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Posted

I've heard this all my life. You throw out a refrigerator, you tie the door shut, or better, you remove the door. This is to prevent little kids who are playing hide and seek from hiding in the refrigerator and suffocating.

 

Back in the 50s, refrigerator doors actually latched. You had to pull a handle down to open the door. So if a kid was in the box, and the door was shut, it would be very difficult for him to open it from the inside.

 

I'm thinking of this, by the way, from a YouTube video I just watched about "very special episodes" on 80 sitcoms that traumatized '80s children. In a Punky Brewster episode the little girl hid in the refrigerator and couldn't get out, and when they found her she wasn't breathing.

 

But my refrigerator doesn't have a latch. I don't know if it's magnetic or what, but you just pull it and it opens right up.

 

So with modern refrigerators, could a kid get stuck inside? It seems that if they could open it from the outside by pulling on it they should be able to open it from the inside by pushing on it.

 

Anybody know?

 

I am not advocating not removing the doors. I'm just curious.

Posted

Below is the Florida Statutes on this type of disposal. I was wondering about this exact question in recent weeks because of the many refrigerators/freezers/etc. that are sitting at the roadsides awaiting the County to haul them off. These appliances, and a bunch of other types of appliances, were in houses/apartments/condos flooded by hurricanes Debbie, Helene and Milton. Almost none of the ones I've seen in person, or on the tv news, have had the doors removed or otherwise rendered safe.

 

 

 

The 2024 Florida Statutes
http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Images/dividers/600x3_gradient.gif

 
Title XLVI
CRIMES
Chapter 823
PUBLIC NUISANCES
View Entire Chapter
823.07 Iceboxes, refrigerators, deep-freeze lockers, clothes washers, clothes dryers, or airtight units; abandonment, discard.
(1) The purpose of ss. 823.07-823.09 is to prevent deaths due to suffocation of children locked in abandoned or discarded iceboxes, refrigerators, deep-freeze lockers, clothes washers, clothes dryers, or similar airtight units from which the doors have not been removed.
(2) It is unlawful for any person knowingly to abandon or discard or to permit to be abandoned or discarded on premises under his or her control any icebox, refrigerator, deep-freeze locker, clothes washer, clothes dryer, or similar airtight unit having an interior storage capacity of 11/2 cubic feet or more from which the door has not been removed.
(3) The provisions of this section shall not apply to an icebox, refrigerator, deep-freeze locker, clothes washer, clothes dryer, or similar airtight unit which is crated or is securely locked from the outside or is in the normal use on the premises of a home, or rental unit, or is held for sale or use in a place of business; provided, however, that “place of business” as used herein shall not be deemed to include a junkyard or other similar establishment dealing in secondhand merchandise for sale on open unprotected premises.
(4) It shall be unlawful for any junkyard dealer or secondhand furniture dealer with unenclosed premises used for display of secondhand iceboxes, refrigerators, deep-freeze lockers, clothes washers, clothes dryers, or similar airtight units to fail to remove the doors on such secondhand units having an interior storage capacity of 11/2 cubic feet or more from which the door has not been removed. This section will not apply to any dealer who has fenced and locked his or her premises.
History.ss. 1, 2, ch. 29707, 1955; s. 1, ch. 67-135; s. 1, ch. 71-116; s. 66, ch. 74-383; s. 1, ch. 75-24; s. 41, ch. 75-298; s. 1278, ch. 97-102.

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  • Thanks 1
Posted

has to go to recycling service center here , they charge you by the pound and you have to deliver theyt dont pickup , but they make a lot of ,money on the exchange 

Posted

Cypress Sun,

 

For any "law" to be meaningful, there must be "Enforcement."  When State and Local Enforcement agencies turn a blind eye to some activity there is no point to having the statute enforced only after some small person is found dead.  What a CROCK :ph34r:  

Posted
1 hour ago, Colorado Coffinmaker said:

Cypress Sun,

 

For any "law" to be meaningful, there must be "Enforcement."  When State and Local Enforcement agencies turn a blind eye to some activity there is no point to having the statute enforced only after some small person is found dead.  What a CROCK :ph34r:  

 

Tell me about it! 

Posted

"Could a kid get stuck inside?"  With the newer refrigerators, probably not.  IF they were awake and pushed on the door from the inside.  The big HOWEVER is that they may fall asleep/suffocate before they realize they are in danger.  And there is always the chance that some other kid thinks it's funny to push the fridge over on the door while someone is inside.  Youtubers do it with outhouses and porta-potties, why not a fridge?

 

I say ALWAYS take the doors off a freezer or refrigerator when putting it out for trash.

 

Angus

  • Like 2
Posted

I haven't seen a refrigerator or freezer out on the curb for pick up in many years.  Nowadays the folks delivering a new one take the old one away for disposal.  In one town I lived in you could call the sanitation team for a pickup, for which they charged a small fee.

Posted

Better off keeping it, ripping out any unnecessary weight and use it to store ammo in. 

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