Best refrigerator?

[Chauncey Gardiner]

On sale and an additional 10% off for veterans appreciation.....sounds like a good company to patronize. :thumbsup:

~ Chance

 

[alpg88]

most likely any moder fridge you buy, will have basically same compresor, and internals, (unless you buy subzero), my good buddy is a repair tech, he used to work for sears, he says new fridges are almost none servicable. my mother has old ge fridge that broke few times before, he came and fixed it few times, once my mother said, she is sick of it braking all the time, she wants new one, he told her, if new one broke, chances are if it is not on warranty, it will cost almost as much to fix as new one.

as for coils, Chauncey Gardiner absolutely right, most new fridges have coils on the bottom, which makes it even more prone to getting dusty, and if you have pets at home, forgetaboutit, clean every month or so.

 

[jtr1962]

I started a similar thread a few years back which might have helpful info. Incidentally, the fridge which I thought needed replacement, and I managed to fix, is still going strong after 36.5 years in service. I'd like to replace it eventually, but same problem-most worthwhile newer models can't physically fit through the door. Nothing made in smaller sizes with all the bells and whistles.

 

[Frijid]

Mine's a crosley. Had it for about 8 years now. The gaskets on the bottom section of it are starting to fall off. Crosley, i think, use to be a big brand. Since then i've yet to see another one. I have a family member who's got an old vintage fridge, that's metal. You grab the door knob, and pull it out, to open the door. can't recall how old it is. I've heard good things about LG's, samsung, whirlpool, and kenmore. I believe i would find the one with the best deal/best warranty and roll with that one.

 

[Sub_Umbra]

If I were buying a new fridge I'd pass on all of the current mass offerings. I would want one that will save as much energy as possible over the course of its service life. I would also like one that may be powered from a modest solar array and one that is designed to hold up better during power failures. I would want a fridge designed for the problems, limitations and uncertainties all around us in the 21st century.

So called "energy efficient" or "green" fridges only exist in the minds of the ad men that work for the big appliance manufacturers. This is why a photo voltaic array big enough to power some of the things you need and a so called "green" refrigerator is such an expensive proposition that most can't afford to go that route.

The fact that all of the energy efficient fridges offered have vertical doors that dump the cold out on to the floor each time they are opened indicates to me that very few consumers (and none of the manufacturers) are even near serious about saving money on energy for refrigeration.

The best answer for now is to buy an energy efficient chest type freezer and swap out the thermostat with one that will turn it into a chest type fridge that won't waste so much energy every time the door is opened. The chest fridge linked below will only draw 0.1 kWh a day (no typo):

http://mtbest.net/chest_fridge.html

Aside from being a snap to run on PV it also has much more temp stability than one with vertical doors and that has to translate into better food storage.

A guy in Oz sells a thermostat for just this purpose for ~$150 which you should recoup pretty quickly since this chest fridge only costs about $5 a year to operate. It should also be mentioned that this is not a new idea. I found this same guy selling these same thermostat kits years ago for the same price.

Check it out.

 

[Chauncey Gardiner]

Hey Sub,

I have one one of those, but only use it when camping......when I fill it with ice. I don't think the wife would want to use one for 15 years. You know, with all the bending over, stacking and un-stacking to put items in or retrieve them from the bottom. :laughing:

~ Chance

 

[liteningbug]

If I were buying a new fridge I'd pass on all of the current mass offerings. I would want one that will save as much energy as possible over the course of its service life. I would also like one that may be powered from a modest solar array and one that is designed to hold up better during power failures. I would want a fridge designed for the problems, limitations and uncertainties all around us in the 21st century.

So called "energy efficient" or "green" fridges only exist in the minds of the ad men that work for the big appliance manufacturers. This is why a photo voltaic array big enough to power some of the things you need and a so called "green" refrigerator is such an expensive proposition that most can't afford to go that route.

The fact that all of the energy efficient fridges offered have vertical doors that dump the cold out on to the floor each time they are opened indicates to me that very few consumers (and none of the manufacturers) are even near serious about saving money on energy for refrigeration.

The best answer for now is to buy an energy efficient chest type freezer and swap out the thermostat with one that will turn it into a chest type fridge that won't waste so much energy every time the door is opened. The chest fridge linked below will only draw 0.1 kWh a day (no typo):

http://mtbest.net/chest_fridge.html

Aside from being a snap to run on PV it also has much more temp stability than one with vertical doors and that has to translate into better food storage.

A guy in Oz sells a thermostat for just this purpose for ~$150 which you should recoup pretty quickly since this chest fridge only costs about $5 a year to operate. It should also be mentioned that this is not a new idea. I found this same guy selling these same thermostat kits years ago for the same price.

Check it out.

As I still check Sub_Umbra's threads on disaster preparedness, I hope you all will forgive a bit of thread necromancy by me providing an update to this advice. There are a number of additional options for performing the freezer to fridge conversion these days (as there is some popularity for using them as keg fridges). Instead of needing to buy a kit from Oz for $150, there is a much cheaper and MUCH easier option for Americans: the A19AAT-2C Freezer Temperature Controller by Johnson Controls, giving plug-and-play capability (as of this writing, $66.50 shipped on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002EAL58/?tag=cpf0b6-20).

Combining that with an Energy Star approved deep chest freezer and some nice removable shelf racks should give you a convenient to use and incredibly more energy efficient fridge that also gives you a longer amount of time to use food in the event of a power outage. Not only will it not dump out all the cold air each time you open the door (which is huge), but it also will have better insulation built into it than most stand-up fridge units.

For non-Americans hoping to do the same, searching for "freezer to fridge conversion" will provide a number of useful resources and products functional with 220V systems, though usually a little bit more work to install than the product I mentioned above.