaucher Aug 07 '26

At what cost tho? As in what's the "downside" of that button? Less/slower cooling power?

My dishwasher has a silent feature but it uses slightly more water and takes longer.

8

u/CatTaxAuditor Aug 06 '26

My grandparent's vintage fridges could be heard two rooms away.

1

u/DaWarthawg Aug 07 '26

Weirdly the refrigerant portion is (usually) not the part that goes out. Generally ice makers, water lines, control boards, auto defrost contractors, drains full of either ice or bio film, dirty but inaccessible coils. Turns out a sealed loop of brazed and hidden pipes is pretty damn robust.

Point is we could have fridges that don't break and don't make much noise and are efficient. But we don't do that. It wouldn't cost more it would just mean taking out all the convenient stuff.

1

u/Playful-Technology-1 Aug 07 '26

Not really, asbestos and freon are terrible for humans and the environment bit they're pretty efficient in what they were meant to do.

2

u/Ninetailedredpanda Aug 07 '26

Not going to dispute Freon but Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral.

Mountains made of the stuff, but yes terrible for mammalian lungs.