Do Refrigerators Create Humidity? (Explained)

Refrigerators are used to preserve food for a significant amount of time. This is mainly due to its ability to dehumidify and keep the atmosphere dry inside. Then you may wonder why is my fridge wet inside. 

Many people find their refrigerators to have wet walls and assume that the humidity is created by the appliance itself. But that is not the case. In this article, we are going to discuss how refrigerators work to remove humidity and the possible causes of wetness on the walls.

Do Refrigerators Create Humidity?

No, refrigerators don’t create humidity. Rather, they work towards removing the humidity and try to maintain the inside of the fridge (evaporator) as dry as possible. When the air inside the fridge is cooled, it gets compressed which removes the moisture from it. This removed moisture is condensed through the evaporator coil and drained as water. So, it is not the job of the refrigerator to create humidity. 

What is Humidity?

Humidity is the amount of water vapors or the moisture content present in the atmosphere surrounding us. Higher humidity denotes a higher volume of moisture in the air. 

When a surrounding is hot, it can easily evaporate the water present in the surrounding and these vapors can accumulate in the air making it humid. That is why you can always find hot combined with humid when referring to climatic conditions.

Similarly, when a surrounding is cold, the air compresses to an extent where the water vapors quickly condense and become completely dry. That is why in winter you can have dry skin. 

With this understanding let us get to know what happens inside a refrigerator and find out why it doesn’t create humidity.

Why is My Refrigerator Wet Inside? 

We discussed that cold environments remove humidity and keep the surroundings dry. But sometimes you can find the walls of the refrigerator wet inside. That is because of a few reasons like, 

• Hot food inside the fridge
• Leaving the door open for a long time
• Not closing the door properly

Keeping Hot Food Inside the Fridge

Most of us don’t know in what state the foods must be kept inside the fridge. If you keep a portion of food that is heated or cooked recently, the temperature in the food will be high. Also, you can witness vapors released from the food.  

These vapors can easily condense on the walls due to the cold environment provided by the fridge. The vapors from the food can increase the humidity inside the fridge and make the walls inside the fridge wet. But the fridge didn’t create this humidity. Rather it is the heat and the vapors from the food items. 

So, if you want to avoid humidity increase inside the fridge and prevent condensation, then try to cool down the food outside before refrigerating it. It is important to bring the food items to room temperature before putting them inside the fridge.

Leaving the Door Open for Long

Some people have the habit of keeping the fridge door open to take items from it. When you keep the door open for a few minutes, the relatively hot and humid air outside the fridge will enter the cold refrigerator and start condensing. 

Usually, our house environment has slight humidity at all times. Even if you air condition the entire house, you cannot avoid the presence of humidity since the area is large and we continuously have contact with the outer environment. 

But a refrigerator is a closed atmosphere where the area to be cooled down is very low and the temperature reaches cold temperatures quickly. So, you can find the air to be dry and less humid. 

When humid air from the house enters the fridge, the cold atmosphere instantly compresses the vapor out of the humid air and this creates condensation. Due to this condensation, you can find your fridge wet inside, especially on the walls.

Therefore, try to close the door as soon as possible when you take something from the fridge. Modern refrigerators have an alert beep system where the fridge will start to alert you when you keep the door open for more than a minute.

Not Closing the Door Properly

Sometimes, we may accidentally forget to close the fridge door properly and it will not be sealed perfectly. This will also cause humid air to enter the evaporator and condense into water droplets. These water droplets make the fridge wet inside.

So, always ensure that the door is properly sealed when you close the fridge door, and make sure to remove any obstacles that hinder the proper sealing. 

Now we have understood the major reasons for the increase in humidity of the fridge atmosphere and why your fridge is wet inside. It is not the job of the refrigerator to naturally increase the humidity. Rather, it removes humidity and works towards keeping the air dry. 

Even if the humidity increases due to the above-mentioned reasons, it will continuously work towards removing the vapors. 

What happens if the Humidity is high in a Refrigerator?

A refrigerator in good working condition will effectively remove the moisture in the air and keep it dry even if there is an increase in humidity. But you can find a lot of water being drained from the evaporator coil due to condensation. 

If you don’t remove the condensed water properly, it may lead to a bad smell in your refrigerator which might be caused by mold growth. So, it is always better to avoid practices that can increase the humidity of the refrigerator.

You can prevent the increase in humidity by avoiding hot foods inside the fridge and ensuring a proper closure of the fridge door. 

Sometimes, humidity can also increase due to a lack of refrigerant or compressor issues. When there isn’t sufficient refrigerant available or if the compressor doesn’t work properly, it can lead to poor refrigeration which rises the humidity. So, always try to periodically check your refrigerator condition.

Conclusion

It is not the job of a refrigerator to create humidity. Rather it strives towards keeping the air dry inside and preserving the food items effectively.

If you find the refrigerator to be wet due to the increase in humidity, you might have kept the doors open or stored hot food inside it. Avoiding such practices will prevent condensation in the evaporator.