Fridge/freezer temperatures...

[RodC]

Hi all,

My kitchen is pretty much complete now - but I have query about the new fridge freezer we've just installed.

It's a Daewoo American style side by side job with separate digital temperature settings for the freezer and fridge compartments.

The instructions tell me the freezer can be set between -15 and -25 degrees centigrade and the fridge can be set between 0 and 4 degrees centigrade but doesn't tell me what the default/normal settings should be.

I know this may vary from fridge to fridge and also by content - but can anyone give me a guidline?

Cheers!

RodC

[Tim S]

Hi

Set the freezer as cold as possible - provided it doesn't end up running all the time. I would expect -20 to -25 to be achievable without flogging its guts out.

Frige - matter of taste really.

I have two (landlord's and my old knackered one). Knackered fridge runs at

5-6C and I keep pickels, drinks, milk, eggs, veggies in there. That's a bit warm for sensitive foods like fish and pate and suchlike (sensitive=might give you hideous gutrot).

The good one runs at about 1-2C and I use that for meat and fish, which do seem to keep for quite a long time. 0C is dodgey - you end up freezing things.

Waiting patiently for Mary to tell me I'm gay...

HTH

Tim

[Peter Parry]

-18 for the freezer, there is little point in going lower and the cost of running the device rises rapidly if you try. For the fridge

+3 to +5 deg.

[Dave Fawthrop]

|On 21 Apr 2006 13:54:05 -0700, "RodC" | wrote: | | |>The instructions tell me the freezer can be set between -15 and -25 |>degrees centigrade and the fridge can be set between 0 and 4 degrees |>centigrade but doesn't tell me what the default/normal settings should |>be. |> |>I know this may vary from fridge to fridge and also by content - but |>can anyone give me a guidline? | |-18 for the freezer, there is little point in going lower and the |cost of running the device rises rapidly if you try. For the fridge |+3 to +5 deg.

More pedantically:

-18 or less for freezers. Lower just wastes power.

+1 to +5 or +1 to +8 for fridges, depending on which book you read. measured in cup of water a block of marge in the middle of the fridge. Air temperature in a fridge varies wildly.

+-1 deg C Digital thermometers are now commonly available and cheapish.

[RodC]

-18 or less for freezers. Lower just wastes power.

+1 to +5 or +1 to +8 for fridges, depending on which book you read.

[Andrew Gabriel]

-18 is a 3-star freezer -- suitable for storage for up to 3 months.

-21 is a 4-star freezer -- suitable for storage for up to 12 months, and for freezing fresh food.

-18 is the threshold at which the worse mixtures of fats and water freeze, so going a little bit colder than this gets you a big increase in storage time. OTOH, if you never keep anything longer than 3 months, then it's a waste.

Similarly...

-12 is a 2-star freezer -- suitable for storage for up to 1 month. -6 is a 1-star freezer -- suitable for storage for up to 1 week.

'Super freeze', or 'fast freeze' just run the compressor continuously, and is for freezing food quickly. Usual recommendation is to select this mode to freeze something large, usually an hour or so before putting the item in the freezer, and then for a period depending on the weight of the item. I put my Hotpoint onto 'fast freeze' when it was new and it got colder than -40 (bottom range of thermometer).

[Peter Parry]

It doesn't do to believe everything in wikipedia.

3 star is a fridge ice box at -18deg 4 star is a freezer at -18 deg (not -21deg)

Fast Freeze Temp in a 4star Freezer is -26°C

Food in a 4 star freezer at -18 deg will keep for ever but flavour degrades, maximum practical storage times vary from 4 months (oily fish) to 2 years (frozen chips).

(European Union FAIR Programme, Concerted Action CT96 - 1180 "Maintaining the Quality and Safety of Frozen Foods Throughout the Distribution Chain", )

[Steve Firth]

No it won't the fat content will turn rancid and the food will eventually dry out. If you want to keep it forever you need -70C.

[meow2222]

Is it correct that the difference between 3 and 4 star is the speed with which it gets back down to -18 if its heated up eg by addition of hot food.

NT

[Andrew Gabriel]

Well, it agrees with my freezer instructions.

It's a long time since I had a fridge with an ice box, but it was 1 star.

[Andrew Gabriel]

There was a program on Radio 4 about this a few months back. Meat will happily keep for 10 years without going rancid. I don't recall the temperature, but I remember it wasn't much colder than a domestic freezer.

[Peter Parry]

All freezers are 4 star. The only things which can be rated between

1 and 3 star but not 4 star are the freezer boxes in fridges. Although a 3 star freezer box runs at the same design temperature as a 4 star freezer it has a lower rating as it has lower thermal inertia and poor temperature control as in almost all cases there is no thermostat for the freezer part, only the fridge. As you say it can heat up if warm food is placed in the freezer part.