Technology Connections talks about a red fridge from Walmart for an hour

In a video by @Techconnectify, Alec goes into a deep dive into the simplicity of his particular model, its shortcomings and variety of data logging tests in an attempt to fix them.

TL,DW: Very simple, cheap and ingenious design, with one compressor loop between the fridge and freezer in series. However, its temperature sensor is wonky and so the fridge is more affected by how long the compressor operates than the actual temperature itself. There is a signficant temperature differential between the top and bottom, fans on the exterior or interior could help but with the faulty sensor only made matters worse. With the controller replaced with a proper temp control unit the fridge functioned much better.

SilentStorms,

I’ve loved Technology Connections ever since I saw his riveting hour long video on dishwashing detergent. I don’t even have a dishwasher.

starcrossed_hero,

This is exactly the video that first got me started on the channel as well. It randomly came up in my YouTube feed and I let it play... then have since watched dozens of these fascinating, boring, videos.

MeowdyPardner,
MeowdyPardner avatar

That video has become required watching material / hazing ritual for new roommates. Mostly for the detailed explanation on the importance of pre-wash soap, but also for the tips on preheating the water.

GiantBasil,

Same, I ate that video up. Dishwashers are a rich people commodity in my country.

SlovenianSocket,
@SlovenianSocket@lemmy.ca avatar

That video of his solved all my woes of using my dishwasher lmao

Awesomejt,

I used to think dishwashers were kinda rubbish before I watched his video and learned how they actually work and the best way to use them. I recommend that video to lots of people now. Great channel.

sik0fewl,

I switched to powder detergent and found mine doesn't work as well with it... I don't know why.

jernej__s,

@Awesomejt @TechConnectify @Rentlar @SilentStorms A few years ago there was a thread on Twitter that basically came down to: either you have a Bosch dishwasher, or you need to study how to properly fill it if you want clean dishes.

eltimablo,

He became one of my favorites after he got me to enjoy a half-hour video on storm lanterns. Dude has some serious charisma and really good investigative skills.

JWBananas,
JWBananas avatar

deleted_by_author

    •
    TechConnectify,
    @TechConnectify@mas.to avatar

    @JWBananas @Rentlar @SilentStorms sooo... the follow-up had a very specific point. Many people were getting a residue after trying powder detergent, and I wanted to help with that.

    My main issue with detergent pods isn't so much that they're wasteful, per se, but that they cost a lot more for, potentially, worse results.

    Many dozens of people continue to tell me that trying powder detergent both saved money and made their dishwasher work better. I stand by that.

    throwmeinthekbin, (edited )
    throwmeinthekbin avatar

    He walks among us mere mortals.

    JWBananas,
    JWBananas avatar

    deleted_by_author

    •
    TechConnectify,
    @TechConnectify@mas.to avatar

    @JWBananas @Rentlar @SilentStorms I fundamentally disagree with the idea that it's misleading.

    I wanted to show that the pre-wash cycle is /important/ - that having detergent in the first rinse actually accomplishes something.

    The main thrust of that video was that detergent packs skip that first step, and what I wanted to show was the value of that first step. If you had a dishwasher that worked fine with pods, there would be no reason to change your habits - and I explicitly said as much

    TechConnectify,
    @TechConnectify@mas.to avatar

    @JWBananas

    And truthfully, what I messed up in the first video was not getting into the nuance of water hardness and detergent amounts.

    People who follow the directions on powder to "fill cups completely" are going to be in for a rough time if they have soft water. I didn't get into that, so people started using powder, used too much, and had worse results.

    So I went further, showed how you can actually get away with very little detergent, which imo is yet another reason to prefer powder.

    TechConnectify,
    @TechConnectify@mas.to avatar

    @JWBananas So yeah, honestly I feel like you're missing most of the context in those videos.

    I never said pacs don't work - I said that I suspect they've led to a lot of dishwasher dissatisfaction, made an argument as to why, and backed that up with a demo of the pre-wash and how, with no detergent in there, more stuff was left on the plates. That then was the starting point for the main wash cycle, and I figured that difference would speak for itself.

    If it didn't, then /that/ was my mistake

    JWBananas,
    JWBananas avatar

    deleted_by_author

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    TechConnectify,
    @TechConnectify@mas.to avatar

    @JWBananas @Rentlar @SilentStorms ask and you shall receive, but maybe next time untag me first

    grapemane,

    @TechConnectify I like your content, and I like you personally, and I’ve subscribed. Please continue spamming me.

    JWBananas,
    JWBananas avatar

    deleted_by_author

    •
    TechConnectify,
    @TechConnectify@mas.to avatar

    @JWBananas ah, I see that now. Genuinely, my mistake for making that assumption. Somehow this convo ended up in my notifications and it's still happening - and indeed, that's weird.

    Hobovision,
    Hobovision avatar

    Dude what the hell? You posted publicly in a public comment thread and are mad when the person you're talking about responded? You know this could happen on reddit too right? Creators are people too, you absolute dick.

    macracanthorhynchus,

    Ignore that jerk. You’re great, and your detergent videos explained, in exhaustive detail, (as all of your videos do, because that’s literally the whole shtick,) the nuance and context that you were aiming for. Anyone who missed that just wasn’t paying attention.

