UK fridges struggle with rising temperatures, experts warn of design flaws
Experts warn that household fridges in Britain are not designed to cope with increasingly hot summers, leading to potential food spoilage and energy inefficiency.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story.
As the UK braces for another heatwave with temperatures predicted to reach the 30s next week, experts are warning that household and supermarket fridges are struggling to cope with increasingly hot summers. Last week, many supermarket chillers were switched off and repair engineers were overwhelmed with calls to fix home fridges that had failed. The issue stems from the fact that most fridges in Britain were designed for a cooler climate, with around 99% of stores using units rated for a maximum ambient temperature of 32 degrees Celsius. However, such temperatures are now being reached regularly, whereas they were once rare. In a climate-controlled testing facility, engineers measure fridge performance using standardised gel blocks and computers to track temperature extremes and energy consumption. They found that older home fridges were designed for average temperatures of only 18 to 25 degrees, causing their compressors to run into overdrive and eventually fail when exposed to the 35-degree conditions seen in recent heatwaves. Newer models are built to handle up to 35 degrees, but many households still rely on older units. For supermarkets, replacing thousands of chiller cabinets is a major logistical and financial challenge, adding to the costs imposed by a changing climate.
On screen
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Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, mapped by channel. Ordered by how many channels carried each claim.
| Claim | BBC One |
|---|---|
| Most supermarket fridges are designed for a maximum ambient temperature of 32 degrees Celsius. | |
| Older home fridges are designed for average temperatures between 18 and 25 degrees Celsius, causing them to fail in hotter conditions. | |
| Replacing thousands of supermarket chiller cabinets is a major challenge and an additional cost of climate change. |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
The report focuses on the practical consequences of rising temperatures on fridge performance, using a local testing facility and repair business to illustrate the problem. It highlights the design limitations of both supermarket chillers and home fridges, and frames the issue as a growing cost of climate change. The tone is factual and concerned, with a clear local angle (Somerset).
- “Most of maybe 99% of stores out there are designed for 32 degrees, which obviously isn't enough because these were designed decades ago, and now we're getting to 32 degrees every year, whereas before it was very rare.”
- “The older one's probably only between 18 and 25 degrees, which is the average compared to the new one to 35, so therefore you hit the 35 levels that we have been, and they're just going, the compressor's into overdrive, going and going, and they just really just give up the ghosts after a while.”
Broadcast Timeline
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