Opinions & Recommendations on Fridges

David L. Jones · Oct 18, 2003

I'm looking to buy a new fridge, and just wondering if anyone has any
informed opinions, good/bad service experiences etc.
The brands I'm primarily considering are Westinghouse (best economy
and good functionality) & Fisher and Paykel (my better half says they
look better!).
May also consider Whirlpool and LG.

Also, are extra warranties worth it?. The Westinghouse have 5 years on
the compressor as standard.

Any input appreciated.

Thanks
Dave

KLR · Oct 18, 2003

I'm looking to buy a new fridge, and just wondering if anyone has any
informed opinions, good/bad service experiences etc.
The brands I'm primarily considering are Westinghouse (best economy
and good functionality) & Fisher and Paykel (my better half says they
look better!).
May also consider Whirlpool and LG.

Also, are extra warranties worth it?. The Westinghouse have 5 years on
the compressor as standard.

Any input appreciated.

Thanks
Dave

I would go for one with the lowest energy consumption (based on the
labels that they now all have showing running costs)

These are the ones that I know of - if this is any guide to you. How
these would compare with 2003 models I dont know - and with the amount
of rebadging of models (af almost all products) and relocation of
manufacturing facilites to offshore countries with possible lower
build quality - these comments may not be relevant - however past
experience on reliability is better than no experience I guess

Unfortunately the 8 yo. F&P my mother has did break 2 of these shelves
due to poor design of them (didn't overload them) - and the external
white plastic parts yellowed within only about 5 years so (in a normal
kitchen environment) I would have some concerns about quality issues
like this - especially regarding qualities of the plastics used.
Mechanically its been reliable though.

At work we have a small westinghouse that would be of early 90's
vintage, never given any trouble and seems good build quality - does a
good job of keeping everyone's drinks and lunches cold - not to
mention the opened cans of the cat's food

I have had a 360L Kelvinator manual defrost model at home for about 6
years or so and it has given no troubles and seems well built. I
wouldn't hesitate to buy another Kelvinator (though I would look at
all brands first) if the need arose.

I did hear once that fridges are generally the most reliable
(mechanically) home appliance by a long shot, so I think you will get
pretty good value no matter which quality brand you buy.

John Crighton · Oct 18, 2003

I'm looking to buy a new fridge, and just wondering if anyone has any
informed opinions, good/bad service experiences etc.
The brands I'm primarily considering are Westinghouse (best economy
and good functionality) & Fisher and Paykel (my better half says they
look better!).
May also consider Whirlpool and LG.

Also, are extra warranties worth it?. The Westinghouse have 5 years on
the compressor as standard.

Any input appreciated.

Thanks
Dave

Hello Dave,
My mum had what appeared to be rotten luck with a
Westinghouse/Email fridge.
This was a two door type, with freezer compartment at the
bottom. The rear of the cabinet was flat meaning no pipework.
Ice started appearing inside the normal fridge compartment
due to a leaking refrigerant tube.

The service guy from Email came out, charged $55 and said
"We don"t fix this type of fridge because there is no access to
the pipes/tubes. Too big a job to rip the back panel off and
replace it. Cheaper to buy a new fridge"
" Why did you not tell us by phone, the model is written on
the job sheet?" There was no sensible answer.
The guy wanted his service fee so we gave it to him, to get
rid of the useless turkey.

My mum lives in Adelaide so I searched around and
found a second hand furniture/second hand appliance
shop that also did repairs on fridges. I took the fridge
to this shop and met the repair man. He was an eccentric
but a good fellow. This man liked to start work at 4 am
and knock off before mid day. He quoted $130 to do the
repair. He cut about one square foot out of the rear panel
and dug the insulation away from the leaking pipe. Silver
soldered a new section of pipe in place of the fractured
piece. Topped up the refrigerant and ran the fridge for
a few days with his test gear, measuring pressures and
temperatures. That to me was excellent service.

