Need advice on mini-fridge setup

Lord_Asmodeus

So I need people's advice on what's safe with a minifridge. I got one recently and I don't really have room except on the ground for it, and the floor in my room is carpeted, but I've tried to compensate. The fridge has little legs on the front I've elevated, it's in a rug, and I have some thickened cardboard to elevate the back corners.

From a side angle it looks like this



Do minifridges generally get hot enough that this is uh, dangerous? Or should it be okay?

Gnizmo

So this might get immediately contradicted by someone who understands the technology behind this stuff, but I don't think it will be a problem. I have had minifridges on the carpet directly for years without any issues at all. This occasionally means shit gets trapped under it by magic and sometimes that is cardboard. So far my house has not burned down.

This all said I readily admit to having never spent even a second thinking about if this is a good idea or not. If someone comes and immediately says I am being entirely reckless then it will not surprise me even a little.

Burtletoy

Pretty sure most of the heat comes out the back. But having one on carpet often makes it harder to open. If you could get, like, a wood board, I think I use one of the shelves I removed from a cabinet cause I wanted more room, to put my PC tower on. Or maybe two 2x4s to prop the feet in

Skeith

2x4s would be overkill. Anywhere that cuts wood will have some amount of scrap that they'll sell for a song, find a bigger piece and get it quartered and stick those under the feet.

HappylilElf

You should have nothing to worry about unless you bought a mini fridge from wemakeminifridgesthatburstintoflames.com or something.

Make sure it has adequate spacing behind it because that's where the heat exchanging takes place and you'll be fine. If the bottom of the fridge is getting even slightly warm it means you have a fantastically (and frankly very puzzingly) broken mini fridge.

Lord_Asmodeus

Thanks for the advice, I'll see what I can about propping it up a bit more with some wood if I have any issues with it

HappylilElf

Oh and also be aware that it's going to generate some heat. Not a ton of heat but it will warm up a room a little bit and if the room is small enough (I have a mini-fridge in my half walk-in closet for example) you'll definitely notice the difference. Point being don't worry about that specifically, that's just kinda how fridges work.

Lord_Asmodeus

I have... a revised question now.

So my house is quite old, and basically has no 3 prong adapters, especially not in my room and so I've been using 2 prong adapters for all of my stuff (computer, electronics, etc etc. connected to power strips) For one thing, I never knew you were supposed to screw them to the wall or whatever (if they have instructions to that effect I've missed them) I currently have the minifridge plugged in with an adapter, and I'm not sure if that's a good idea or not.

Gnizmo

Definitely not a good idea. I have seen it work before with no issue, but I can't say I would ever want to do it myself. There isn't a huge risk associated with it based on personal experience, but if stuff goes bad it will go extremely bad. Basically it's cool until something catches fire.

Lord_Asmodeus

I guess I'll leave it unplugged/unused until I can get the wall plugs replaced or replace them myself.

Hevach

It's basically ok until it's very not ok with no warning in between. As soon as there's an electrical problem anywhere in the fridge or the power cord it will become an electrocution hazard, without the third prong attached it's grounded to an open circuit that includes any conductive structural parts, so it's very easy to complete that circuit the painful way.

HappylilElf

Hevach wrote: »

It's basically ok until it's very not ok with no warning in between. As soon as there's an electrical problem anywhere in the fridge or the power cord it will become an electrocution hazard, without the third prong attached it's grounded to an open circuit that includes any conductive structural parts, so it's very easy to complete that circuit the painful way.

Yup that's essentially the thing with electrical. It's fine until it's not and then generally it's really not fine.

While adapters exist to go from three prong to two prong I kinda recommend never using them unless you have extensive knowledge of electrical wiring and the wiring in your house (and even then not really because I'm told by electrician friends that anyone that has that knowledge would think using them is is batshit crazy).

Lord_Asmodeus

I've been using such adapters for like, 3-4 years? Not saying you're wrong, necessarily, but well I'm already planning on replacing the outlets when I can and I doubt I'm going to unplug all of my electronics between then and now.

Hevach

Like I said, it's fine until it's not. In terms of stupid electrical devices this isn't a male to make extension cord, it's a safety feature.

There's just not much daylight between the people who never need it in their whole lives and the people who are literally alive because it saved them.

HappylilElf

Lord_Asmodeus wrote: »

I've been using such adapters for like, 3-4 years? Not saying you're wrong, necessarily, but well I'm already planning on replacing the outlets when I can and I doubt I'm going to unplug all of my electronics between then and now.

Oh don't get me wrong, I'm no expert on electrical. I know fuckall about electrical.

But when master electricians tell me "Yeah, it could be ok, in fact in many cases it probably will be, but if it's not and things go downhill the best case scenario is that your wall socket starts on fire. The worst case is that a fire starts inside your wall and by the time anyone knows there's a problem the entire house is on fire." I respond "Gotcha, adapters aren't a great idea."