INVERTER vs FROST FREE REF

[intrepid]

So it comes to the time for us to start searching for a Refrigerator for our new home in here.  I know what I like in the old country, but its been a while since I purchased a new ref and since then, there are new choices.  Of course here in the tropics things can be different.  In the US we would grocery shop once weekly.  But here with the markets we buy fresh meats and vegetables almost daily.  Because of this we have learned we don’t need as big a refrigerator.  In the old home our ref was 23.5 cu ft.  After using the one in our rental and doing some searching at different stores, we have decided that an10-12 cu ft will be more than sufficient for our needs.   But then the next decision came.  Inverter or conventional type with regular compressor.  I got all the typical facts, price, efficiencies, warranties, annual operating costs, etc..  After researching the internet, I still could not find the answer to ”real” satisfaction ratings of the inverter types.  I like my ref to be cold, cold enough to be just above freezing most times.  The freezer needs to be cold enough to make the ice cream not want viagra.  So are any of you using a newer inverter type ref?  Would you buy another or return to conventional type?

[AlwaysRt]

We have a 9 cu ft Samsung inverter ref. I was disappointed at first because the selector is from "colder ref to colder freezer" slider as I typically set both to colder than "average". Turns out however that the ref keeps drink suitably cold (hard boiled eggs will start getting ice if in the back) and the ice cream is hard enough to let it sit out a few minutes so it is soft enough to serve. All on the "normal" setting. I am good with the size also and would buy another.

[Jollygoodfellow]

Really should not comment on this topic but do recall disadvantages of inverter type so my opinion is to go frost free but at the end of the day I just hope to give you the cold shoulder. 

I mean shoulder of pork or something. 

[Jake]

58 minutes ago, intrepid said:

After researching the internet, I still could not find the answer to ”real” satisfaction ratings of the inverter types.  I like my ref to be cold, cold enough to be just above freezing most times.  The freezer needs to be cold enough to make the ice cream not want viagra.  So are any of you using a newer inverter type ref?  Would you buy another or return to conventional type?

Hmm.....you haven't lost your touch Officer Danny about speaking in codes.  You are so deceptive and I like that! Anyway, I found this website  http://www.worththebuy.net/2014/04/inverter-refrigerator-vs-conventional.html, which states the highest energy efficiency rating for an inverter type is 372. It's a good article explaining the pros and con versa conventional and inverter type refrigerators. 

One thing I might add that no matter which type you choose, how do you reduce the cycle time the compressor kicks on.  Meaning, how do you reduce the time the door is being opened and how long it's open, while you stare into its' interior.

Are there any models with a built in cypher lock, possibly with booby traps installed....he, he.

[Gratefuled]

Samsung Digital Inverter for us.

2 door frost free. 

255 Liters

[i am bob]

Jake, you just buy a smaller refrigerator and put it on a stand so it's eye level...  This way you don't have 5 minutes before you close the door after trying to get up off your knees...  

Seriously, frost free will give you some savings for 2 simple reasons...  The temperature sensors are usually where the thickest ice forms...  Once it's surrounded by ice, it either doesn't work right and your food spoils or you keep the controller set to max...  The other reason is your food spoils every time you defrost for 5 hours - and the following 5 hours getting it cold again...  Hehe! Seriously (really this time) is just such a pain in the hearse () to be defrosting every week or two...

[Queenie O.]

We have a big General Electric frost free refrigerator that I picked out, and I'm glad I did because I find that I can always use the extra room. It has a pretty cold freezer, and in the case of an occasional brownout, the freezer and ref stays cold over time. I'm hoping in the future to get a chest freezer as an additional, to store specialty breads and meats etc. that I might find in the city.

[Tukaram (Tim)]

We have the standard one door fridge here. Sharp, no idea of actual capacity, but it is just under 5 feet tall, and uncle built a wooden stand in case the house floods.  The freezer is very small, almost too small. You know the type - a little plastic door in the top of the fridge. Since we live so far from the city ice cream is not an option, anyway...  It is not an inverter, or frost free.  It has the button you push to put it into defrost mode (I do miss a good defrost timer).

I put it in defrost almost every night when we go to bed. It allows the box to defrost when no one is opening the door.  So the freezer rarely gets iced up, and you never really lose temperature control. It is not that different from the frost free with a regular defrost timer.  It works well enough.  It was the biggest fridge I could talk my wife into when we setup house. I am not sure if she would approve of a 2 door fridge yet.

I broke her of the daily shopping habit. We go grocery shopping once a week and get about 1.5 kilos of meat.  We go to the wet market once or twice a week for veggies.

Considering the shoddy electrical service here, I would not spend much on any appliance. The power drops are hell on the motors and circuitry. 

[robert k]

My choice after looking is probably going to be a Hanabishi or Denso chiller/freezer chest probably set at just above freezing unless I luck into a good deal on groceries that need to be frozen then drinks will have to go on ice for awhile, or I might buy two as they are not expensive, one to freeze and one to use as a ref. Not wanting to spend a lot for the reasons Tim suggested above.

[Bruce]

7 hours ago, Jake said:

Hmm.....you haven't lost your touch Officer Danny about speaking in codes.  You are so deceptive and I like that! Anyway, I found this website  http://www.worththebuy.net/2014/04/inverter-refrigerator-vs-conventional.html, which states the highest energy efficiency rating for an inverter type is 372. It's a good article explaining the pros and con versa conventional and inverter type refrigerators. 

One thing I might add that no matter which type you choose, how do you reduce the cycle time the compressor kicks on.  Meaning, how do you reduce the time the door is being opened and how long it's open, while you stare into its' interior.

Are there any models with a built in cypher lock, possibly with booby traps installed....he, he.

Well... since you asked.... Determine if it has a STATIC condenser (black tubing on the back of the unit, or a fan type condenser under the unit (US type) or a wall type of condenser where the outside of the box gets hot to dissipate the heat because the condenser is a metal tube soldered on the inside of the body metal.

If it is the wall type, stop reading now. You are flucked. But if it is the static type with the tubing about 2" off the back of the box, then you can make some modifications. Buy or pilfer a small 230v computer fan, smaller is better, and glue on the back of the unit between the back wall of the box and the condenser tubing, at the bottom and blowing UP. Wire into the compressor wiring to run when the compressor is running. Buy some insulation, either closed cell foam (swimming pool noodle material) or 1" thick fibre board like what is used for the construction of air conditioning ducts. Glue on both side of the unit and on the top, then place wood on top of the box as a hard shelf.  If you have no access to insulation, then just cover both sides and the top with plywood. Not as good, but will act to insulate the box.

Remember to put 3/4 filled water bottles in the freezer to help maintain the temp and to get through black out periods.