By Erin Bennett
Test Data Lead | Hautū Raraunga Whakamātautau
Fridges have one job: to keep the fridge and freezer cool. But our testing has revealed some fridges that fail in this critical task.
There are two key temperature tests where we occasionally see subpar scores.
Fluctuations: In this test, we measure how much the temperature inside the fridge fluctuates (or swings), including as the compressor starts and stops. The higher the score, the less the temperature changes. The lower the score, the more the temperature changes. Food that’s been exposed to changing temperatures could develop an unpleasant texture or spoil quicker, becoming unsafe to eat. For example, your ice cream might melt and refreeze in a puddle in a fridge with a low fluctuations score.
Seasonal change effect: This test looks at how well the fridge deals with changing temperatures outside. We test fridges in a temperature-controlled room and adjust the external temperature to simulate winter and summer conditions while monitoring the temperature inside the fridge. The higher the score, the better the fridge deals with temperature changes, meaning it will need less manual adjustments throughout the seasons.
0 doesn’t mean it doesn’t work at all
We’ve seen some fridge models that perform so poorly they’ve earned a score of 0 out of 100 in these tests. 0 doesn’t mean the fridge didn’t cool at all, but it was so bad in comparison with other fridges that it was deemed to be terrible at that test. Anything below 10% can be considered a terrible score.
These aren’t the only temperature tests we do. This means that a fridge that gets a poor score in one temperature test might redeem itself a bit in another test.
We also test:
temperature uniformity, to see how consistent the temperature is throughout each compartment in the fridge and freezer.
heat-loading, to test the fridge’s power for cooling hot food
default settings, to see how well the fridge performs on the manufacturer's recommended settings.
You can read more about our tests in How we test fridges.