Moved fridge...

[Marcus Fox]

Approximately how long to stand a fridge/freezer unit before plugging it in? Had to tilt it over to almost horizontal on several occasions to move it.

Marcus

[Andy Hall]

The normal recommendation from manufacturers is 24 hours to allow the lubricating oil to settle out.

[Andrew Gabriel]

That's assuming it wasn't tilted much.

I left a freezer standing for 3 days after having tilted it horizontal, but it still destroyed itself when it was switched on. I spoke with a Hotpoint engineer afterwards, and his comment was that they should never be tilted that much, but if you have, probably the best chance of recovery is to switch it on for only 1 minute every 10 minutes for the first hour or two, keeping door open so it doesn't get cold.

I suspect a freezer is more likely to wreck itself in these circumstances than a fridge though.

[soup]

Thought it was for the refrigirant to "settle out" rather than lubricating oil.

Two hours, if it has been moved but kept relatively upright (so says removal men) two days if it has just been delivered (as you (TINY) don't know how much it was tilted (don't know where I got that figure from may well have been from delivery men) as in "dinnae run that for a couple o'days son,it might break otherwise" , have no idea what the recommendations are if the unit has been "over tilted"

[Grunff]

No, it's the oil that really matters. The oil is actually mixed with the refrigerant, so when you tilt a fridge the oil can travel all the way along the heat exchanger. That's why it can take a long time to settle.

[soup]

Ah right, so it is the oil within the refrigerant, that is used for lubrication, that has to "settle"?

[Grunff]

Yes.

[Ian_m]

My AEG fridge and freezer say leave for 2 hours after moving in a horizontal position to allow oil to settle to bottom.

[Christian McArdle]

Assuming I don't have the luxury of letting it stand for many hours, I always use a regime of turning on for short periods, making the periods longer and longer until left on permanently.

I start by turning it on for 20 seconds in every five minutes, until an hour later it has progressed onto 5 minutes on, 5 minutes off. Then I leave it on. I have not lost a freezer yet.

Christian.

[Andy Hall]

They are a bit big to do that, Christian :-)