Fiberglass in Refrigerators

Fiberglass Awareness

The back lower bottom of a household refrigerator with the panel pulled off showing dirty yellow fiberglass and a lot of dirt caught around it with the compresser and a cooling fan.

This refrigerator was causing poor indoor air quality in the home. The cooling fan is moving air next to fiberglass and blowing it into the house.

A hand reaching down to the bottom panel of a refrigerator with a copper tube coming out of the back.

In our huge, long undertaking of removing fiberglass from our lives we found yet one more source. I knew it was in the kitchen. When I walked into the other rooms where the fiberglass had already been removed the air was noticably better. My lungs told me something was off about the kitchen and the source felt strong. This is something I could never tell before we had removed the fiberglass from the rest of the house. But now that most has been taken out I am better able to pin point what is left. We decided to check behind the refrigerator.

Looking into the back of the bottom part of a refrigerator with the back panel taken off laying across the floor showing the yellow fiberglass and all of the insides of the frig.

Bingo! Fiberglass. It was not just sitting there sealed in, it was next to the cooling fan which was moving an air current right across it. It also acted like a sponge trapping in dirt.

The back bottom of a refrigerator with the panel taken off and a red arrow pointing to a cooling fan with the red letters Fan written next to it and another red arrow pointing to a yellow panel of fiberglass with the red words written Fiberglass.

We plan on getting a new refrigerator, but for now we just removed this panel. The fiberglass appeared to be for sound control as it was placed across the compresser and was not insulating the refrigerator itself.

Close up of the cooling fan inside of a refrigerator.

The cooling fan that was moving air around the fiberglass.

View from the top looking down at the bottom panel removed from a household refrigerator showing the yellow fiberglass with dirt all around it as it collected it like a sponge.

Going fiberglass free is not easy, it is literally everywhere. After being sick for decades the effort is worth the improvement in our health. We came across the airborne glass issue by chance and it has drastically changed our lives for the better.

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