If I was out looking to buy a fridge I would go and see
this gentleman and ask him what he thought was a
good fridge repair wise, performance wise and the
availability of parts. Even the plastic bits and bobs
that break off, like plastic butter compartment lids,
and other plastic items inside. For my mum's particular
Westinghouse fridge even these items were hard to
get. She bought the thing believing it was an
Australian made product and it wasn't.

Beware flat back fridges and Email service.

Regards,
John Crighton
Sydney

dmmilne@ozemail.com.au · Oct 18, 2003

David L. Jones said:
I'm looking to buy a new fridge, and just wondering if anyone has any
informed opinions, good/bad service experiences etc.

I've had both Westinghouse and F & P over a period of 20 years. Neither
have posed any problems whatsoever, other than replacing the fridge
seals twice on the Westinghouse, and both are still functioning perfectly.

The brands I'm primarily considering are Westinghouse (best economy
and good functionality) & Fisher and Paykel (my better half says they
look better!).

Oh well, that's the discussion settled then, isn't it...

May also consider Whirlpool and LG.

Also, are extra warranties worth it?. The Westinghouse have 5 years on
the compressor as standard.

Compressors are very reliable in general anyway, otherwise they wouldn't offer
a 5 year warranty as standard. No, I don't think that an extended warranty
for a further time would be worth the money. By that stage, if kids come along,
you'd probably be looking at upgrading the fridge anyway. Save the money and
spend it on your partner. She'll appreciate that more.

Any input appreciated.

Thanks
Dave

Mum has an upside-down fridge, and thats been reliable as well for the
9-10 years that she's had it. She wouldn't get another normally orientated one.

I used to have one of the old rounded Westinghouse fridges years ago when I
moved out of home, wish I still had it. That one had style....and it was
painted....several times.....after several sessions.....

Leon Gross · Oct 18, 2003

|
|
| I would go for one with the lowest energy consumption (based on the
| labels that they now all have showing running costs)
|
| These are the ones that I know of - if this is any guide to you. How
| these would compare with 2003 models I dont know - and with the amount
| of rebadging of models (af almost all products) and relocation of
| manufacturing facilites to offshore countries with possible lower
| build quality - these comments may not be relevant - however past
| experience on reliability is better than no experience I guess
|
|
|
| Unfortunately the 8 yo. F&P my mother has did break 2 of these shelves
| due to poor design of them (didn't overload them) - and the external
| white plastic parts yellowed within only about 5 years so (in a normal
| kitchen environment) I would have some concerns about quality issues
| like this - especially regarding qualities of the plastics used.
| Mechanically its been reliable though.

I went through this exercise last year and ended up finding that Liebherr
from Germany is the best. Extremely quiet, very well built and 6 star energy
efficiency (highest available in Australia!). Some of theirs use a variable
speed compressor as opposed to most other which use a compressor which is
either on or off.

http://www.lhg.liebherr.com/us/default.asp
http://www.andico.com.au/liebherr html/liebherr_home.htm
http://www.worthit.com.au/energylabel/refrig_srch.asp

Another really nice brand is Gram but you can't get them here in
Australia...
http://www.gram.dk

Hope this helps!

Leon Gross

David L. Jones · Oct 19, 2003

Hello Dave,
My mum had what appeared to be rotten luck with a
Westinghouse/Email fridge.
This was a two door type, with freezer compartment at the
bottom. The rear of the cabinet was flat meaning no pipework.
Ice started appearing inside the normal fridge compartment
due to a leaking refrigerant tube.

The service guy from Email came out, charged $55 and said
"We don"t fix this type of fridge because there is no access to
the pipes/tubes. Too big a job to rip the back panel off and
replace it. Cheaper to buy a new fridge"
" Why did you not tell us by phone, the model is written on
the job sheet?" There was no sensible answer.
The guy wanted his service fee so we gave it to him, to get
rid of the useless turkey.

