What’s Really Happening Inside Your Fridge

Most people think refrigerators blast cold air like a tiny Arctic machine. But here’s the twist: fridges don’t make things cold, they remove the heat.

Here’s how the cycle works:

Inside the fridge, an evaporator coil holds a chilly liquid called refrigerant. As this liquid evaporates into a gas, it grabs heat from the fridge’s interior. That warmed gas then heads to the compressor, which squeezes it tight—raising its temperature even more.

Next stop? The condenser coil (usually on the back or bottom). There, the hot gas releases heat into your kitchen and turns back into a cool liquid, ready to start again.

This repeating cycle—evaporate, compress, condense—is a heat-removal relay race.

And here’s some icy trivia: The first electric refrigerator hit homes in 1913. But early versions used gases like ammonia and sulfur dioxide—which worked well but were dangerously toxic!

Luckily, modern fridges use safer refrigerants and better insulation, but the core idea hasn’t changed in over 100 years.