The internet is full of fabulous facts about everything from current events to the history basket weaving and refrigerator fun facts. As we research for our daily content on food trucks, food carts and street food, we stumble upon some items of knowledge that we just did not know.

We have decided when these fun facts pop up, that we would share them with our readers in our section titled “Did You Know?”

For today’s Did You Know we will look at Refrigerator fun facts.

Refrigerator fun facts: The first household refrigerator produced by General Electric in 1911 was based on a design by a French Cistercian monk and physics teacher named Marcel Audiffren. The monk’s sulfur dioxide refrigerating process took the form of a wooden refrigerator named the Audiffren. It cost $1000, which was twice as much as an automobile.

Salt water, commonly known as brine, is sometimes used as a food preservative and refrigerant. Medieval peoples discovered that brine absorbs heat as it evaporates, and placed containers in brine to keep them cool. In America, meatpacking got its name in the 18th century because workers packed meat into brine barrels.

November 15th is National Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day.

Albert Einstein is the co-inventor of a refrigerator. He and his former student Leo Szilard received a patent for it in 1930. Coolants used at the time could be toxic, and Einstein got the idea for a simple, single-pressure absorption refrigerator when he read about a sleeping family killed by leaking refrigerator coolant.

A crisper is a refrigerator drawer or compartment used to keep vegetables and fruit fresh and “crisp” (thus the name). Crispers work by maintaining humidity levels suitable for fresh vegetables and fruit.

Louise J. Greenfarb of Henderson, Nevada, has over 32,000 different refrigerator magnets. She is appropriately known as “The Magnet Lady.”

In order to receive the ENERGY STAR rating, refrigerators must use at least 15% less energy than required by current federal standards (with freezers, it’s 10%). Compact ENERGY STAR refrigerators (those with volume of 7.75 cubic feet or less) must use 20% less energy than standard models.

Over 8 million refrigerators are sold each year in the U.S. About 70% of them are top mount, i.e. freezer on top and fridge on bottom. One-quarter are side-by-side refrigerators, which use more energy than top mount models. Less than 5% are bottom mount refrigerators in which the freezer is located below the fridge.

About 15% of American households contain two refrigerators.

In 2004, Olaf Diegel, a diabetic, invented a pocket-sized refrigerator for carrying insulin on trips.

In 2007, Duke University engineering graduate John Cornwell invented a mini fridge with a remote-controlled beer can extractor and catapult.

Refrigerator Fun Facts We May Have Missed

Let us know about the Refrigerator Fun Facts we missed. We always love to add to these lists. If we can verify that the facts is just that, a fact, we will give the reader credit in the article.

Reference: Wikipedia facts about Refrigerators.

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