My mum lives in Adelaide so I searched around and
found a second hand furniture/second hand appliance
shop that also did repairs on fridges. I took the fridge
to this shop and met the repair man. He was an eccentric
but a good fellow. This man liked to start work at 4 am
and knock off before mid day. He quoted $130 to do the
repair. He cut about one square foot out of the rear panel
and dug the insulation away from the leaking pipe. Silver
soldered a new section of pipe in place of the fractured
piece. Topped up the refrigerant and ran the fridge for
a few days with his test gear, measuring pressures and
temperatures. That to me was excellent service.

If I was out looking to buy a fridge I would go and see
this gentleman and ask him what he thought was a
good fridge repair wise, performance wise and the
availability of parts. Even the plastic bits and bobs
that break off, like plastic butter compartment lids,
and other plastic items inside. For my mum's particular
Westinghouse fridge even these items were hard to
get. She bought the thing believing it was an
Australian made product and it wasn't.

Beware flat back fridges and Email service.

Regards,
John Crighton
Sydney

Thanks John.
We found that virtually all the fridges have flat backs these days, no
sign of pipework or anything accessible. The only one we found with
the pipework on the back was a Bosch.
I guess that is the latest trend - disposible whitegoods

Regards
Dave

Newsy · Oct 19, 2003

Leon Gross said:
I went through this exercise last year and ended up finding that Liebherr
from Germany is the best. Extremely quiet, very well built and 6 star energy
efficiency (highest available in Australia!). Some of theirs use a variable
speed compressor as opposed to most other which use a compressor which is
either on or off.

http://www.lhg.liebherr.com/us/default.asp
http://www.andico.com.au/liebherr html/liebherr_home.htm
http://www.worthit.com.au/energylabel/refrig_srch.asp

Another really nice brand is Gram but you can't get them here in
Australia...
http://www.gram.dk

Hope this helps!

Leon Gross

What price range, Leon?

Rod

Rod Speed · Oct 19, 2003

David L. Jones said:
Thanks John.
We found that virtually all the fridges have flat backs these days, no
sign of pipework or anything accessible. The only one we found with
the pipework on the back was a Bosch.
I guess that is the latest trend - disposible whitegoods

Or they are so reliable that you hardly ever need to repair the evaporator.

Leon Gross · Oct 19, 2003

|
| | >
| >>
| > I went through this exercise last year and ended up finding that
Liebherr
| > from Germany is the best. Extremely quiet, very well built and 6 star
| energy
| > efficiency (highest available in Australia!). Some of theirs use a
| variable
| > speed compressor as opposed to most other which use a compressor which
is
| > either on or off.
| >
| > http://www.lhg.liebherr.com/us/default.asp
| > http://www.andico.com.au/liebherr html/liebherr_home.htm
| > http://www.worthit.com.au/energylabel/refrig_srch.asp
| >
| > Another really nice brand is Gram but you can't get them here in
| > Australia...
| > http://www.gram.dk
| >
| > Hope this helps!
| >
| > Leon Gross
|
| What price range, Leon?
|
| Rod

Not cheap but I figure they will last for ages, use little power and also
save the environment. Another thing is that they use one of the safest gases
which is not only CFC free but also greenhouse friendly (most others only
use CFC free gases.

The ones we got were retail at $2500- each, got a $500- discount 'cause we
bought the matching freezer at the same time. Model numbers are KSPv 4260
(fridge) and GSND 3316 (freezer).

Leon Gross

Brian Goldsmith · Oct 19, 2003

"Leon Gross" wrote

|What price range, Leon?

Not cheap but I figure they will last for ages, use little power and
also
save the environment. Another thing is that they use one of the safest
gases
which is not only CFC free but also greenhouse friendly (most others
only
use CFC free gases.

**** So just what is this greenhouse friendly gas that doesn't contain
CFCs but is better than other gases that don't contain CFCs?

Brian Goldsmith.

