h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It went out the other day and I've no idea how to fix it.

Fridge is still cold so it's still on, but just the light is out.

It's housed in a little cage, I've no idea how to remove. Assuming I did I've no idea what sort of bulb goes in a fridge or where to acquire them.

A further complication: the fridge came with the flat I have rented. So I have contacted the letting agency, but figured I'd ask for advice here too.

So my bright sparks who don't go out when you close the door, how about a little illumination?

I can't help at all, but was intrigued because I read the title as "how to change the light bulb *behind* the fridge". It must be bedtime for me.

It might be quite simple. It really depends on the make and model of your fridge. The last time I change a fridge light, the bulb was a screw in connection but smaller than the normal household bulbs. I used one from my disused photo enlarger from my dark room. I believe it was a 15 Watt bulb.

However, I've seen other refrigerators that take tube style bulbs. If you can determine how to access the bulb (probably by snapping or sliding out a plastic diffuser covering), you should then be able to easily remove the bulb and take it to a shop that carries a variety of bulbs (DIY/hardware/appliance store) and find a replacement.

Have you checked that the bulb isn't in the wrong way round? That happened to a friend of mine and it meant the light was going on when the door closed and going off when the door was open. A side effect was the salad kept growing and he didn't need to buy more for quite some time.

This is just the sort of helpful advice that hootoo needs.

B

Well, the only way to check to see if it is installed backwards is to put a small child in there, close the door and have the child tell you if the light came on.*




*Do try this at home.†






†On the other hand... maybe you shouldn't.‡





‡No, really, you shouldn't... I mean, unless it's a particularly small child. Otherwise you'll have to empty and remove the shelves and that's just more trouble than it's worth... Or, you could just find the little button in the door jamb that de/activates the light and press it while you have the door open and can see the light for yourself... On second thought, that's probably the easiest thing to do. Of course, the bulb can't really be installed "backwards" like described above, but it's always good to check things out for yourself.

Mine hasn't worked since I moved into the house. I'm lazy as sin, so I just use the main light in the kitchen. It's a little annoying sometimes, especially since the fridge is in a bit of an alcove, but the alternative just doesn't bear thinking about. Or maybe it does, I can't be bothered to try thinking about it and find out.

Have you thought of installing an Arctic Fox with a torch?

In my experience changing a fridge light bulb requires you to first defrost it and bring everything to room temperature. The bulb can then be easily unscrewed, taken to a store to match the size and shape, and the new one screwed back in. Once the temperature drops again the metal contracts enough to make turning the bulb impossible without breaking it. Mine has been out the last six months because I'm too lazy to defrost.

FS

I didn't need to defrost mine. But if the bulb does stick, I'd recommend just locally defrosting the bulb housing with a hair dryer. This will take just minutes rather than hours.

Using a hair dryer in a damp and quickly getting damper
environment may result in a very bright light coming on,
very briefly. Electric motors and heating coils do not
react well to moisture, especially dripping water.

Though I am led to believe that nowadays these things are
designed to have quick groundfault circuit breaking systems
owing to the tendency of many women to use them in steamy
bathrooms and drop them into tubs and toilets. Then again,
maybe the groundfault breaker is in the bathroom's mains
outlet and not in the device. Say, can you move the fridge
into the bathroom?
Hmmm...
~jwf~

PS: How many hootoo researchers does it take to change a
refrigerator lightbulb? The answer is a foregone concussion.

There really shouldn't be any ice in the main compartment of the refrigerator and even if there were, one should have little trouble avoiding drips while warming the light bulb housing.

P'raps... but frost build up was mentioned
as a barrier to removal. Frost is sorta ice,
and ice melts when heated, right. The light
is probably positioned on a wall down which
there will be melt runoff from above owing
to the nature of heat rising. Not to mention
all the spilt milk.


~jwf~

The lack of any update on this critical situation
is somewhat worrying.

Has Clive been injured in the process?

Or is he just resigned to making important
nutritional decisions in the dark?

Neither situation is a happy thing.

We need to hear of a positive outcome here peeps.

~jwf~

What an enlightening thread!

I have never had to defrost a fridge in my life

All the fridges I have ever owned, their bulbs have outlasted them. So I can't help with the blown bulb situation,

I'm happy to have learned something new today thanks to this thread

GB

I live!

No word yet back from my letting agency, I'm guess it's some way down their list of priorities.

I did kinda-sorta defrost my fridge the other day () and afterwards the light was a lot brighter and I thought it was just becuase I'd cleared the ice out of the way; now I'm thinking it was getting damp and about to fu -


Hey! Who turned out the lights?

"How many hootoo researchers does it take to change a
refrigerator lightbulb?"

Ha!

Well, quite.

I guess you've opened this thread for laughs...... or you'd have given us the fridge's make & model by now. But, I'll bite:

If there is no obvious fastener (screw etc) securing the light cover, you'll need to (gently) ease out the cover with a screwdriver.

The bulb can then either be screwed or pulled out. It's likely to be one of these: http://www.espares.co.uk/parts/light-bulbs/fridge-lamps/p/1498

On the other hand..... if you're prepared to forgo the macho satisfaction from 'getting the job done'... then allow the managing agent to deal with the problem gratis. (As a landlord myself, I am all too aware that fixing the slightest defect in any of the flat's facilities is the agent's responsibility to deal with, at the owner's expense.)

>All the fridges I have ever owned, their bulbs have outlasted them. So I can't help with the blown bulb situation, <


Ah well in this new age of recycling, reuse and saving the environment, what you should have done is the opposite of Clive.

Get a new fridge but before you turn it on, take out the new bulb, store it and install the one from the old fridge until it does pop. That way you also have a spare when it does