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Most Vietnamese houses do not have refrigerators. Consequently, fresh meat and other perishable items are bought every other day, before they spoil. With the tropical heat, a pork chop goes bad in a one day. A steak starts smelling funny in three days.

After living here slightly longer than three months, we now have a refrigerator. I set it at 8 (on a 10 scale). Two nights ago, my wife (who is from here) had some friends over and used up all the ice. So I made ice that night for my orange juice in the morning. I went to bed at about 11:00.

6:00 the next morning, I went for the ice. It was not solid. It was merely very cold water, nothing was frozen.

I complained to my wife, "I just made the ice last night before I went to bed and there is no ice yet."

"That's your problem, Bill... No patience!"

She then explained that her friends said that we had the refrigerator set too high and they told her to set it at 2. This would explain why the loaf of bread I set out on the counter the night before (which had never been in the refrigerator--and we're in the tropics) was colder than the cake that spent the night in the refrigerator.

After work that day, I went to a USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) site about the proper storage of perishable food. It stated that the freezer should be kept at 0 degrees Fahrenheit (-18 degrees Celsius) and the refrigerator should be kept at 40 degrees Fahrenheit (5 degrees Celsius).

My wife always tells me that "Vietnam is different than America! Here we don't need the refrigerator so cold because it's so hot!" She went on to explain that it would explain our high electric bill (which gets as high as $12 in a heavy month). I tried to explain to her that food is more expensive than electricity. A ham here costs $16. If it goes bad and I still want ham, it's $32 (simple math).

Anyway, today after church we bought some groceries at the supermarket and I bought two thermometers. I had the refrigerator set on 8, as I did before.

I put one thermometer in the freezer and the other in the fridge. I cheated and put them next to the cooling element--the coldest part of the compartments!

Two hours later I got a reading for the refrigerator and the freezer (at setting : The freezer was at 20 degrees Fahrenheit and the fridge was at 60 degrees Fahrenheit.

This is pretty scary. I hope I don't get food poisoning!!!

LoyalTubist wrote:The freezer was at 20 degrees Fahrenheit and the fridge was at 60 degrees Fahrenheit

Try closing the door!

What is the temp. and relative humidity of your house. Is it airconditioned too? This make a lot of diffrence of how well the refidgerator will work .If your house temps. are in the 90's your fridge will have to combat against that as well . Modern fridges are meant to be used in modern house that are ususaly airconditioned in the summer .

Some older models use a fan to blow the cold air from the freezer compartment to the "coldside and that's how it keeps the "cold " side cold. Check to see that the fan is working. The way you do that is open the cold side and leave it open and you will hear the fan come on as the temps on the cool side rise.

Since the freezer seems to be working whatever the problem ii it's with the "cold" side. Either the coils are bad or the fan is not working. Maybe even the thermostat on the cold side is not working .

You're completely correct about the temps you want to be storing that food at. At the fast food joint I work at if the fridge goes above 40 we need to take steps to correct it.. if it hits 50 all the food gets trashed

Lets hope you have an iron stomach...or are able to get a better fridge

We don't have AC. We keep the door to the bedroom balcony open 24 hours (this is a skyscraper apartment). The average daytime temperature in the house is about 85 degrees Fahrenheit. At night it's between 68 and 75. We keep four large electric fans going on whenever people are here.

We are at the beginning of the wet season. The humidity is 100+%.

And the refrigerator door stays SHUT!

The humidty could be affecting the performance of the coils in the back . Is this a new fridge ? You never said . Pulling the unit away from the wall is also a good piece of advice. If this is an used and older unit check the fan I mentioned before.

It is a used refrigerator. The previous owner never put the fridge above level 2, which is about like using the refrigerator as a bread box. There are no electrical problems.

Try plugging it in (just kidding)

You laugh, but it seems this is the way most Vietnamese use their refrigerators. The freezer section is used the same way I would use a refrigerator. The fridge section is used for other foods, to keep bugs from eating them. (So why do they buy ice cube trays?)

LoyalTubist wrote:(So why do they buy ice cube trays?)

To keep bugs from eating them!

LoyalTubist wrote:It is a used refrigerator. The previous owner never put the fridge above level 2, which is about like using the refrigerator as a bread box. There are no electrical problems.

Sounds like it's had a significant refrigerant leak. Are there many refrigeration repair folks in Siagon who could give your unit some Freon? If not, use it as a breadbox.

I discovered something today. The refrigerator wasn't used yesterday. Hanh and I went out for Chinese food last night, so we didn't open the refrigerator yesterday between about 6:00 Monday morning and 6:00 this morning.

The temperature of the refrigerator was 28 degrees Fahrenheit. But the warm air raised the temperature 20 degrees in ten seconds!

So the old joke, if you want to look around in the refrgerator, use a Polaroid camera, would make plenty of sense here!

I hate to be the one to break the news to you, Bill, but you may have to store your tuba somewhere else!

We had no air conditioning in South Alabama for 7 years. We had 13 ceiling fans just for downstairs (12 foot ceilings) and a 6 foot attic fan with a 1hp motor that really cooled the two bedrooms upstairs.
In the summer with 95 degree highs, our refrigerators had to be on 9 or 10 to make ice and not poison us. We set them back to 5 or so in the winter.

its a good thing you love spam...it does not need to be refrigerated!


ken k