We all know refrigeration units – or fridges – are meant to be used for keeping food and drink cold. Some items go off quickly if they’re not kept cold and everybody has a fridge in their home today.
But it appears there’s other uses for fridges that often don’t involve anything edible. Here are some of the most weird and wonderful.
- Storing medical supplies – this isn’t advised as most domestic or commercial refrigerators don’t have the sensitive settings of medical ones but nonetheless, it has been known.
- Keeping dead cats in – this is actually true. A medical school in the US asked a nearby restaurant if it could look after some cat corpses safe until its medical students could pick them up.
- Separating gasses – now for the sciency bit. In the petrochemical industry, gasses need to be chilled down to -150C to separate through fractional distillation. Specialist refrigeration units have to be used to do this.
- Creating ice rinks – skaters and ice hockey players no longer have to wait for Mother Nature to do her thing as ice rinks can be created through refrigeration by simply freezing water directly onto a floor.
- Cheating death – many people believe it’s possible to escape the clutches of the Grim Reaper by being cryogenically frozen and thawed out sometime in the future, provided there’s someone around who knows how to do it.
- Helping hedgehogs hibernate – surprisingly a refrigerator can be a great place for hedgehogs, tortoises, snakes, lizards and even bats to sleep safely through the winter. A fridge offers a perfect environment to hibernate as it will stay constantly at around 3-5C. Special boxes can be bought but make sure you don’t get them mixed up with your leftovers.
- Brewing your own beer – if you strip the shelves and compartments out of a fridge (probably best to use and old one) making a tasty tipple is easy. Make sure your fermenters fit inside and your ale will brew quite nicely as the refrigeration unit keeps the temperature constant.
- Storing some surprising items – it’s amazing what everyday household items you can store in the fridge. In fact, some of them last longer or work better if you do. Batteries won’t drain as fast as the coldness stops electrolyte fluid inside them draining; ladies tights extend their life and won’t be as likely to run; laundry popped in the fridge will be free of dust mites; lipstick won’t go bad as quickly, fresh flowers stay fresher longer after a spell in the chiller, and you can even open an envelope you sealed by mistake before you stuffed the cheque inside.