tjarks@ihlts.UUCP (Tim Tjarks) (03/29/84)
(If this got out in another, longer form: SORRY!! I posted the wrong one of two files. That article was swiftly cancelled, but may have gotten out somehow. Anyway ..... ) Last week I asked for information about refrigerators and promised a summary of responses. Here is said summary. This is a long article, but the gist is contained in this first page. Most everyone was happy with their current refrigerator. The particular brands receiving good reviews were GE (3 responses), Frigidaire (2), Wards, Amana, and Whirlpool (1 each). I received two negative reviews, one about Wards and one about White-Westinghouse. One interesting thing to note is that Frigidaires are now built by Westinghouse. I have no idea when this change was made, but both positive reviews for Frigidaire were for refrigerators less than one year old. The (edited) text of the responses follow, in the order I received them. My comments are included in square brackets. [[[ like this ]]] I've also included some of what I've seen looking at the new refrigerators and what we have (tentatively) decided on. ------------------------------------------- We're about to buy a new GE, the CU report notwithstanding. If you look at the rating points that CU used, you may conclude -- as we did -- that the Wards' benefits were in fairly unimportant areas, like the ability to handle >100 degrees. ... More importantly, we found that the space arrangement in the GE is far better. As for manufacturer -- I'm told that Westinghouse makes the Frigidaire now. [[[ I was also told by a dealer that Westinghouse make the Frigidaire. ]]] [[[ Also, the new house we are buying will not initially have air ]]] [[[ conditioning, so the CU results mean more to us. ]]] ------------------------------------------- We have had a Wards model 1170 (or 1172, can't remember) for almost two years and it has not gone bad so far. The controls are good and this model had a crisper and meat keeper (with temp controls). It is a side-by-side and the only problem I see is if one of the doors can only be opened to 90 degrees from the unit instead of all the way open, some of the shelves are hard to pull out. Other than that, it is a real good refrigerator. ------------------------------------------- Just thought I'd pass on my experiences with Wards refrigerators and freezers. I had a Wards refrigerator in my first condominium. It was about 6 years old, and seemingly had two settings, 25 degrees and "off". All my vegetables, soda, etc constantly froze, and if I tried to turn the thing down, it would turn off completely and stuff would spoil. Also had a Wards chest-type freezer, and it's compressor died after only 4 years. Was cheaper to replace it than it was to repair it. Based on these experiences, I don't care what Consumer Reports says. I wouldn't buy another Wards refrigeration product. [[[ On the other hand, I've had a Ward's upright freezer for ]]] [[[ 4+ years, and it's never given me a bit of trouble. ]]] ------------------------------------------- I bought a 21 cubic ft. Frigidare about a year ago and am very happy with it. It was a 21-xxx model. I am not sure what the xxx was (popbably CPE?) but it the "Elite" model. The good thing about it was that its energy rating was 59, which is what the better 17 cu ft. refrigerators have. Just one thing to watch out for. When my refrigerator was delivered, the energy rating on it said 89! When I asked, the delivery man said that it was missing the sticker and they just found a sticker that looked right and put it on the refrigerator. After a little checking I was fairly convinced that they were telling the truth. SO, don't trust the energy rating stickers in the show room. Pick up a brochure, and find the energy rating quoted there. ------------------------------------------- ... my wife and I were also impressed with the Frigidaire ratings in CR and bought an FPE-21?? (21 cubic inch model, I can't remember the code exactly) last October. Although it's only been 6 months, we're very pleased - no problems at all, food keeps well, etc. Among the Frigidaire advantages cited by CR was the energy efficiency. Well, on the energy comparison chart on our model (which was somewhat dated), the FPE-21?? came in *below* the entire range of comparably sized refrigerators in terms of average annual energy usage. ... We got the FPE (that's the deluxe) model because: 1) The glass shelves are easy to keep clean. 