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Very high ! I just checked our bill - and our last months consumption is 135 units. Yes, correct. ( Usage - no a/c, but usual home appliances and lighting). The fridge is a 242 litre 2 door unit, with about 16 years of running. Washing machine is about once in 2 days.

Is the fridge cooling well ? How is the cut-off - too frequent ? You may just need to replace the compressor worst case. Or may be just the relay.

Thanks much. That was what I wanted to know; practically how much other refrigerators consume power.

The fridge is cooling fine though not that great, but long ago some of the inside electronics from LG has been replaced by a local mechanic to mostly electrical (I believe). It has been drawing a lot of power from very long back. Our total consumption is about 300-350 units per month out of which half is for the refrigerator.

Can we take 150% of the BEE star rating (which is for ideal condition) of the new fridges for practical analysis?

IMO, Even the 50% estimate you have, plus the parts replacements vs consumption time-line should be enough information to have changed the fridge.

I am not sure about the BEE ratings that you have mentioned, but just changing the fridge to even a 3-star rated one should save you 100 units there at least. ( going by how much our 16 yr old is sipping)

Hi I bought one 5 months back. The prime reason was to get rid of the dependency on maids and also the fact that I hate leaving unwashed dishes on the counter overnight.

My views to your questions.


* Does it clean the utensils properly? Especially the utensils which are used to prepare our Indian dishes (masala residues etc.)

Ans: Yes it does. And more often than not does a better job than manual cleaning. Normally for heavily stained dishes my machine has a intensive kadhai mode as well. However important to note that most of the nonstick kadhais are not dishwasher safe. Even if they are, you are better off cleaning them manually as the harsh detergent used in dishwasher powder may damage the coating over prolonged use. Mainly you may need to upgrade your utensils to dishwasher safe ones if they are not so already.


* Do the utensils need to be pre-washed first before loading into the machine? OR do we only need to remove the residue and then directly load it to the machine?

Ans. My dishwasher (Bosch) does not require the dishes to be pre washed. Just remove the residue and load. The machine does the rest.

* From reading online, I understand that the dishwasher is usually set to run at night, after the dirty dishes used throughout the day are loaded into it – so if we use a dishwasher, should we have 3 sets of utensils – one to use for each time of the day?

Ans. It is logical and economical to run the dishwasher once a day after it is full. However most will have an option to run at half load as well.

* How good is it in cleaning odd shaped items like flasks, pressure cookers etc

Ans. Dishwasher cleans with jets of water that are sprayed from the arms. If the flask has a narrow opening the jets may not reach all the internal areas. Aluminium cookers and utensils gets scarred and discoloured in dish washer other than that there is no problem. I wash my pressure cookers in dish washer. It takes up a lot of space though.

* Why does this machine require salt?

The salt is a softening agent. It is used when water is hard. In my machine we can set the amount of salt that is used in every wash depending on how hard the water is.

Unlike Washing machines which are designed for cleaning really dirty clothes, Dish washers are designed mainly for western style cooking. They give excellent results with glass ware and cutlery, but are really not geared towards eastern cooking using a lot of frying and spices.

As far as I have read, aluminum vessels are not really suited for dishwashers. So in general aluminum pressure cookers are not recommended, that is the reason west has changed over to stainless steel and ceramic coatings.

Stubborn burnt particles and heavy food residues require a prewash. If you do not prewash, a lot of food particle will collect and overwhelm the drainage system. Further it will add to the load of the machine, so it will run much longer, and in case of burnt food not clean at all.

I would personally go for the latest LG Inverter refrigerators. They come with 10 years warranty on the compressor and now I believe that electronics is also covered under extended warranty.
http://www.lg.com/in/refrigerators

Is a bottom frezer more efficient than the normal one?

I do not think so. As far as cooling goes, top freezer configuration will cool the whole refrigerator fastest - that is physics for you.

What happens in a normal refrigerator where the freezer is on top, the bottom shelves get quite cold, especially if the refrigerator is not opened frequently. In our home, the vegetables stored in the bottom most part have frozen quite a number of times.

So on the whole where the freezer is at bottom, the top part will rarely freeze - ideal for storing vegetables.

Probably not. But with my panasonic bottom freezer I don't need to bend down to look whats inside the fridge compartment, its also helpful for old people.

In the good old days the freezer used to be at the top since then convection will chill the entire unit. Nowadays, that is no longer an issue. The first 'inverted' freezer I saw was in the UK in 1991. I have very much preferred that layout.

Although late by a few years, I just experimented with Sulfamic acid powder, made available by a friend, as descaler in my 20 year old IFB Bosch washing machine. I used it four times, 70 gms each time with hot water cycle and cancelled spin. The fourth load had nil scales - hard and soft.

As compared to commercially available descaling powders at Rs 250 - 300 per 100 gms, Sulfamic acid costs Rs 30-40 per kg and is the active (some may have citric acid or other non mineral acids) ingredient of descaling powders.
It is a matter of chance that I stumbled upon this thread and took this opportunity to share my experience.

I intend using a solution for bathroom tiles.

Sulfamic acid is safe, to handle. Use a plastic spoon. I am told that the stainless steel spoon used to spoon out the powder has developed mild discoloration.

Happy descaling, enjoy the savings!

That should work with single door ones. But why exactly the newer trend to put freezer at the bottom? Any advantage?

Ergonomic, as mentioned. The fridge door is opened and closed more often. Less bending, and more wanted things at eye hight.

It's more convenient, everything is much easier to keep stuff inside and taking it out. Kind a like a bending and sitting down in a sedan vs just walking in and sitting in a suv/muv.

Please go ahead without second thoughts. Our household has been using one (one after another) for 40 years (yes! that long). Now dish-wash powders are also available in India, so no more issues. Take care not to place expensive porcelain in dishwasher. At times rarely, I have experienced it, some glass items may develop a foggy discoloration after a few dozen washes. Its a trial game.

All utensils get cleaned brilliantly.

Typically, older generation would rarely use the freezer except for making ice or max store limited fresh fish. Concept of stockpiling cold meats was unheard of.

Top freezers were a waste of convenient storage space. I really appreciate the bottom ones now. The more accessed fridge area can now be well on top.