Since I had gone to the trouble of moving into a new place for remote work, but then found myself thinking, “wow, this refrigerator is tiny…”, I bought a fairly large refrigerator, the MR-WZ50K, so I could stay home for days at a time. The dead space beside the refrigerator bothered me, so I asked the official manufacturer (Mitsubishi Electric) whether it would be okay to attach magnetic hooks to the refrigerator and hang things like a bag from them.
I am leaving the actual inquiry details here as a note.
Inquiry Details
I purchased an MR-WZ50K. I believe the side of the refrigerator is made of a material that magnets can stick to, but would attaching a magnetic hook cause it to malfunction? The official website says not to stick magnets on it because it is related to heat dissipation, but I am not planning to plaster them all over the whole surface; I am thinking of hanging just one bag containing kitchen supplies. Would that still have an effect? Thank you for checking.
We have reviewed your message sent through our website. Thank you very much for purchasing our refrigerator.
Heat is dissipated from the sides of the refrigerator, so if heat dissipation is obstructed, it may affect the refrigerator’s cooling performance and other aspects. If you are not covering a large area, we think the effect may be small, but as the manufacturer, we do not recommend doing so. We appreciate your understanding.
We hope you will continue to use and support our products.
Thank you for your response. Does that mean there is no concern that the magnet’s magnetic force could cause the refrigerator’s circuits or similar components to fail?
We have reviewed your follow-up inquiry.
Electrical components are built in around the door hinge near the front-left corner of the refrigerator’s top surface, so we believe no abnormality will occur if it is on a side surface outside that area. However, if any abnormality does occur, we recommend removing the magnet and observing the situation.
We appreciate your understanding.
Summary
- From the response, it sounds like the impact is structurally small, but the manufacturer does not recommend it
- My takeaway: it should probably be fine as long as it does not cover a large area
- Avoid the hinge area (front-left corner of the top surface)
- If anything feels off, remove it immediately
PS. Now I do not have to put the bag on the floor, so cleaning the floor is easier too. This is great!
