Condensation on a glass door fridge
People have long been asking this question, “Why is there condensation on glass door fridges, yet not on solid door fridges?”
Here’s a layman’s explanation designed as an easy way to get your head around a few of the laws of physics.
Fact one:
Warm air is able to hold much more moisture than cold air, and there is generally a large discrepancy in temperature inside a fridge, to that on the outside.
Fact two:
The “dew point” is the temperature at which the air becomes saturated and can no longer hold any more water vapor, thus some of this water vapor condenses into a liquid form.
Fact three:
The higher the relative humidity, the more water vapor is present in the air that you breathe.
Condensation on beer bottles
Now, let’s take a stubby or glass of ice-cold beer as an example. The glass will begin to sweat in a warm environment because the air coming into contact with the glass has been cooled to the dew point. This directly causes the air to lose its capacity to hold moisture. The result is condensation forming on the glass. As the condensation accumulates, it starts to become too heavy for gravity and forms into water droplets, which eventually slide down to the bottom of the glass. Hopefully your bartender has placed a coaster under your bevvy, otherwise the bar is about to get wet!
The exact same process happens when the colder surface of your glass door bar fridge meets the warmer air in your building.
Premises that are well air-conditioned draw a lot of moisture from the air, thus lowering the relative humidity. The result is that these condensation issues on glass surfaces are greatly alleviated.
Is there a way to solve issue permanently? Sure, there is. If the glass door could be heated to preventing temperature lowered to dew point. Below is a list of dew point at different humidity. Use a hydrometer to monitor the humidity.
Don’t place a glass door bar fridge on your expensive carpet or wood floor just in case it might be ruined by condensed water.
