Hacker News Reader

Comment by galkk | Hacker News Reader

> When opening an empty upright freezer, all the cold air can just "fall out"

I recently found that the ice-cream refrigerators of street vendors (and everything else that is being sold when the doors are frequently opened) are opening on the top for that exact reason - to not let cold air "fall out" (because cold air is on the bottom)

View on HN

This is also why the Trader Joe’s freezer/refrigerator section is designed the way it is. Turns out that a chest freezer/refrigerator with no top on it at all isn’t that much worse than a standing freezer/refrigerator with a door that gets opened and closed over and over again.

Most normal supermarkets in Europe either have upright doors (more common if space is limited) or open chests. The open chests are covered when the shop is closed.

The budget supermarkets tend to have chests with a transparent sliding door on top.

In germany the sliding top door is standard in almost all supermarkets, ranging from ALDI to Edeka, it covers "normal" and "budget" supermarkets. The only places I see non-transparent doors is bulk supermarkets.

I find it weird that his new freezer has open compartments. Mine, and the majority a quick google search showed, have boxes with the opening on top in each compartment, you can slide out. I don't have the numbers but my intuition says that it's more energy efficient.

Technology Connections did a decent video that covers freezer design decisions like that and others: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGAhWgkKlHI

also why when i buy ice cream i go for the one on the bottom of the shelf. it's the place with the most stable temperature- as the top area can fluctuate in temperature with people opening and closing the door.

was told that by an ice cream seller.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com