Our 22 year-old Electrolux fridge/freezer is beginning to rust! and also I suspect it's costing a lot more to run than modern ones, so we're replacing it.
My question is, does anyone have strong views for or against frost-free machines?
Also, as we're looking at Bosch or Siemens, do people think the up-market makes are worth the difference?
Regards and thanks in advance
Pat Macguire
Buy one with 2 compressors, or at least a single compressor twin thermostat model. Frost free is a real convenience, but ask to hear the machine in operation. Some (but not all) designs are horrendously noisy.
Christian.
We've gone for frost-free this time, defrosting was just too much hassle. We'd had an AEG before and frankly it was not as good as we had expected. My wife had a clear idea on what she did and did not want from her new f/f and we looked at em all, over and over! Our initial pref was to go for a Bosch or Siemens (not exactly top of the market but all we could afford) and they did not impress. The plastic drawers etc are no better quality, far too thin and brittle, we do not want wire, the B and S bottle rack was plastic, short and only held two bottles. So power consumption etc all being equal do not bother with them. By the way, trawl the web, we saved nearly £100 buying at the Co-op online of all places!
I have a Liebherr frost free one. Better than Bosch and Siemens and definitely worth the extra.
.andy
To email, substitute .nospam with .gl
I have recently replaced an under-worktop fridge. Because it had to fit a fixed space, it had to be similar outside dimensions to the old one. However, because energy efficiency was improved by increasing the insulation, I can get less in it. It may be useful to be aware of this.
Regards, VivienB
They are no better than the likes of Beko. Save yourself some money.
sPoNiX
frost-free
The door fell off my Beko fridge after a couple of years.
Neil
The only that I know who have Frost free Fridge Freezers are full of praises for them.
I bought a Beko Frost Free Fridge Freezer last year, I cant remember the model number but it is about 11.3 Cu Ft total capacity, 96 litre frozen capacity, the same one they have in my local currys for about £299 and is larger than most Fridge Freezers are with grade B energy consumption, I checked this against a friends Frost free Fridge Freezer and the Beko uses about half the electricity of what his ten year old Frost Free Zanussi does.
My choice was inevitably a compromise between cost, size and frost free function.
All I can say is that I am very happy with it, no problems, no frost, not any noisier than any other Fridge Freezer that I have heard, you might want to go to your local currys and have a look at it, if you like what you see you can make a note of the model number and do a search for it.
My only slight criticisim of it is that when I set the thermostat so that the hottest temp in the Freezer is -18C the hottest temp in the Fridge compartment is 7C rather than 5C, but as yet I have not suffered or died from food poisoning so all in all I think that I got a good deal.
From my research at the time it seemed that I would have to spend over £500, I think it was nearer £1000 to get exactly what I wanted which was a larger one with grade A energy, twin compressors and twin thermostats.
John.
Que?
-> They are no better than the likes of Beko. Save yourself some money.
->
-> sPoNiX
--The door fell off my Beko fridge after a couple of years.
Should have got a Mandela one.
-Rob robatwork at mail dot com
Beko and Mandela were in the resistance against apartheid. Beko's doors fell off at an early stage whilst being subject to rather unhinged behaviour whilst in police custody.
Christian.
My fridge is a frost-free Amana (freezer on top) and I hardly ever notice it running. The only noise I hear is occasionally from the ice-maker. Although, my freezer is too crammed with stuff for the icemaker to function properly at the moment. The 12 yo Whirlpool it replaced, made enough noise that you could hear it ALL over the house! LOL! So, I think anything is quieter than the fridge that was wearing out!
Dawn
behaviour
Thanks - it's now obvious to all that I dropped history at the end of the third form.
Regards
Neil
As in Steve Biko.
.andy
To email, substitute .nospam with .gl
I'm sorry to say that I had never heard of him until today :-(
Neil
My approach to purchase of these goods is as follows:
Do the research (as you obviously are). Select the model based on cost, size and whatever compromises are necessary. Check the web prices. Then contact all your local retailers offering them the business one after the other to get the price right down!
They are all box shifters at the end of the day. You can easily save £100+ (worth a few phone calls of anybody's time) on marked price of major electrical goods but still keep the business in your region - doing a "little" for your very local economy.
Phil
JhnWil875 wrote
How are we going to try-before-we-buy when everybody buys everything on line and Curry's et al have disappeared?
Peter
How does "frost free" work then?
[T] Take your perishables round to someone's house who has the model you like?
Joking aside. Years ago my Dad bought a fridge from the Electric Showroom and soon after it went wrong. After several attempts to fix it they left Mum and Dad without a fridge for nearly a week. Dad took all their perishables into the Electricity office and stuck them into one of the fridges in the showroom! He got a new replacement fridge the same day ... ;-)
All the best ..
T i m
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