Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/03/29/clockwise-or-counterclockwise-this-freezer-control-dial-is-maddeningly-confusing.html
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My fridge/freezer has the same design. I figured it out by turning it to one and watch everything thaw out. So I set it to 6 which seems about right. I should get a thermometer to figure it out exactly.
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Sadly, poorly-thought out design is everywhere, and the ease with which web applications are built makes this orders of magnitude worse online.
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This obviously depends on whether DST is in effect or not.
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Jokes aside, this is basically counterclockwise thinking, so to speak.
Like how most photocopiers expect the users to select “darker copy/lighter copy” but some machines make the users select"darker original/lighter original".
Mildly annoying, but things like this keeps one mentally on one’s toes.
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The confidence of the commenter expecting to “increase the freezing temperature” is priceless!
Ice-nine, anyone?
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“Welcome to the ice cream freezer, where turning the knob to the right makes it colder, and the numbers don’t matter.”
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Recommended reading:
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Ours is exactly the same. I keep figuring it out, then not using it for a year and having to figure it out again.
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It helps if, instead, you think of the directions as deosil and widdershins.
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Does this work on both sides of the equator?
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Crank up the cool down!
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Well, on one hemisphere you have to mount the freezer upside down, but that’s left as an exercise for the reader.
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D’oh, it’s so obvious when you think it through!
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The office building I used to work in had thermostats in every room to control the air conditioning. They had a single dial marked +/-
I never did work out whether + meant increase the temperature or increase the cooling.
The rooms also had light switches you could press to control the brightness by pressing multiple times or or switch them off entirely by holding for a long press. These switches looked and felt like non-rocker switches and had no instructions. It actually took me over two years to realise what they did and how to operate them. A lot of electricity was wasted because I didn’t know how to switch the lights off.
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Really? This is poorly thought out design? The turn dial with the arrow pointing in the direction of colder is bad? Maybe I’m too autistic for this life, but this feels immediately obvious to me.
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Totally agree with you, I’m shocked that anyone finds this confusing. The arrow clearly indicates that clockwise is colder; that tells you that higher numbers means colder in this context. The numbers are in fact still useful: if it ever gets accidentally changed it’s easy to remember where it was set previously.
You and me and whoever designed this freezer: smarter than everyone else, I guess. 
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