    Also your snarkiness in your videos is amazing and never stop being you.

    Zagorath,
    @Zagorath@aussie.zone avatar

    The other guy is totally unnecessarily being a dick, but is perhaps touching upon a good point.

    The prewash stage might have a more effective result if some detergent is put in, but there’s no actual value in that if a full main wash without pre-wash detergent results in a completely clean load of dishes.

    Zamboniman,
    @Zamboniman@lemmy.ca avatar

    TIL the Technology Connections guy is on Lemmy via Mastadon.

    And that’s awesome!

    Coeus,

    I’m glad you made it to the fediverse.

    fedosyndicate,
    fedosyndicate avatar

    I'm pretty sure he was on Mastodon way before the migration! Alec was one of the first few federated accounts I looked for once I got the word we were all moving.

    Coeus,

    Nice!

    Rentlar,

    @TechConnectify I'm glad you found my Beehaw thread about your video, even if it's just to defend your dishwasher video from someone talking smack. Thanks, and feel free to lmk if my post title doesn't do your video justice (though overall it seems well-received on Lemmy).

    AVincentInSpace,

    question.

    It seems you have replied to, and carried on a reply chain with (meaning that presumably notifications went both ways), a user on Kbin from your Mastodon account.

    How on earth do you do that?

    atocci,
    atocci avatar

    I'm probably a bit late to reply, but... He was @ mentioned in the body of the original post, which Mastodon would have notified him of because mas.to is federating. Opening the notification would bring him to this thread on Mastodon, where everything would appear as it normally does when viewing a thread on Mastodon. From there, you can hold a conversation as normal with notifications and all. Unless you were looking at instance URLs, you probably wouldn't even notice the user you're replying to isn't on Mastodon themselves.

    Beauty of federation! It (mostly) just works!

    jiji,
    jiji avatar

    I watched that video (twice) before ever owning a dishwasher. I bought a house this year which has one, and if I hadn’t watched his video I would have continued hand washing, believing it to be better! I live by myself so it does feel silly having to wait days before I have enough of a load, but he’s right even that days-old stuff comes off fine.

    Taijk,
    @Taijk@feddit.nl avatar

    Yes, No way i knew that i needed to know all that info on detergent :P

    Kichae,

    It changed the way I wash my dishes

    JDPoZ,
    JDPoZ avatar

    Same. Love this guy. His video about how those roll-around "portable" HVAC units being hot garbage made me both upset I had ever used one, and also excited about the future of heat pumps... then he started doing more videos on heat pumps!

    Kichae,

    He definitely didn't make me upset for having a portable AC unit. It's... not power efficient, but it does keep my house cool enough to work in on the worst days.

    He did sell me on heat pumps, though. I'm hoping to have one installed this fall, which will remove my need for that big luggin' AC unit entirely and totally get my house off of oil.

    FaceDeer,
    FaceDeer avatar

    He actually might be wrong about the efficiency of the single-duct models, too. I read a counterargument that they actually work more efficiently than the dual-duct kind due to the fact that they're dumping heat into cooler indoor air to vent rather than trying to further heat up already-hot outdoor air. True, it causes some outdoor air to come inside in the process, but you're going to want some degree of air exchange anyway.

    The newer systems for rating the efficacy of these units may ultimately account for all this. They basically make a mockup of a standard room and hot outdoor space, run the unit in it for a period of time, and then measure how much electricity was used to cool the interior by X degrees. Ultimately that's all that really matters - how much electricity gets turned into how much of a drop in indoor temperature.

    Umbrias,

    To be fair to portable AC, they are inefficient but functional, and you can improve their efficiency with a variety of methods such as insulating the tubes.

    gabuwu,

    His videos are always so random but somehow so entertaining and peaceful no matter what completely random thing he decides to talk about. My man could explain the mechanical differences between industrial farming equipment or something and I’d eat that shit up 100% without any questions.

    SkyeStarfall,

    Considering he did a video on sprinklers, he already kinda did lmao

    FVVS,

    Love this channel, love that you guys over here love it as well. Thanks for being cool, beehaw.

    Rhaedas,
    Rhaedas avatar

    Typical response from new visitors to his channel: "Why would I be interested in that?" followed by "Stayed for the whole fascinating video."

    atocci, (edited )
    atocci avatar

    He has some serious skill when it comes to making absolutely anything interesting. 3 years ago I had no idea what a CED was, but after watching his 2 hour long 5-part documentary on this failed media format and its history, I now have a small collection of them.

    experbia,
    experbia avatar

    I love this guy, one of my few favorite YouTube channels and subscriptions. Anything he fixates on is suddenly interesting.

    fades,

    And there goes an hour of my life… because I live their channel!

    mlc894,

    I was wondering about this after I bought my brother a similar not-so-mini fridge from walmart and noticed that the insides didn't feel quite as cold as a regular fridge. This makes me think I was just feeling a "warm spot"!

