ASBO fridge freezer
Posted on Nov 8, 2008 in Fun, Kitchen equipment | 15 comments
Message from the fridge
Danny has secretly slapped an Anti Social Behaviour Order on our fridge freezer. Last weekend we had a bit of a fright with the vociferous beast. It was suddenly struck quite dumb.
“I think that the fridge is very sick, Danny. The light goes on when I open the door but the motor does not hum.”
This fridge has been an adolescent for as far back as we can remember. Moody and prone to dramatic outbursts of weeping into the space that used to hold the crisper drawers.
Over the past couple of years it has been insisting that it’s a freezer and not a fridge-freezer. The ice clearing is a real chore.
“If I sweep up the leaves, will you do the ice in the fridge?”
“Of course,” says D.
He renegotiates a few hours later..
“If I fix the bug on the blog will you tackle the ice?”
“I’ll do it after I’ve cooked supper.” And then I think about it.
“Even though I’m cooking, it’s actually your turn. So would you mind tackling the ice?”
So the task was batted back and forth. No wonder that the fridge finally gave up. No one wanted to deal with its dramas. Eventually it stopped chilling altogether. Gradually it had become an igloo with attitude.
When it stopped working we had a day wondering whether we should buy a replacement. Eventually I decided to give it a bit of a shock.
I pulled the plug out of the wall.
When I switched it on again it purred into action. The motor got louder and louder as the week progressed. By Thursday night we realised that it had been singing its final swansong. Despite being a cheap fridge-freezer, bought over 12 years ago and with a poor energy rating, we were sad to see it die.
“I bet that the effect of the fridge-freezer not working has shown up on the National Grid.” Danny chortled until the cost of replacing it finally hit him with an icy swat.
Over the past month, an enormous block of ice had formed at the back of the fridge compartment.
This hefty block saved our fresh food today, as we had inadvertently created a small ice house. The freezer stayed frozen until we found temporary lodgings for our frozen food. Our carrier bags of goodies are enjoying life in a massive chest freezer at Anne Mary’s. Thank goodness for trusty friends. The Old Farmhouse offers great B&B for humans too. Well away from the chest freezer.
Since Thursday, I‘d hoped that the fridge-freezer would spring into action. Over the past couple of nights I’ve even dreamt about it. In these dreams I’ve discovered that the fridge has recovered. But each morning the fridge gave no chirrup when I opened the larder door.
So this morning I finally searched for a new fridge-freezer on the Internet. Having endured twelve years of a FF that can’t cope with deep frost or a heatwave we finally were going for an A rated, deluxe model. I found a very good deal. Having just settled a couple of large bills and ordered a tank of oil, buying a new companion fridge freezer was not a moment to be cherished. So I decided to order the replacement beast this evening and ventured into our garden to play for a few hours before darkness fell.
As I was cooking supper, I opened the larder door and heard a faint rumble. I raced up to The Rat Room.
“Danny. I think that the fridge freezer is alive.”
Danny shot downstairs to investigate. He opened the fridge door and enjoyed the gentle wafting chill.
“Let’s hope that it wants to celebrate its thirteenth birthday.”
If it does we’ll make a vast cake festooned with candles.
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Congratulations on the reincarnation of your fridge freezer.. it lives to see another day!! Guess it decided to chill out for a wee while.. lets hope that it will resort to a deep and meaningful freeze.. (drum roll!!!) But and their is always a but.. can it be trusted?? I wouldn’t cancel the new replacement fridge freezer just yet, I am sure that once you do your old viciously temperamental FF will pass over and make its way to fridge/freezer heaven…..
Lovely well written blog… which cracked me up!!
Have a lovely Sunday!
Jane xxx
13 years isn’t bad for a fridge/freezer, is it? I don’t think I’ve ever had one that’s lasted that long although I don’t know why that should be because I remember my mum having the same one throughout most of my childhood/teenage years. I guess they just don’t make ‘em like they used to. Still, at least yours is working again
This post made me chuckle! I understand completely about the energy efficiency against buying a new one. We had the same dilemma – our fridge isn’t as old – its about 8 years, but its not great energy wise – it was on its purchase, but things change
I read a fab few articles in the summer about people who don’t use a fridge, and whilst I felt too scared to completely take that step, we turned our fridge down from 4 to one, which is it’s lowest setting. Its consumption has reduced, as it’s not trying to keep the internal temperature down as much, and the food doesn’t spoil. Well we’ve only had one pint of milk go, but then it was a day or so past its date anyhow!
Best of luck for its continued presence in your home!
Our FF ices up all the time, and then – as if you hadn’t noticed – beeps and beeps to tell you that it’s frozen up. Grrrr. We’ve had it about five years, so at least another eight to go! BUT on my list of things to do next week: get the fridge engineer to come and give it a good service (it’s never had one, and that’s probably part of the problem). Do you have someone locally who could come and service yours? Then you really could cancel that order.
