Inside a cheap eBay fridge freezer thermostat

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Inside a cheap eBay fridge freezer thermostat
A look at how capillary thermostats work and how to use them.

Capillary thermostats are a simple electromechanical thermal switch that uses a very thin metal tube to sense temperature at another location, by using the thermal expansion/contraction of liquid or gas to activate an adjustable switch.

The search keywords for finding a wide range of units on eBay are:-
“refrigerator thermostat”
Note that there are quite a few similar looking versions and a massive price range for the same thing.

If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:-
https://www.bigclive.com/coffee.htm
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  1. All the efforts are appreciable, but, you used hot gun to test.but I think it is used in refrigerator or ac and not in heater.rarher you have to use ice cup to test the temperature sensor.
    I say sorry if these sensors are of oven or any heating decices.

  2. Hi Clive, the last one (WDF-18) is the one I have in my fridge (Caple RI735). As I understand it there is one screw which adjusts the cut in temperature (e.g 8°C), and one for the cut off (eg 3°C). Would you (or anyone) be able to offer an opinion on which is which? Would speed up the trial and error process for me haha.
    My fridge is sitting about 10°C on the highest setting (7). I’ve tried a replacement thermostat but not much difference. My next step is to try adjusting the thermostat calibration.

    Also, I would suspect they’re not allowed anything other than air in the capillary tube, so you don’t get oil on your lettuce if it leaks.

  3. Could you explain the extension spring at 20:08? I turned mine whilst trying to calibrate and I don’t know where it should be😮

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