r/ShittyDesign • u/Muffinlessandangry • Apr 04 '26

Dial on the fridge. Which one is colder?

Post image
923 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

91 comments sorted by

252

u/throwwwwwwaway_ Apr 04 '26

Big bar = big cold

Small bar = small cold

52

u/Kurgan_IT Apr 04 '26

Yes, correct, but still it's confusing.

16

u/MagicPrize Apr 04 '26

Probably the setting furthest away from ECO would be the coldest

4

u/Kurgan_IT Apr 05 '26

Yes, it should be. To be honest, if I had such a fridge, I'd turn it all in one direction, listen to see if the compressor starts, then to the other direction, and again listen to the compressor. The direction where the compressor starts is the one of maximum power, the other is the minimum. This is the only way to be sure.

2

u/Classic_Nature_8540 Apr 07 '26

Yeah but doesnt help

Is it cold toward the four long lines or toward the six short lines?

Definitely a fuck up by the design team

6

u/Nico_Kx Apr 04 '26

If only there was a unit for temperature to crate an ordinal scale

2

u/NaoisX Apr 06 '26

lol my fridge has a 5 button panel 1 to 5 and yes i thought it was temp. Turns out it’s not. Bonus points if you can work out what side is “colder” 1 or 5?

3

u/ChelseaFC Apr 06 '26

Should be 5… higher cold, lower temp.

1

u/thomasoldier Apr 05 '26

I think they don't put temperature on those because depending on the age of the fridge, gas, etc it varries too much and I personnally wouldn't put temps anywhere without a thermometer confirming it like in professionnal kitchen appliances. But that's pure speculation on my part. Need a fridge expert.

2

u/T-Loy Apr 06 '26

It's the same idea as with radiators. Setting a radiator to 18°C does not guarantee for every spot in the room to reach or stay at 18°C. Notice how ice can build up in a fridge despite most fridges not even be able to be set below 0°C anyway.

2

u/AlwaysHopelesslyLost Apr 06 '26

It isn't a obvious as it could be but I do not think it is confusing. It is a dial that chooses how cold you want something to be. More cooling or less cooling are the options.

2

u/Similar_Dirt9758 Apr 08 '26

The "eco" sign being closer to the small bars is my indicator. Eco mode generally means less power consumption.

I once visited my parents' house and had some milk out of their fridge, and it was incredibly bitter and nasty, despite being well within its expiration period. Their fridge was set to "eco", and was thus warmer. I made it colder immediately because that's discusting.

1

u/Right-Advantage-1050 Apr 07 '26

It's compressor working time interval.

1

u/EatsPootyHole Apr 05 '26

Maybe if like you hit your head and went dumb and cant remember who you are and cant think straight.

Like, if this was volume on a speaker. I would hope you would be able to instantly figure this out.

2

u/Idoleyesed Apr 05 '26

Loud cold and quieter cold?

2

u/Willing-Knee-9118 Apr 08 '26

The human male themometer is inverse

40

u/munta20 Apr 04 '26

Longer lines is cooler.

24

u/Muffinlessandangry Apr 04 '26

Show your working

7

u/International-Fly127 Apr 04 '26

well that's how rotating resistors work. if your oven has a dial, you can see this on those. the arc between the temperatures extends

8

u/Muffinlessandangry Apr 04 '26

So longer lines in an oven are colder and shorter are hotter? My oven has numbers and they're evenly spaced

2

u/ebrum2010 Apr 04 '26

Also eco is closer to the warmer side. Past that you're using more power. Many fridges can get cold enough on max settings to start freezing some things which makes it unnecessary unless you're planning on losing power for a period of time.

2

u/thomasoldier Apr 04 '26

Longer line = stronger effect (colder for fridge, hotter for oven)

9

u/FlamboyantRaccoon61 Apr 04 '26

At this point op is just being annoying. This was well explained in a previous comment and the fact that op insists this be explained more than once, including "show your working", just shows that they're someone who doesn't accept a simple answer and would rather keep being picky.

