Reply To: Dealing with the refrigerator light on Shabbos

iacisrmma, the light is the least of the problems with anything fancier than an old dorm fridge. As I stated above, in many self-defrosting fridges, the switch affects the defrost system. Many people erroneously think that taking out the light bulb eliminates Shabbos problems. If you have a 50 year old non-self-defrosting fridge, you’re fine just taking out the light bulb. But if it’s a 15 or 20 year old self-defrosting model, there’s a good chance that the switch is doing something that’s not psik reisha delo nicha lai.