Moving fridge freezer - and what brands are good?

[D.M.Chapman]

Hi all,

Looking to kit out an unfurnished house in the near future - tempted to find stuff on Gumtree or similar but a fridge freezer seems a bit much to get in the back of my mondeo?

Are they generally ok if laid down these days, as long as they are left to stand for a while? Was that ever really a problem or just an urban legend?

Saying that, anyone got experience of fitting a fridge freezer into the back of a m4 mondeo hatchback? I think it should fit... but I've not measured yet :-) I could hire a van, but that rapidly starts to eat into the savings made by buying second hand, and I'd be more tempted to just get a new one with warranty etc in that case.

If I do end up buying new, any recommendations (or more importantly, what to avoid?). Looking for a fridge freezer, a washing machine (possibly washer dryer - are they any good these days?) and a microwave for now...

Cheers,

Darren

[Tim+]

I suspect urban legend. Leave to stand if you like but I would just plug in and see if freezer coils start getting cold. If they are getting cold straight away then no problem. Otherwise, just leave for a period and try again.

Tim

[Andrew Gabriel]

I laid a freezer on its side to replace the insulation on the bottom. I left it standing upright for many hours afterwards before turning on, but it didn't survive - motor burned out, which is the failure mode after doing this.

Afterwards (too late), I got suggestions from Hotpoint on what to do if a freezer has been tipped significantly off-vertical. Turn it on only for 30 seconds or so every 10 mins over a period, which may get the refrigerant/lubricant back to where they should be. My other thought after the event was to make sure the pipework from the compressor to the condenser (hot rear element) gets hot, as the failure results in the heat not being removed from the compressor motor so it overheats internally. The compressor and motor are cooled by the refrigetant taking the heat away to the condenser. You might also run it on a power meter to check the power consumption is not excessive (locked rotor), or on a low value fuse (although that's not long-term viable as locked rotor is expected from time-to-time, which will cause power consumption of more than 3kW for a few seconds, and will blow a low valued fuse).

[Tim+]

A lot simpler to check "is it getting cold"? If not, turn it off and try again later. Leaving it on when it clearly isn't working is a recipe for motor burn out. It ain't rocket science, just common sense.

Tim

[spuorgelgoog]

If you want brand name new, then see if there's anything at

and check Moneysavingexpert for any voucher codes.

Or go into Currys and look at the scratch'n'dent section, and haggle hard. Sign up to the insurance scam if you have to to get discount - you can canc el the direct debit with your bank the following month. I got a Currys Esse ntials F/F for £150.

Not really, they still only do a half load on drying.

£30 with manual turn knobs from whichever supermarket has them this week.

If you have a furniture recyling place near you then you may be able to kit out the whole house for a couple of hundred quid for the essentials.

Owain

[ss]

Be careful what you furnish the house with as you are responsible for for every single thing that aint right (in the renters eyes). the less white goods the better in my opinion.

[tabbypurr]

really?

yes & yes.

measure it then silly!

pointless. If you had a smart or something you might need an estate car tax i

The only one I'd steer away from is Proline

I don't see the point of them, and no they're not really. Spend the extra o n a ceiling fan and the clothes will dry quickly. Fit it somewhere where it can be left on for an hour in winter without bothering anyone. Bosch seem a very low TCO option, and reliable enough.

Old ones are vastly more long lived than some supermarket junker. Just avoi d anything 1970s or older on safety grounds. Newer ones haven't advanced te chnologically since the early 80s. Knobs are more reliable than electronic controls. 10 power levels are useful about once per century. 5 covers every thing else, and 2 does the vast majority of stuff. Avoid any with no turnta ble, they just can't cook evenly.

NT

[News]

In message , D.M.Chapman writes

Years ago, I would dedicate many long hours to reading Which? reports and reviews before buying anything electrical. These days, the choice of reviews, many contradictory, is huge, with the Net. I've given up, and just buy whatever is on special offer at Tesco or similar. PC, DVD player, VCR, dishwasher, washing machine. microwave, vacuum cleaner and more have all been special offers, and no regrets so far. We did have a TV with VCR fail [1] a few years ago. Tesco delivered a replacement and took away the failed machine a couple of days later, without question or charge.

[1] After the failed VCR was taken away, our then young son was in tears, as he lost his little toy car ...

[D.M.Chapman]

heh, thanks.

Is this a rental property?

Yes, why?

I'm keeping an eye on gumtree, and can probably pick up stuff cheap there if I can shift things in the car. If it needs van hire, then the logistics get less tempting.

Cheers,

Darren

[D.M.Chapman]

Is this a rental property?

Following up on myself (bad form, I know), but I think I've realised why you ask. Yes, it's a rental property, but I'm renting it - I'm not the landlord.

Cheers,

Darren

[pamela]

The posters to the thread below discuss how long to wait before swiching on a fridge that's been delivered by courier.

Yours will have been on its side in a car, so you may want to wait even longer.

t44811-15.html

[D.M.Chapman]

Interesting. Didn't realise they had a clearance section - will go look in the local one. Ta.

yep, found a few bits already. Gumtree also seems to turn up some gems if you are willing to go pick up stuff quickly.

Cheers,

Darren

[Mr Macaw]

You can get a chest freezer in the back of a 3 door hatchback on its side no problem, just tie the tailgate down to the towbar/towing bracket/exhaust pipe mount.

And I thought everybody knew about moving them. If you shift a fridge or freezer significantly (as in carrying it about in a car, not just sliding it from one side of the room to the other) and keep it upright, leave it to stand for 6 hours. If you turn it over, leave it for 24 hours.

[tabbypurr]

e:

no problem, just tie the tailgate down to the towbar/towing bracket/exhaus t pipe mount.

freezer significantly (as in carrying it about in a car, not just sliding it from one side of the room to the other) and keep it upright, leave it to stand for 6 hours. If you turn it over, leave it for 24 hours.

You can get one on a motorbike too:

NT

[Mr Macaw]

I assume you meant this:

That's some balance!