Does a refrigerator cool more efficiently when full?
So, when the door is opened, more cool air is lost in an empty fridge than a full fridge.
I don’t believe it.
Why would anyone be opening the door on an empty fridge?
To see if it has been refilled of course.
You do realize that the proper method of insertion of food into a fridge is through the door, yes?
Leaving the door open – yes it matters, but once you’ve opened it the damage is done. All that cold air sunk down to the floor and cooled your toes about as quick as you opened the door, so you might as well hang out and look for that New York Style Pizza that you put in there in 1973 instead of settling for something that hasn’t been properly aged.
Why would you not believe it? It’s a simple matter of thermodynamics, and the laws don’t change based on why the door was opened.
Welcome to the Dope, by the way, and mad props to you for linking to the column in question.
To light the kitchen because one has been too lazy to replace the bulb in the overhead fixture?
Whoosh, he means that if there is nothing in the fridge there is no reason to open it. Therefore it gets opened less and you use up less energy.
Good job RiledRifler, not many people manage to both format correctly and whoosh somebody on their first post.
Because I know there’s one more beer from that case.
I think you’re partially correct, but then you’ll also get into warm air starting to heat the items in the fridge, and the fridge motor running constantly to try to cool the air and not being able to since warm air will continually be mixing in. I reckon you’ll even get some radiation from the room into the fridge as well.
To see if the Grocery Fairies have magically restocked it since the last time it was opened, of course.