2) There's a shunt from the freezer into the meat drawer to keep it cooler than the rest of the main refrigerator compartment - nice for lunch meats and the like. 3) I just love the little "Just-A-Bins"!!! To summarize: based on our short experience, I recommend Frigidaire, and suggest you take a look at the FPE line (they cost a bit more, but do have advantages). [[[ My wife and I didn't care for the "Just-A-Bins" (they are ]]] [[[ available on other makes of refrigerators as well). That's ]]] [[[ just a personal preference though, we preferred models with ]]] [[[ extra deep, fixed door shelves. ]]] ------------------------------------------- We bought a GE 19 cu ft model about 15 months ago, and have been very pleased with it. The ice maker gave us a little trouble, but GE came out and fixed it free of charge and no questions asked. ------------------------------------------- I have recently bought a house in Portland, Oregonn and am quite thrilled with my Amana refrig. It's the kind with the freezer on the bottom, and I love it, but it does lean towards the expensive side. The Wards model has a plastic liner which I didn't like. We did have Frigidaire appliances back in NY, and they are on 16 years and going strong. ------------------------------------------- We had a house built and just went through the process of picking out applicances. The refrigerator that we ended up with is a GE. So far, we are pleased. ------------------------------------------- We bought a new refrigerator two years ago when we bought our new house. We got a Whirpool side-by-side with the "handi-door" on the fridge side. We have been quite happy wih it. The only thing I would point out, is that if you are interested in an automatic ice maker that you get one whose operation will work with the quality of water to be found in the new house. The one that came in our fridge pops the ice cubes out by flexing the tray. Unfortunately our water is very hard, and mineral deposits build up in the ice cube trays, which increase the friction between the tray and the ice. When it gets bad enough, the ice doesn't come out, the machine doesn't know it, and refills the tray, and a glacier forms in the ice cube holder. Some ice cube makers push the cubes out with little fingers, which would have been better for us in our situation. That is about all I discovered that I've never seen discussed anywhere. [[[ About the handi-door, my wife first thought this would be a nice ]]] [[[ feature. When we looked at some, though, we didn't like the fact ]]] [[[ that the stuff in the handi-door is not accessible from the INSIDE ]]] [[[ of the frige (i.e. with the main door open). Another little ]]] [[[ personal dislike. ]]] ------------------------------------------- We have a White-Westinghouse refridge and the temperature regulation is poor. [[[ The refrigerator in our apartment is a White-Westinghouse and we ]]] [[[ have the same problem. ]]] ------------------------------------------ That's all for the responses, now for some personal experience. We looked at lots of models, in particular I remember Wards, Sears, Admiral, Amana, Frigidaire, Westinghouse, and GE. We were mainly interested in refrigerator space, (we have a freezer, so a smaller freezer in the refrigerator is fine), door space (deep shelves), energy efficiency, and cost; also keeping in mind the CU ratings. There is one new feature I didn't know about before that you might want to keep in mind if you have small children. At Wards they have have models with ice and water dispensers in the door that also have a child proof switch that keeps the kids from running water and ice all over the kitchen. We will probably wind up buying an Admiral, mainly because there is a very nice model that we can get an exceptional deal on. It passed all of our criteria, and it has the nice features we would like but didn't want to pay a lot extra for, like ice and water in the door. This one also has a real luxury, an ice cream maker. It also is low on energy usage ($66/year average cost as opposed to around $120 for most that we looked at). We did like what we saw at Wards, and the Amanas were also nice. I didn't care for the Frigidaire once I saw it, and really didn't like anything Sears had. I had no feeling good or bad for any of the other models we saw; any of them would serve the purpose. I think the moral of this whole exercise is shop around a bit, decide what is important to you, and buy when the price is discounted. (That applies to just about everything you can buy). No model stood out as particularly good or bad in the survey, and the sample was too small to make any real conclusions anyway. You may interpret any of this however you like. Thanks to all who responded, your input was appreciated. Tim Tjarks ihnp4!ihlts!tjarks -- Tim Tjarks AT&T Bell Laboratories ihnp4!ihlts!tjarks
dave@utcsrgv.UUCP (Dave Sherman) (04/01/84)
I guess I must have missed the original request for info, but here's my
experience:
We bought an Amana 25 cu.ft. with ice and water (SDI25F) over a year ago. The
fridge part is fine, but the ice/water has never been right. I have heard
that the ice can develop an odour when it sits in the freezer for a while,
but we have undrinkable water. It was full of green oily slime at first;
they changed the tank, flushed the line, changed some washers, changed the
fridge, changed the washers and changed the tank (in that order). We still
have water with a noticeable odour and aftertaste. Their (Energy Saving
Appliances == Amana distributor & service in Canada) latest statement
is that they will have the Amana rep from Iowa look at it when he next
come up. Sigh. We think they should replace the plastic line (which has
obviously collected something). Failing that, they should give us our
money back and we'll buy a fridge without ice and water.
Dave Sherman
Toronto
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{allegra,cornell,decvax,ihnp4,linus,utzoo}!utcsrgv!dave