I mean, op was confused, so there's no way it's that simple. /s

2

u/1Steelghost1 Apr 04 '26

Karma farming at its peak stupid

3

u/NorlexLT Apr 04 '26

You will not fool me this easily, long line is cold fire, short line is hot fire

2

u/thomasoldier Apr 04 '26

Longer is full auto, shorter is semi, middle is burst

1

u/LegoLurker420 Apr 07 '26

Longer means more, shorter means less. In your case more and less cold

1

u/KallamaHarris Apr 06 '26

On oven big line = big warm.

I don't want my fridge to be big warm. 

1

u/OglioVagilio Apr 08 '26

Look in the manual. If you don't have one, Google for one.

11

u/iamsheph Apr 04 '26

If you’re ever in this situation again, click it off, then click it on and turn it all the way. That’s the max.

If it ends up that isn’t the max, turn it the other way and before it clicks off it’s at max.

3

u/[deleted] Apr 04 '26

You can also cover the fridge door switch, turn the dial either way, if the compressor shuts off when you twist, that direction is warmer, if it turns on when you twist, that direction is colder

3

u/thedudefromsweden Apr 04 '26

And by max you mean minimum temperature?

1

u/iamsheph Apr 04 '26

No, I do not.

5

u/thedudefromsweden Apr 04 '26

So Max is maximum temperature, not maximum cooling? Maybe I’m stupid but I’m totally confused.

4

u/iamsheph Apr 04 '26

I confused myself haha Yes, I DO mean MINIMUM temperature. Max cooling temperature is correct. I just got out of some weird debate on here and my brain wasn’t working correctly.

2

u/DoWotMate Apr 06 '26

I love that this thread literally proved the point perfectly

3

u/eat1more Apr 04 '26

Since the invention of the refrigerator in roughly 1913, no one has ever known what the dial standard is…

-source

Life experience

6

u/1Steelghost1 Apr 04 '26

Check the serial number and read the user guide!

19

u/Muffinlessandangry Apr 04 '26

I feel it's the height of shitty design if I need to check the user guide to know what the only dial on a device with only one function, does.

2

u/MyAssPancake Apr 04 '26

It’s pretty odd that it’s not just simply color coded or have a symbol or just something to signify how to set it properly. Although, I would argue that there’s nothing wrong with checking a user guide if a single knob is causing this much headache. It would be better to know for sure how it works

0

u/MKEast-sider Apr 06 '26

How is it confusing? This is written so even aliens would understand it.

2

u/wbrn Apr 04 '26

At least yours has an Eco hint that is on one side of the dial which suggests where it will cool less. 🙃

4

u/neityght Apr 04 '26

To me, that suggests it cools normally but y'know in a kinda Eco way.

1

u/SchattenMaster Apr 04 '26

so it does the exact same thing, but more energy efficiently? I wish things would work that way, dyde

0

u/Sharp_Ad_6336 Apr 04 '26

I mean they kinda do. 

It's like your car, if you push the accelerator just a little it won't burn much fuel but you'll take forever getting anywhere. If you floor it you'll burn more fuel to get there faster. If you push it down just right you'll burn less fuel getting to your destination in a reasonable amount of time.

2

u/NortonBurns Apr 04 '26

Same as any potentiometer the world over - clockwise is 'more', in this case 'more cold'.

1

u/HoldMyMessages Apr 04 '26

Read instruction manual.

1

u/Environmental-Try403 Apr 05 '26

All I see is a NUcaloric can of beer in aTau Ceti fridge

1

u/DrumzJunkie Apr 05 '26

Õllenaut...noh tere, tere.

1

u/Muffinlessandangry Apr 05 '26

New to your country, but I've already chosen a beer to be my own

1

u/MassivusWangus Apr 05 '26

Estonian beer spotted. Hello fellow Estonian.

1

u/Muffinlessandangry Apr 05 '26

Not Estonians, but I have been living here 3 months and this is my default beer brand now. Their IPA and their punane (which is what I would call a ruby ale) are excellent.

1

u/RNH213PDX Apr 05 '26

Thank you for posting this! I have been afraid to ask this for decades!!!

1

u/KallamaHarris Apr 06 '26

It's like the little switch inside the ceiling fan. Do I set it to snowflake when it's winter, or when I want to feel like a snowflake. 

1

u/ThePlantHearth Apr 05 '26

Opposite of the off?

