What temperature is your fridge?!

[Sunnydaiz3]

Stuff in my fridge does not stay fresh for very long and I'm wondering whether I need a new one. I've recently bought a maximum/minimum thermometer and have been measuring fridge temperature. It would be really useful to know what temperatures are normal for a fridge!

On the coldest setting my fridge goes down to -3.1, which obviously freezes the contents, so I can't use that setting. On the next setting up, these are the temperature ranges:

Bottom shelf: 4.8 to 7.9
Middle and top shelves: 5.6 to 11.7

My fridge is set to 3, i wouldn’t expect it above 5 if I wanted it to keep food fresh!

My fridge is also set to 3, I will occasionally have it at 2 if the weather is very warm and I expect to be in and out of it a lot but on normal days that would be too cold and would start to freeze things at the back. Your fridge is much too warm- ideal fridge temp is between 3°C (bottom) and 5°C (top/doors). At above 5°C food will spoil much too quickly as you’ve found and also risks pathogens multiplying and making you unwell quite quickly

Yeah mines 3-4

Thank you so much for the replies. This is really helpful to know.

My fridge is on top of my freezer (with a board on top of the freezer to spread the fridge’s weight). The freezer is an under-counter design, as is the fridge. Do you think the air above the freezer could be warm, and that this could be causing problems for the fridge, or do you think a good fridge should be able to cope with whatever the surrounding temperature is?

The question is whether to buy just a new fridge or whether to replace both the fridge and freezer with a combined unit. I would really prefer not to have to do the latter, as bought a new freezer last year for £500. (Obviously now wish I had at that point bought a combined unit!)

I was a safety manager for a big retailer for 10 years.

Without boring you with the temp regs, rule of thumb is to avoid bacterial growth you want temps under 8c

At home, I set our fridge to 4c

Wow, useful to know. (I am very prone to stomach upsets, and this could explain why! Can’t believe I didn’t realise this before!)

Ours is set a 4c but I'm intrigued as to how cold it really is so i will find out tomorrow.

At 11c the food wouldn't feel cold to the touch?

Id get a fridge freezer tbh.

Mine is on 2 degrees. Yours is way too high. Doesn’t your milk go off?

Could it be that the next setting down is 3, not minus 3? 3 is a normal fridge temperature.

Environmental Health say 5 deg or less. Freezer at -18. Go to gov.uk for the full advice.

If your set point is 5C and your fridge is functioning properly that should mean the range within the fridge is 2-8, which will keep everything safely cold without accidentally freezing your salad and eggs etc. Your fridge appears to be set too high that’s all.

Also make sure the chiller element (if you can see it) is free from dust and the drain from the back of the inside (if you have one) is clear. Also check the door seals are sealing properly all round.

Fridge is 2 degrees ATM, we go up to 3 in winter and 1 in summer.

Freezer always at minus 23

Our fridge is at 3C and freezer at minus 23
All shelves are at the same temperature.

Your fridge seems to have poor air circulation because the shelves should not have different temperatures. I think it’s probably time to buy a new one. You also shouldn’t be putting it on top of a freezer. I’d get a combined unit and sell on the freezer.

Our fridge is set to 3degrees C

In a commercial kitchen a chilled food being kept in a fridge with a reading of 8 degrees or higher would be against the law (fridges being set to under 5 and monitored daily. Or as in the last place I was responsible for fridge temps, checked and recorded three times a day and anything above 5 degrees reported immediately)