Talking of conserving food - & just to make you all feel better - installed a very expensive American one, just in time for the big party last w/e.
'State of the art' - 'at the cutting edge'.
On full throttle, the fridge is just holding 17C. Our larder is cooler!!
Tim - I hope that is Minus 17C otherwise you are in trouble.
I always keep a fridge/freezer thermometer in mine to keep a check on it.
Freezer should be between -30C and -17C
Frdge plus 1 - plus 5.
Beryl.
Beryl - PLUS 17C - that's the rub. We await an engineer.
The reaction from the 'service' centre was great - 'the thermostat must have been working overtime in this weather'. Dear God!!
Hope it is not like our friends one. they had to remove the doors from the front of the house through to the kitchen to get it in!. They could not get it through the rear door as the fridge was too big to turn the bend. At one stage it looked as if they would have to remove the door frames as well!
Nearly. They tried for ages to get it through the kitchen door. Luckily, we have French Windows at the other end of the house. They then had to negotiate 4 more doors before the kitchen!
The earliest repair date? Next Tuesday!!
d**n how annoying, and what are you supposed to do in the meantime >:(
I have been looking at American f/f myself Tim, and the fact that i managed to pull the door off my freezer this week...(dont ask :-[)
might mean that we will have to get one sooner rather than later.
Which brand did you plump for?
Can I e-mail you? Don't want to 'brag' in public!!
Honeybee I have had my big American sized fridge for at least 5 years now, very pleased with it, but not an American company so was less expensive!
Broke a shelf a few months back and they sent me a replacement part free, and with reasonable speed! I can point you in their direction if you are interested. DP
Thought that this was quite interesting??
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v164/photo04/refridge.jpg
And this!
http://www.goodhousekeeping.co.uk/editorial1.html
My fridge is the first one!
DP
Sorry I don't have a photo of my old faithful
14 cubic ft. chest freezer. Anyone remember Bejam?
I wouldn't part with it for the world. Never broken down in 20 years- touch wood - always a first time.
Beryl.
Used to love going to Bejams when I was ickle with my mum and dad. All those chest freezers, the risks of leaning in just to far and the lid coming down on the back of your head.......writing your name in the condensation on the lids..... happy days! Now we have a lovely big old chest freezer in our garage and I would not part with it!
Long life? Our 2 previous units lasted us 45 years between them! One even survived being dropped from the boat onto the quayside on return from Cyprus.
Now for the exciting news? It's a 'system fault' and we shall be seeking a complete replacement.
Lucky we didn't redecorate after getting this one in!!
Thanks Emma - now I really feel ancient.
Glad you are going to get a replacement Tim - hope you won't have to wait too long.
Beryl.
Just in case anyone's listening - we now have our THIRD machine installed and.................
.........................it works!!
So we can now re-decorate.
Just think of the other 2 being dumped on the tip. Makes one cry.
Quote from: Doris_Pinks on July 17, 2005, 12:35:10
And this!
http://www.goodhousekeeping.co.uk/editorial1.html
My fridge is the first one!
DP
Your fridge is a cheese?
Quote from: tim on September 09, 2005, 09:05:11
Just think of the other 2 being dumped on the tip. Makes one cry.
Glad you got there in the end.
Shame about the other 2 units - dead fridges are great to use as clamp style storage (keep the mice out too)
:o :o :o Think they changed the link Diana! ;D
Tim Horrah! Glad you got there in the end, re-decorating, pah! Just redecorated daughter number 1's bedroom and it cost me a new hall, landing, staircase carpet because she dropped her Navy blue paint all over my cream carpet, and it wasn't covered by our insurance naturally!
So redecoration is not high on my fun things to do at the mo! ;D
Tell me about it!!
I've got a Zanussi Fridge freezer and I don't like it one bit. it freezes all me lotty veggies and salad and mushrooms are just like ice pops in minutes. yet it dumps water all over the floor constantly >:( I have to keep mushrooms in the top now and lettuce etc has to go in a thick tupper box I've got. Everything gets covered in condensation and I loathe it. if I had enough dosh I'd take it on the yard and hit it repeatedly with a blunt instrument, eg my new juicer which is about as much use as a hole in the head :(
I love my juicer, what's wrong with yours?
Diana - I'm interested you use your old freezer for storage. We decided to recycle ours this way too but it grows mouldy bits. We've tried all sorts to clean it out. Any tips? It's a standard upright freezer with 6 drawers.
Hi Obbelix
CAT has a factsheet about recyling as a hot composter:
http://www.cat.org.uk/catpubs/display.tmpl?sku=ts_hotc
I haven't had problems with mould. Do you use yours upright (as designed + fill the drawers) or flat like a chest freezer?
