I've got a Miele fridge/freezer bought off Ebay a couple of years ago which worked fine for a while and now stops for a while for no apparent reason and defrosts everything and then starts up again. No model number visible anywhere and I didn't get a handbook so I can't give any more details. At present according to my fridge thermometer it's only 10C in the fridge and -5C in the freezer. Not cold enough to keep things in good condition for long. Is this likely to be just a thermostat or easily fixable or am I better off buying new asap before 100 quids worth of goods becomes inedible?
It does this by design - when it senses that too much frost has built up, it automatically defrosts, the trouble is, it doesn't give any warnings, say a coloured lamp flashing for a day or two beforehand in order for you to remove frozen foods to another freezer would be a good idea.
Isn't new technology fantastic?
(my freezer is 27 years old and has been defrosted about 4 times in that period, only once of them accidentally)
It is in a cold room as I've got no central heating at the moment but it's worked fine in there for two years. Anyway, I've just gone to Tesco and bought one each of their larder fridges and larder freezers for £200 the pair which is cheaper than anything else I can find and will give me twice the freezer space I have at the moment. All I need now is a hand getting the bloody things out of the car.
My freezer's in an unheated brick shed, which has a large hole in one wall and an inch gap around the door, it must get below zero in there quite a lot
Freezer will be okay - but for a fridge freezer with the thermostat in the fridge - consider what happens when the ambient temp falls to below that of the fridge compartment - the motor won't run - and the freezer wont freeze
Well after moving the food across and switching off the old machine I spoke too soon about the extra storage space. Although they look reasonably big on the outside, rather unlike a Tardis they're much smaller on the inside than I'd realised. The freezer only just about takes everything from the freezer compartment of the Miele and that was only 1/3 of the total rather than a
50/50 fridge freezer. The fridge is way smaller than the fridge compartment of the Miele. It's only just deep enough inside front to back to get a pizza in. Taking a ruler to them the Miele is about 6" deeper front to back, 2" wider and the fridge compartment bit of it is much taller than the entire new fridge.
However for a single person they'll suffice and they were convenient and quick to collect. Both fit inside my Focus together easily enough which was handy as the store doesn't deliver, I needed something same day and there's no way I could have got a fridge/freezer in the car. The freezer also has its own thermostat dial which is nice and in fact the first time I've ever had a machine with one so I can play with the temperature if I want.
If anyone's interested the fridge is a Tesco Larder Fridge model L120 and cost £97.48. The freezer is a Tesco Larder Freezer model TZ90 and cost £107.52. They'd be worse than useless for a family but if they last until I move house in 2 or 3 years time they'll do the job for me and the cat. The Miele didn't owe me much anyway. I bought it on Ebay for only £60 two and a half years ago so it's lasted as long as I could expect for the money I suppose. In fact technically it still works albeit a bit erratically but maybe I'll try it again in the summer and see if it's happier at a higher ambient temp. Until then it can act as a cupboard while I rip the kitchen out. Might even be quite funny when people come round.
"Where's the plates Dave?".
"Oh, in the fridge/freezer over there. Isn't that where everyone keeps them?"
On Thu, 12 Feb 2009 22:59:41 -0000 someone who may be "John" wrote this:-
In the one a member of the family has one flicks a little switch as cold weather approaches. The frozen compartment remains frozen, but the fridge part does not freeze.
Mine is now 8 years old and has never been defrosted. I guess I'll probably have to do the first defrost in the next year or two though. Why anyone buys auto-defrost freezers still somewhat amazes me -- the MTBF of the auto-defrost mechanism seems to be less than the defrost period of a manual defrost freezer.
This hasn't been my experience. However, having just been through replacement myself, I was nearly caught out by just comparing the outside dimensions. What has really made a difference, compared to old models, is the new energy ratings, leading to significantly thicker insulation.
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