Reply To: Water fountain on Shabbos

Ivdu: It’s not intended or immediate by the refrigerator. You don’t care if the motor goes on now as long as the food stays cold (which it will for a day or two without the motor running). Immediacy is also important because otherwise who says that my action of opening the door is what caused it? It goes on every few hours on its own anyway. So by the water fountain, it’s Assur if it’s immediate. The same would be true by the fridge; it just doesn’t really exist that a fridge would turn on immediately.