Newsy · Oct 19, 2003

Leon Gross said:
|
| | >
| >>
| > I went through this exercise last year and ended up finding that
Liebherr
| > from Germany is the best. Extremely quiet, very well built and 6 star
| energy
| > efficiency (highest available in Australia!). Some of theirs use a
| variable
| > speed compressor as opposed to most other which use a compressor which
is
| > either on or off.
| >
| > http://www.lhg.liebherr.com/us/default.asp
| > http://www.andico.com.au/liebherr html/liebherr_home.htm
| > http://www.worthit.com.au/energylabel/refrig_srch.asp
| >
| > Another really nice brand is Gram but you can't get them here in
| > Australia...
| > http://www.gram.dk
| >
| > Hope this helps!
| >
| > Leon Gross
|
| What price range, Leon?
|
| Rod

Not cheap but I figure they will last for ages, use little power and also
save the environment. Another thing is that they use one of the safest gases
which is not only CFC free but also greenhouse friendly (most others only
use CFC free gases.

The ones we got were retail at $2500- each, got a $500- discount 'cause we
bought the matching freezer at the same time. Model numbers are KSPv 4260
(fridge) and GSND 3316 (freezer).

Leon Gross

Thanks - that is less than I paid for my Maytag.

Rod

Chas · Oct 19, 2003

Brian Goldsmith said:
"Leon Gross" wrote

|What price range, Leon?

Not cheap but I figure they will last for ages, use little power and
also
save the environment. Another thing is that they use one of the safest
gases
which is not only CFC free but also greenhouse friendly (most others
only
use CFC free gases.

**** So just what is this greenhouse friendly gas that doesn't contain
CFCs but is better than other gases that don't contain CFCs?

Brian Goldsmith.

Probably R600A - Isobutane. Used by many European fridge manufacturers for
the reasons discussed above.

Regards, Chas.

Leon Gross · Oct 19, 2003

RMD · Oct 20, 2003

Dave,

I'd buy the cheapest that does the job. Most fridges last virtually
forever.

I have a "tombstone" fridge in the family that is 55years old - though
it has had new door seals....

I've another that is 33 years old and
only had a motor start relay replaced. I've just bought a new freezer
to replace my 28 year old freezer that has just worked trouble-free
for the whole 28 years.

Plastic bits can break, so look for flimsiness here, it is a pest to
have to put a perfectly working fridge out in the shed as a booze
fridge just because of a bit of broken plastic.

Ross

David L. Jones · Oct 20, 2003

Dave,

I'd buy the cheapest that does the job. Most fridges last virtually
forever.

I have a "tombstone" fridge in the family that is 55years old - though
it has had new door seals.... I've another that is 33 years old and
only had a motor start relay replaced. I've just bought a new freezer
to replace my 28 year old freezer that has just worked trouble-free
for the whole 28 years.

Plastic bits can break, so look for flimsiness here, it is a pest to
have to put a perfectly working fridge out in the shed as a booze
fridge just because of a bit of broken plastic.

Ross

Thanks everyone.
Looks like I'll go with the lowest power, most functional, and most
rugged (with no flimsy plastic bits), regardless of brand. I'll take
my chances with servicing if ever needed.

Regards
Dave

Dave · Oct 21, 2003

Dave

The only other consideration is noise. About 18 months ago I bought a
Westinghouse fridge/freezer which, so far, works perfectly, it is
noisier than I would have expected. It's not a problem, just a bit
unexpected.

Dave (Another one

)

David L. Jones · Oct 21, 2003

Dave

The only other consideration is noise. About 18 months ago I bought a
Westinghouse fridge/freezer which, so far, works perfectly, it is
noisier than I would have expected. It's not a problem, just a bit
unexpected.

Dave (Another one )

Thanks Dave, good advice, will definitely keep it in mind.
Is the SPL on fridges speced anywhere?, or do you just have to plug it
in and try it out?, and when is the noise at it's highest level?

Regards
Dave

Dave · Oct 22, 2003

Sorry Dave, I have no idea if SPL is available for fridges.

The noise varies: sometimes I think it is the compressor, sometimes
the fan (it's a frost free model). It seems to have quite a repertoire
!

Dave (the other one)

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