Does the light turn off when you close the refrigerator door?

Answer 1

It should turn off.

A switch is fitted to turn off the light whilst the door is closed to avoid wasting money on electricity. It would be wasted in two ways: you don't need the light to be on - you're not in there reading a book or anything - and the milk and salad don't need the light on to stop them having nightmares, but, if it is on, it's using electricity. Also - don't forget this point - the heat from the light has to be pumped away from the inside of the fridge by its compressor pump and having to do that wastes even more electricity!

OK, the amount of electricity may seem small - the lamp may only take 25 Watts but the compressor would have to take more than that amount of power because it cannot be 100% efficient at pumping heat. Compressor pumps are only about 67% efficient, so the compressor would have to use 25/0.67 = 37.3, let's say 37 Watts to remove the lamp's 25 watts of heat. So, if there was no door switch to turn off the light, your fridge would draw 25+37= 62 Watts every hour, 24/7. Thus in a year it would use 62x24x7x52 = 541,632 Watt-hours or about 542 kiloWatt-hours (kW-h). At 20 cents per kW-h, running that lamp would cost a cool US $108 Dollars a year just for the extra electricity!

So, if your fridge light doesn't turn off, you'll need to either fix that door switch or, if you have to pay someone to do it, it might even be a better deal to invest in a new fridge! Another solution - but you may not like the result if you do this - is simply to remove the light bulb...

Answer 2

1. grab a digital camera or a cellphone that can shoot video, set it on record, put it in the fridge and close the door. Retrieve camera/cellphone, and look at the footage.
2. have a look around the door frame, you should be able to see where the switch is. Press switch as if door was closed and seee what happens.