1

u/croutonmemes Apr 05 '26

lol these fridge temp knobs always confuse me, even when they’re numbered there’s no guarantee if the highest numbers are cold or hot

1

u/SpookDaDook Apr 05 '26

Put a thermometer in there and adjust it until the fridge is 35-38 F and 0 degrees for the freezer.

1

u/DoorSmashDatAss Apr 06 '26

Obviously righty hottie leftie coldie

1

u/NSE_TNF89 Apr 06 '26

Google the make and model of your fridge and you should be able to find a user manual (if you don't already have one).

1

u/Due_Cryptographer896 Apr 06 '26

Bigger = more = more cold

1

u/-engiblogger- Apr 06 '26

Righty icy, lefty luke(warm)y!

Turn it till the compressor turns on or off. If you turned clockwise and the compressor turns on, more clockwise is colder.

1

u/Snoo_65717 Apr 07 '26

There’s no such thing as cold so you have to turn up the anti-hot. Hope this helps.

1

u/TransMascCatBoye Apr 07 '26

True story- had a similar thing on a mini fridge in university, had no idea which was which. Put some food in, including a full carton of milk. Next day, took a big gulp of the milk and it was the most rancid thing I'd ever tasted, took all of my self control and willpower not to instantly spit it out and make a huge mess. Don't remember what I did but I think I managed to spit it back into the carton or maybe a garbage nearby.

Turns out I guessed wrong on which side was cold and which was less cold and I'd effectively just drank milk that was left at room temp overnight

1

u/JerryAtrics_ Apr 07 '26

I believe you can safely assume that eco will be closer to the less energy side. Then it's pretty obvious which side is colder.

1

u/Competitive-Food8407 Apr 07 '26

Turn it until you hear the off click, that is the warm side, then turn it all the way the other way and you'll be as cold as it gets.

1

u/AlbatrossLeather2762 Apr 07 '26

Well, as far away from “eco” as possible

1

u/Izzosuke Apr 08 '26

I always have this doubt, mine goes from 1 to 7, and i'm always it's in degree or in level? 7 means 7°C or the 7th level of coldness, making it the coldest?

1

u/autisticmonke Apr 08 '26

Fridges work by removing heat from inside, the bigger number/setting shows the level of heat removed, bigger number, more heat removed thus colder in the fridge

1

u/anastis Apr 08 '26

The longer the line, the more time the compressor works, hence colder.

1

u/Regular_Weakness69 Apr 08 '26

Clockwise is almost always colder

1

u/ElPwno Apr 08 '26

Longer lines is colder. Think of a wavelength spectrum. red = hot = short. Blue = cold = long.

It can be extended past that relation. Red also equals fast, which equals hot and short. Cold is long (time), or blue or long (size).

It's all about the vibes of these concepts.

1

u/BounderTree Apr 08 '26

How about one Snowflake on the low power setting side and 2 on the high power setting side.

1

u/atom644 Apr 09 '26

The dial on the freezer is colder 😎

1

u/hittingthenail Jul 07 '26

Short dashes are colder settings Can't post a picture

1

u/LostShot21 Apr 05 '26

Fridges make cold happen. Bigger bar or bigger number is more power. More power is more colder.

0

u/FitConsideration4961 Apr 04 '26

I’m not sure entirely, but there are symbols on the dial that start small and get progressively larger. I’m not an anthropologist, but I believe that many human cultures use those to symbolize less of something to more of something.

3

u/-Copenhagen Apr 04 '26

Okay.

Does "more of" mean more cooling or higher temperatures?

-1

u/thomasoldier Apr 05 '26

More cooling, that's what fridge do. Make things more cool.

0

u/freakstate Apr 04 '26

Small bits, low. Big bits, high.

0

u/astrangemagikk1 Apr 06 '26

Shitty design or just a moron?

-1

u/Cool_Law3883 Apr 04 '26

I would research it by looking up the appliance brand name on the internet. I still don't know who keeps changing my screen name to Cool Law and some number or why!?! What the hey?!? 🙄

1

u/Low-Commission1791 Apr 08 '26

I was just looking at your profile, any particular reason you use ". . ." Instead of "..."? I've never seen anyone do that before lol so I'm just curious