I'd suggest flat, sectioned off with crops placed in sand or compost (so no air around the draws, that way I don't think the mould can grow). Use it as you would if you were storing in boxes of sand etc, but the benefit is that it's insulated so crops stay a constant temperature.
I think there may be an article in a back issue of Organic Gardening that will explain better than I can. I'll have a look over the weekend + see if I can find it
Hope that helps + let me know how you get on
D
Thanks Diana. We already have three large compost bins so if I keep it it would be for storage. We did originally put wine in there on the grounds that it would keep a more constant temperature in hotter weather. Maybe the bottles had a bit of dirt on them or there was too much air space.
It's been so dry here we don't have enough root veg to store this winter but I shall keep it and have a go next year with the sand.
My juicer is kerapp! Bag of oranges should equal more than one teaspoon of juice. Ended up with a mass orange left over
It's a Kenwood so I expected better things. It's very fiddly and flimsy too. To be fair it was only £9.99 (half price) Glad I didn't pay full price.
My hugely expensive kettle has just bust as well so I'm feeling miffed with electricals :(
On a scale of water hardness, our water is 10, though otherwise pure and chemical free. We gave up on electric kettles and now use a whistle kettle on the hob but not often as we drink coffee not tea. The coffee machine needs descaling at least once a month. Our irons used to die reguarly too so now we've got one one of those fancy high steam things with a water softening cartridge and a 10 yr guarantee. We always add water softener tablets to the washing machine and they do OK - she said, touching wood.
I think this was the prob with the kettle and irons too. Can't keep pace. My dishwasher is the same and I've noticed the very fine filter is covered in rock hard deposits Had to go out and get a cleaner thingy which I put in and ran through the wash programme. Trouble was I forgot to take the plastic plug out of the top so none of the stuff came out. I am a pillock ;D
Bejams, that is a name to conjure with from my past too. Got our first freezer from Bejams in Reading in 1981. It was a big chest freezer and lasted over 15 years and was great. At that time I ate meat, and we used to get a £30 freezer pac from the butchers, which included 1lb steak, 1lb sausages, 1lb mince, a chicken, a leg of lamb a joint of pork and joint of beef. Incredible when I think back.
We made the decision to get an upright Electrolux freezer after it died because I thought it would be easier to find things, but it has been awful. It gets iced up really quickly, the drawer fronts snapped off and you can't open the drawers so you can't find things anyway. When this one goes will be tempted to going back to a chest freezer again, though I envy you Tim and everybody who has a big American fridge freezer they look fab. :) busy_lizzie
Wardy - we all have "blonde " moments (and I am one so I'm allowed to say it) and do daft things. Try just using some cheap alcohol vinegar on your filter and kettle, let it fizz and bubble and dissolve the calcium and then rinse thoroughly as it can be corrosive if left. Works well on tap nozzles too.
I'll have a go at that as my tap ends are a bit scaly and my shower head
Ta :)
Are you called Obelix relating to the Asterix books ?
I live in Belgium, home of the Belgae who had a leader called Ambiorix who beat the Romans in battle at Tongeren and impressed Julius Caesar no end with their fighting skills and ardour. I call myself Obelix as a nod to him and because I was sitting staring at an obelisk when deciding my screen name. Asterix is a Gaul.
Bit of a long shot, but does anyone have any experience of, or own a walk in fridge (any milkmen out there) as I was thinking of buying/installing one - preferably secondhand?
Got locked in one once! :o
Wasn't that efficient then...... ;D ;D
;D ;D Sketty!
Was at work, the lads removed the handle to see how hysterical I would get! Wasn't very pleasant being stuck in the dark surrounded by hanging sides of beef *shudder* BUt I didn't scream, wouldn't give them the pleasure! ;D
Seriously though, if I'd been their boss I'd have fired them on the spot. >:(
The head chef was involved! And we are talking many moons ago when us appretices were petrified of our head chefs!! :o
These might be handy for you to gander at!
http://www.nisbets.co.uk/products/ProductSubCategory.asp?TopGroupCode=C12&ParentGroupCode=S449
Thanks DP, didn't think of Nisbets and they email me every month. :-[
I love em! ;D
Must re-inforce the vinegar tip given by Obbelix - it works and is far cheaper than stuff sold as de-scaler.
I soak my shower head in vinegar to get it clean too!
A gallon of white vinegar is for sale in my local Chinese supermarket for £1.50 ;D
Since this plot has been taken over by juicers et al, thought that this might be of interest?
We find our Magimix add-on quite satisfactory.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v164/photo04/juicers.jpg
Ta for that Tim. I thought of going down that route too and getting the citrus juicer add on for my Kenwood Gourmet. The Kenwood juicer I bought (albeit at £9.99 so why was I surprised it was rubbish) performed really poorly so was concerned that the add on available for my food processsor might be poor too. The food pro I find is very good though.