# Frozen water in the fridge **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 2, 2000, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frozen-water-in-the-fridge/31751 "2000-09-02T04:38:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Road\_Rash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a8b319/32.png) [@Road\_Rash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Road_Rash)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2000, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frozen-water-in-the-fridge/31751/1 "2000-09-02T04:38:05Z")
My water bottles are getting frozen in my fridge. What’s up? It does’nt happen all the time. The milk, the juice, they stay liquid. I had three water bottles. One full, two 1/4 to 1/2 empty. The full one and one not full one froze. The other was liquid. Help me solve this mystery. ---
**Author:** ![AmyJohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/90ced4/32.png) [@AmyJohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AmyJohn)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2000, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frozen-water-in-the-fridge/31751/2 "2000-09-02T04:56:04Z")
Are they all in the same part of the fridge? Always seems like our full gallon of water will freeze, but not the small bottle in the door. The back is usually much colder, that’s what makes ours freeze. Try just turning down the thermostat one notch at a time so your other stuff doesn’t spoil. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2000, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frozen-water-in-the-fridge/31751/3 "2000-09-02T05:10:57Z")
I like to keep my fridge that cold because, as you have noted, milk and juices freeze at lower temperatures and I keep the water lower down or on the door, where it won’t freeze. So, what’s the problem? Turn the knob up a notch if you dont want it to happen. ---
**Author:** ![TNTruth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@TNTruth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TNTruth)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2000, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frozen-water-in-the-fridge/31751/4 "2000-09-02T13:35:16Z")
AmyJohn & sailor, Good answers both. But you’ve pointed out a problem that’s puzzled me a while. If one wants raise the temp in a fridge, or air conditioned space, does one turn the thermostat up or down? ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2000, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frozen-water-in-the-fridge/31751/5 "2000-09-02T14:17:36Z")
This is a term that always confuses me too, and I’m a mechanical engineer. It’s sort of a dyslexia I have I guess - I’m not being facetious either. To me, turning “up” the thermostat on a chiller somehow means that you turn up the “cooling capacity” of it, thus making it cooler. In reality, most people think that turning up the thermostat means making it warmer, which is the correct answer. Most fridges avoid the problem by having a wheel which is graduated from “Cooler” to “Warmer”. ---
**Author:** ![Adolph\_Peewee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47c2d/32.png) [@Adolph\_Peewee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Adolph_Peewee)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2000, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frozen-water-in-the-fridge/31751/6 "2000-09-02T15:45:13Z")
The answers pretty logical really. The juices and milk don’t freeze because they’re a colloid suspension solution, whereas water doesn’t have any solutes, therefore it freezes easier! I’m with sailor…turn the notch up!!