Refrigerator

The Refrigerator is a powered storage building used to slow food spoilage by keeping its contents cold. It can also store medicine produced at the Apothecary. In practice, it is one of the most common food-preservation options for colonies that are not yet relying on deep-freeze storage or a fully sterile setup.

A Refrigerator does more than simply cool its contents: it drives stored items toward 1 °C. If food already enters the building cold, the Refrigerator will still consume power and warm it up to that target temperature. This means it is not a passive cold storage block; it actively exchanges heat with its contents while powered. Refrigerated food keeps its shelf life longer, but it can still rot unless the surrounding conditions are sufficient to fully prevent spoilage. As of Versions/EX1-469287, food must be both Deep frozen at -18 °C or lower and in a Sterile Atmosphere to completely stop spoilage. Vacuum counts as sterile for this purpose, but food must already be pre-chilled to -18 °C or lower before being placed there.

Refrigerators are not required in every colony, since food can also be preserved by ambient conditions. Food stored below 4 °C is considered refrigerated, and food stored below -18 °C is considered deep frozen. For pure storage capacity, a pair of Refrigerators occupies the same space as one Ration Box, but stores more food and provides more Decor. If the goal is only to keep food from spoiling more slowly, a Ration Box in a Frozen Biome or another sterile cold environment can be a cost-effective alternative. Refrigerators themselves only provide the refrigerated state, so they do not fully stop food from decaying.

Their effectiveness is also affected by the surrounding atmosphere. Food spoils more quickly if the Refrigerator is surrounded by Polluted Oxygen, while cold conditions help suppress germs on stored food. Since the building is temperature-sensitive, a powered Refrigerator can be used as part of a food-management chain, but it is not a substitute for proper long-term preservation.

Refrigerators can be connected to automation in the same way as Smart Storage Bins. A full Refrigerator only outputs a green signal while it is powered, which makes it suitable for simple fill-level control. They can also be renamed, which helps organize different storage roles in larger bases.

• If used for medicine storage, the Refrigerator does not need to be powered, because medicine does not spoil at any temperature or in any atmosphere.
• When powered down, stored food exchanges heat with the surrounding environment; when powered, it does not.
• Because the building removes more heat from its contents than it emits, alternating power with a Timer Sensor and Power Shutoff can turn a Refrigerator into a crude cooling device.
• This makes it possible to exploit the building for active cooling, rather than only for storage.