For any refrigeration technician, the biggest headache is having a client arguing because of the number dials on a refrigerator temperature setting. Although modern refrigerators have electronic indicators, the dial system is still very much a thing with refrigerators.

Number dials can range anywhere between 1 – 5 or 1 – 7, these numbers mean nothing to a technician as technicians rely on the temperature reading from a thermometer, but to a client, this could be interpreted that their fridge is not as cold as before, because the tech left it on “#5”.

So what do these numbers do?

Absolutely nothing. This was a marketing ploy that was introduced in the ’60s when it was easier to sell products when telling consumers to “Chill your cheesecake at #5”.

The confusion came into play when competitor refrigerator manufacturers took advantage and fooled the consumers when they introduced a #7 on their temperature dials. This was to prove to consumers that their fridges were far superior because they were colder, and could keep food fresher.

The number dial was introduced in gas stoves, where once again, introducing more numbers meant to prove product superiority, but there was a drawback when people staring burning their houses down because the chicken recipe guide said, “Cook on #59”.

Because of this, the gas regulators enforced a standard and regulated the gas stove dials due to the danger.

So they regulated what each number dial meant in terms of temperature to prevent people from causing fires in the kitchen, but they ignored regulations on refrigerators because there was no danger when your cheesecake froze overnight.

All that remains of unregulated number dials is having the technician endure endless client complaints about number dials. This especially occurs when the thermostat has to be replaced, and now the number dial setting changed, causing widespread panic.

But this is not the end of the saga when fridges have a “warmer” and “colder” setting, this adds more confusion and more arguments where it would be far easier to just use a thermometer.