A trade-off living on this beautiful island is the difficulty in buying items that I really need to touch; buying a new fridge is one of these and I've struggled to translate internet photos into the 'living' thing. It's so much easier to visit appliance shops and check the fridges on display; the brain instantly registering sizes and layout, something that doesn't happen for me with online shopping. Last week the freezer on my 20 year old Kelvinator had trouble keeping foods frozen and it no longer feels 'cold' when I open the door.
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| My current Kelvinator fridge/freezer (191L fridge, 57L freezer) |
Jed the Electrician is based on the island and fixes Fisher & Paykel gear so I asked him to check it out. There's no obvious reason for its demise (eg dead fan) but he said that it could be running low on coolant gas which cannot be fixed. Time for a new one methinks.
So, on to the internet and a google search for 'nz fridge freezer' brought up several options. Electricity is expensive here so didn't want to go large; ideally the same size fridge but with a bigger freezer. I thought I had found just the thing when I
saw the F&P E240BRWW...
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| F&P 240 litre model |
This is a 240L model with a bigger 110L freezer, twice as large as my current one. I know I should have put two and two together to realise that would mean that the fridge would be considerably less but I didn't twig until I found a photo showing the inside and realised that the fridge part was tiny; 60L less than my current one...
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| Inside of F&P E240BRWW |
I'm not restricted to height where my old fridge is but Jed advised against my current habit of turning the mains off at night as it would interfere with the 24 hour internal clock that the modern fridges have. This is a problem as the fridge is close to my bed and it's a noisy beast when the motor is running. If I put the new fridge in the far corner then it has to be below 1600mm tall to fit underneath the switchboard.
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| The new fridge spot? |
I wanted to avoid using this space as had plans to put a drawer unit in but unless the new fridge is very very quiet I think I'll sleep better with it being further away. There were no F&P models that had the right sized fridge/freezer combination and in the end I've opted for the F&P E372BRT4...
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| 250L fridge and 123L freezer |
This is the only other larger fridge/freezer that I could find that was under 1600mm tall - I guess most houses are built to standard sizes but I thought I'd find a few more options than I did.
My new purchase does have a 2.5 Energy Star rating with energy usage at 455kWh/yr - at a guess it's probably about the same as my inefficient smaller fridge but I would have liked to tried out the
298L Beko CN-228130 (3 Star, 360kWh/yr but 1754mm high) or the Miele range (3 Star rating but well out of my budget range). The
EECA/Energy Star website has some great tools to compare the energy use of different models and I'm sure that my new fridge will cost more in the long run but means that there is an island-based electrician that can service it if needed.
I've had to move the stuff I stored in the corner so need to find new homes for a swag of DVDs and CDs, my bulk flour/sugar containers and a shelf of spices. I'm wondering if I can use my unplugged old fridge for some stuff when it's cleaned and dried thoroughly - I may have to drill some ventilation holes in it but it would save it going to landfill.
The fridge was ordered on Thursday but I have no idea when it will arrive. I guess it will be coming on the freight ferry which doesn't run in rough seas. Jed is going to do the pickup off the ferry and install it for me and then I can make better use of garden produce and grocery specials to fill the freezer.
Yesterday's Southland Times had a rather depressing
article on the proposed 10yr island power plan that would see prices rise from 58c/unit to 76c/unit and with the monthly supply charge increasing from its current $87.55/mth to $116.97/mth by 2025 if it's adopted. The increases will cover costs for three replacement generators and stricter environmental regulations for fuel tanks; no doubt the actual prices will still be at the whims and fancies of diesel price increases.
I'm pretty sure that units are equivalent to kWh so my new fridge will cost around $260 a year this year but $345 a year in 2025. Work out your appliance usage using this
calculator on the Energywise website although it's set at the unit price that most people pay of 26c - I wish!!!