Joanna
PS the best fridge I ever had was an old 50s one I was given when I bought my first house and had no money at all – huge, but wonderful. And my parents’ first freezer (in the 60s) was an old-fashioned 50s Wall’s ice cream freezer, with rubber lids you had to take off the top to get at the contents. Similar size to my fridge, but brilliant. I wonder what happens these days to the old freezers when shops upgrade?
It always feels like a national disaster when an essential item of kitchen equipment fails. We used to have a feezer that regularly formed enough ice to make up for the diminishing polar ice caps. My mum used to keep a large screwdriver on top of the freezer with which she attacked this ice. This approach worked well until she mis-judged the angle of the screwdriver and drove said tool through the top of the freezer which apparently resulted in instant death. Did she hit its brain? It was clear there was no way back from this and a replacement was bought.
Fingers crossed it’ll make it a little longer. Unexpected expenses like that are always such a pain in the bum.
Hi Jane
We have cancelled the new fridge freezer and are hoping that our old pal will keep going for a lot longer. It’s been purring away happily all day and fingers crossed it will continue in this mode.
Thanks for dropping by.
Hi Sharon J
Yes I remember that years ago fridges seemed to go on forever. I think that they must have been much simpler in those days and probably a lot stronger!
Hello Turvys
That’s interesting. In thhe summer it gets quite hot in the larder and the fridge struggles but in the winter it’s cold in there. Following your advice I’ve turned it right down. Thank you.
Hi Joanna
I think going down the service route would be a good idea. I hadn’t thought of that. We do have an excellent local guy. Thanks for the tip.
Love your tale about your fifties fridge and that old shop freezer!
Hi Pamela
Brilliant story!
We use a rubber hammer to knock off ice but it has to be used very gently.
Hello Sylvie
All fingers are crossed here (even the Min Pins)!
Have you ever heard of http://www.freecycle.org? All you need to do is find your local group, join and then see if anyone has got an old working fridge that they no longer need. The website is designed for people who are going to throw something away, but someone else might find it useful. Everything is free but you must collect. I have quite often seen people wanting to get rid of greenhouses!
I had a good chuckle too – specially as I can relate to your story. For several years now my ‘frost-free’ larder fridge has been a fridge-freezer! Fridge at the front/freezer at the back. We have the setting on 1 but I think the thermostat has probably gone. I read your blog after I’d just come from the kitchen with yet another bowl of organic salad that had been frozen and was thinking it may be false economy to avoid calling out the engineer – but I must admit I hadn’t even thought about the extra electricity – der! Engineer to be called in the morning! I hope yours keeps going for a while longer. Why does everything break just before Christmas!
Hi Julia B
Yes I agree Freecycle is a great resource but I’ve always been pipped at the post when I’ve asked for something that’s advertised! Apparently most things go within half an hour around here.
Thanks for the nudge, though. I didn’t look up fridge freezers as ours needs to be a certain height to fit into the cottage – very low ceilings. If and when the fridge throws another wobbly (I can hear it happily purring through the larder wall) I will give it a go. Much rather use someone else’s FF and recycle.
Thanks so much for leaving a comment.
Hi KarenO
It has been a bit of a switch back here recently. Oil tank refill, new fridge? The exhaust is dying on Jalopy and everything looked grim. Now the fridge is alive, we had more oil in the tank than we thought and the only thorn is Jalopy’s exhaust. Whew!
Hi Fiona,
Have you given the underside and back of your fridge a good cleaning? Some models have drip tray on the underside, and if its never been cleaned, that could be part of the problem. Also, a coil brush taken to the underside and the back to get all of the dust out of the works could help too.
The service call sounds like a good idea, I hate giving up on a appliance when a little work and a part will do the trick.
Good Luck!
Hello Fiona
Have you thought of looking at those shops which sell returned or slightly damaged appliances. Usually the damage is only cosmetic a small scratch or slight ding in the casing which a full price paying customer has (quite rightly) rejected? Often they are without a box because they have been returned but unless you have a small child around to play with the box for a day or so they only have to be got rid of anyway. Usually you have to take the appliance away with you, I managed to get my 185 cm tall FF in my Kangoo and saved at least £100 on the price of a new Leibherr FF. I can’t give you a name of the shop but there must be such shops in your neck of the woods.
ASBO fridge purred back into life 4 days ago, all by itself. But we do not trust it. All of our freezer contents are still in Anne Mary’s rescue freezer. We (Fiona) did clean out the escape hole, Michelle, and thanks for your tip. It seems eminently sensible to try out the simple and cheap options before calling in superman (at £45/hr).
Thanks, Pamela, for that excellent suggestion regarding recycle stores. We had not considered that. I now think that they will be our first port of call should ASBO creature finally kick the bucket!
Hi Danny and Fiona, you do realise, don’t you, that the most likely date of demise at this point for the ASBO FF is 24th December at approx. 4.45 pm. At which point the FF will be bursting at the seams with Christmas goodies … of course though the sales will start on 26th December …
Two years later, it is still going strong – thank goodness.
Fiona’s sister defrosted it yesterday (hugs) after I put the task off for weekend after weekend.
Long Live The King