When I close my refrigerator door, it makes all kinds of weird noises (the door) and then I have to wait for at least 30 seconds before it will open again. It appears to be a time-retarded lock, like a bank vault.
I am sure this is some kind of energy saving device built in to the fridge to save on electricity or something. Can someone please tell me how this works?
I have a mini fridge that’s kinda the same way. It doesn’t make any noise but it’s very hard to open after the door is first closed.
I don’t think there’s any fancy mechanism inside or anything like that. I think all that happens is you let warm air into the fridge, and once the door is closed it cools and contracts, pulling a bit of a vacuum on the door. Because the door is fairly large it doesn’t take much of a difference in pressure to make it hard to open. Most doors don’t seal airtight, so after sitting for a minute or so enough air leaks in to equalize the pressure and you can open the door easily again.
That’s my guess, anyway, FWIW.
Mine will do that occasionally making it a little more difficult to immediately open the door after closing it and I attribute this to negative air pressure. Your refrigerator is circulating air and removing the heat from the air within the unit by blowing it over cooling coils and then recirculating it back inside the refrigerator/freezer. If the fan removes slightly more air from then inside than is recirculated, this creates a slight vacuum or imbalance meaning that the air pressure inside is less than the outside making it more difficult to open the door. The pressure equalizes fairly quickly as refrigerators are usually not 100% air tight.
If it’s reproducible, as a test, you can try (temporarily) putting something against the rubber seal that will allow the door to close, but keep it from getting an air tight seal. If it is easy to open, then you’ve either defeated a sensor or some sort, or proven it’s air pressure.
I have a refrigerator-sized freezer that does exactly the same thing. I can re-open the door, but it takes a great effort. It seems to be related to internal pressure, like it’s sucking out the warmer air.
We had a huge built in side by side Fridge / Freezer at the last house. The freezer side did this (cant remember if the fridge did). You could hear a fan run when it did this, I am quite sure it was an intended, mechanically produced feature. It was slightly annoying.
Man was that an awesome fridge. I loved that thing.
This.
I believe most newer fridges have pressure-relief valves that prevent this suction problem from happening; if your fridge is less than 10 years old and not from the cheapest tier (or even then), the valve may be clogged or frozen. (I say “even then” because Consumer Reports has noted for years that the cheapest fridges of today work better than the best ones of prior eras, and very few are in any way a bad buy.)
Freezers may or may not have such a a feature, since they aren’t intended to be opened very often. I noticed this effect most strongly on an upright freezer, in warm weather.
yeah the warm room air which had entered the box is being cooled causing a pressure reduction. i’ve seen it on fridges and freezers.
you can hear air being sucked and see the gasket compress.
This happens to the freezer compartment of my new fridge.
Some times I will open the freezer to get some ice cubes for my drink. I will then shut the door but then I decide I need a couple more ice cubes. It will not be hard, but outright impossible to open it again. If I grab the side of the door (not the handle, it will break) I can apply enough force to pull the whole fridge out and the door wont open. I have even tried holding the fridge in place with my other hand and still no luck.
If I wait for about a minute it will open but with some effort. I never had this happen with older fridges. Maybe those newer units have a very good seal for energy conservation reasons
Man, this thread brought back some horror stories from the 70s and warnings not to get trapped in a fridge. I thought they set some sort of standards for opening pressure (and no latches) or something? Perhaps those only apply to room temperature fridges? I’d experiment, but I’m having a dickens of a time convincing the Dudeling to crawl inside the crisper drawer.
Latches were outlawed; fridges and freezers had to be openable from the inside. I don’t think that momentary pressure-seal would make much difference. For one thing, it could only occur if the unit was running, open only long enough for a kid to climb in and close the door, and there was enough open space inside to fit. Then, the extra “hold” would only last a few seconds, perhaps panic-inducing but unlikely to be lethal. I also think you’re overestimating the power of that seal - even a small kid should be able to push hard enough, or throw enough body weight at the door, to open it - perhaps after 10 seconds or so at worst.
Most child deaths occurred in old, abandoned refrigerators, anyway, or in refrigerators that were no longer being used. They were more likely to crawl into a fridge during a game of hide-and-seek, and old, unused refrigerators were attractive nuisances. It’s unlikely a kid would crawl into the refrigerator in the kitchen that was stuffed full of food.
Sometimes (only sometimes) it’s like a hissing noise. Other times it makes other noises. It’s a fairly modern refrigerator.
Riiiight. There’s nothing in a big, full fridge that a kid could possibly want. 
Some higher-end/commercial frigs and freezers are designed to do this. They have a small pump to create a vacuum and seal the door tighter. Our former neighbor has one; I’ll check with her for the brand.
I just tried it on my mini fridge. This is a little cheapo thing so I know there’s no pump or anything on it. When you first close the door it is very difficult to open again. A small child would have difficulty opening it. It takes about 15 seconds for it to become easy to open again.
If I open the door and close it very quickly the time is significantly reduced, which I think gives more credence to the air cooling causing a pressure differential theory. The seal isn’t powerful at all. It’s the air pressure that is keeping the door shut.
I think it’s mostly a matter that if the fridge is stuffed with food, there’s no place for a kid to go. Even at its emptiest, a kid would have to be a midget contortionist to fit into my (large) fridge.
Some old-school fridge from a movie that had one wire shelf it in, maybe.
I have a Whirlpool side-by-side (bought in 2007)… the fridge side is hard to open after the freezer door is opened and then closed. The freezer and/or fridge doors will reopen after being closed without any delay… but if you go freezer -> fridge, the “time lock” thing happens. I always figured it was an intentional design feature but never looked into how the “lock” happens.
Anyway, I always thought it was an incorporated feature to save energy or something. But oft times it’s a huge pain in the butt. So many times I hear across the kitchen, “Don’t close it !! Leave it open!! I’ve got something to put in.”
The freezer side of our Sub-Zero brand unit does this. I’m not sure if it’s to create a tighter vacuum or if it’s to reduce humidity.