    DrM,

    As a European his videos are sometimes so funny :)

    Here in europe we have two kind of fridges: American Style and the showed one (but with the freezer at the bottom). American style is this big bulky fridge that breaks quickly and costs a ton of money, most people use this style. It's just the norm and they work reliable for decades, while also being more energy efficient.

    It's also important to note that food doesn't get bad at 8°C (which Alec states in his video), storing food at 8°C is also the norm here in Europe. And I guess using this style of fridge more often in America would also make a lot of sense for most people.

    I can see one simple reason why the american fridge with it's self-defrosting feature makes a lot of sense in some American regions: Climate. In humid regions like Florida, the showed style of fridge would just need to be constantly defrosted. Which would be a huge pain in the ass obviously. And in all other southern-american regions where it never really gets cold it's also a pain in the ass to manually defrost a fridge. For all regions where the temperature goes close to freezing temperatures, defrosting is not a big deal. You just need to put your refrigerated or frozen stuff outside for a few hours, defrost the fridge and put everything back inside. The frozen stuff doesn't even get remotely thawn and doing it once a year is more than enough.

    interolivary,
    @interolivary@beehaw.org avatar

    I don't tbhink that ~8°C thing is a universal "European" thing. I'm Finnish and I've always kept my fridge around 5°C, and food safety authorities here recommend 2 – 6°C

    ButterBiscuits,

    8C is about 46F.

    Right from the USDA

    https://www.fsis.usda.gov/food-safety/safe-food-handling-and-preparation/food-safety-basics/refrigeration#2

    Bacteria grows more rapidly in food starting at about 40F.

    I think I'll trust the food safety agency over some random pretentious guy on Lemmy thanks very much.

    DrM,

    Sorry for only telling how it is in europe. Here in Germany the desired fridge temperature according to state guidelines should be 7-8°C and that's what I'm commenting. Just pointing out that the differences are stunning and funny.

    ButterBiscuits,

    Typical European attitude I see

    DrM,

    I'm sorry but what is the typical attitude here? Finding it interesting how things and standards differ between regions? Do you feel judged by me just stating the fact that in Europe we use a different fridge design than Americans do?

    Gatsby,

    Do you have a source for the 8°C claim?

    DrM,

    I of course only know how things are done here in Germany with my whole life living here.

    But someone else found a stackexchange thread about specifically this topic: https://quex.cc/comment/72381

    mlc894,

    Interesting how different international standards are. 3-4°C seems like a big difference between the agencies!

    BastingChemina,

    It’s a bit more nuanced than that:

    economie.gouv.fr/…/Temperature-de-conservation

    They said up to 8°C is fine for most of the stuff, 4°C for meat and 2°C for minced meat

    DrM,

    I bought minced meat today here in Germany and looked at the packaging, it also clearly stated 2°C next to the best before date! For dairy products it always says "best before when stored at 6-8°C:"

    Mummelpuffin,
    @Mummelpuffin@beehaw.org avatar

    Another reason for huge fridges in the U.S., the nearest grocery store is probably 20 minutes away. So everyone's gonna just go on the weekend. If everyone rushes off to a grocery store on the weekend, grocery stores get impossibly crowded, every weekend, making the trip even longer. It quickly becomes a food hoarding pilgrimage to minimize how often you need to deal with that.

    arirr,

    I still lecture people on the correct detergent to use and to do a prewash because on him. 😂

    Sugarian,
    @Sugarian@eldritch.cafe avatar

    @Rentlar That's definitely a fridge

    HealGirl,
    HealGirl avatar

    I fucking love technology connections. Their videos are perfect to have on in the background and it’s super interesting to learn about the tiny details of things that just work in our everyday lives.

    nfld0001,
    @nfld0001@beehaw.org avatar

    I love Tech Connections. Unnecessarily long deep dives, but that’s the kind of content I absolutely appreciate. His stuff is a treat that helps to highlight the rabbit holes that can be found in the mundane.

    ColaEuphoria,

    This guy's videos are getting longer and longer.

    (Not that I'm complaining (maybe))

    Zamboniman,
    @Zamboniman@lemmy.ca avatar

    WTF, I ain’t watching an hour long video on a stupid fridge! I’ll just watch the first few minutes and see what’s up…

    …

    …

    One hour later…

    Okay, that was really interesting. I really love this channel.

    potpie,

    Me at 11pm: why on earth would I watch a long video deep diving into obsolete incandescent headlights?

    Me at 7am: hey did you know that headlights used to be so standard you could just drop in a generic replacement and.........

    reric88,
    @reric88@beehaw.org avatar

    I love his videos, especially the video about his toaster. I've actually spent time trying to find that exact toaster at yard sales

    macrocephalic,

    I know more than I ever need to about American drip coffee machines, and yet I don’t want one and wouldn’t know where to buy one here in Australia eveb if I did want one.

    evistre,

    This dude is so good. <3

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