[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Guite

Thad, why would storing less in a freezer be a disadvantage?

Are there any home users of freezers here? How much power does it actually consume? Is it available with inverter compressors?

If you read posts below - you will notice that I mentioned about BlueStar whose 200 liter Chest Freezer consumes about 2 units a day.
A normal 300 liter Refrigerator consumes about 350 units a year - assuming that you have an inverter compressor and you live in Madras. Your mileage will vary depending upon the ambient temperature, the type of load and the frequency of opening the door.

I didn't go by the manufacturer's value pasted on the unit alone. I checked my unit with a 'Kill-a-watt' device.

In a tropical climate, the real power hog is your Air-conditioner. One 1.5 ton non-inverter consumes about 8-10 units a day easily. An inverter compressor fitted A/C probably consumes about 5-7 units under similar condition.

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Because the contents "store*" the coldness. So does cold air, but think of it as a fluid, which can easily escape. When you open the door of a fridge or freezer (upright) the air pours out.

I do regret the absence of proper freezer rating in India: it means we can never be sure. I don't think my Whirlpool freezer section is a really-deep deep freeze. But it seems to be good enough. I'm still alive and I think that I do keep food for much longer than I "should."

Watch out for long power cuts, though. You can loose the lot!

The freezer atop the refrigerator keeps the food at around -5 to -9 degree C whilst the Chest Freezer keeps the food at -18 degree C. In a refrigerator, you can't store perishable food for long. You will notice that meat will change color to a darker hue if you store it for more than 10 days. A dedicated freezer is designed to store food for a long time. A properly stored meat will retain its texture, color and taste even after a year.

Only problem is thawing the food.

Power cuts within limit shouldn't be an issue - provided the power resumes within 10 hours and you don't open the door during the cut.

My regular frozen food supplier has huge freezers and he had assured me that he would run his generators only when the duration of the power cut exceeds 4 hours.

[libranof1987]

What's a good cooler? The Pune summer has been getting nastier by the year and I want to resist buying an a/c as much as possible. The fans are just about enough so I thought a cooler should be a good complement. Some relatives have a Symphony cooler so that was one I was considering.

[rdst_1]

I will be getting a deep freezer shortly as well. Have been needing it for an year or so, but making do with the freezer section of the refrigerator.

We grow peas and corn on our farm for home use and like to harvest them fresh (when they are at their sweetest) and then store them for the year. I also buy tomatoes in bulk and then puree them and freeze the puree. Then I just have to buy them a little at a time for raw/salad usage. It helps especially in the months when tomatoes start costing me 80-100/kg.

Also, I need it to store meat that I buy from Republic of Chicken which is 30kms away from my place. The local butchers don't have good quality meat, so I prefer getting a month or two's supply whenever I visit that town. I am going to start rearing my own chicken and goats as well next year, so a deep freezer will come in real handy when I have to butcher one for my consumption.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by Prowler

The freezer atop the refrigerator keeps the food at around -5 to -9 degree C whilst the Chest Freezer keeps the food at -18 degree C.

That sounds like an ice box rather than a freezer. If I buy a fridge-freezer in UK I will see a number of stars which tell me which it is. And like washing instructions on clothes, we can refer to freezing instructions for food.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by rdst_1

We grow peas and corn on our farm for home use and like to harvest them fresh (when they are at their sweetest) and then store them for the year. I also buy tomatoes in bulk and then puree them and freeze the puree. Then I just have to buy them a little at a time for raw/salad usage. It helps especially in the months when tomatoes start costing me 80-100/kg. Also, I need it to store meat that I buy from Republic of Chicken which is 30kms away from my place. The local butchers don't have good quality meat, so I prefer getting a month or two's supply whenever I visit that town. I am going to start rearing my own chicken and goats as well next year, so a deep freezer will come in real handy when I have to butcher one for my consumption.

Wow. Surely you need a Deep Freezer. We can compare notes when we buy our freezers. For my use, 200 liters would be enough - I hope. You may need more as you plan to store mutton from a goat amongst others.

Procuring meat and sea food is horribly expensive in cities.

For example a kilo of mutton costs Rs.800 in Madras. It costs about Rs.600 in Pondicherry and even lower in small towns. Big Prawns cost upwards of 700-1000. I can also store hill vegetables like Celery, Broccoli etc when they are available fresh. A Freezer makes you free (sorry about the pun).

[Guite]

Originally Posted by Prowler

I didn't go by the manufacturer's value pasted on the unit alone. I checked my unit with a 'Kill-a-watt' device.

Thanks for the clarification. It’s good to know that the figure you quoted is a measured data.

So operating cost would be approx twice that of a regular refrigerator. Hopefully more energy efficient compressors would be adopted soon in freezers. People in the commercial sector will save a lot.

[Sophomore]

Currently looking for a Fully automatic front load 6-7 kg washing machine. Which one is the VFM these days? LG is what my family prefers because of the reliability of our current semi automatic LG which is still going strong. Replacement was considered because of current year alarming water levels which eventually will get worse because of the soon approaching summer down here in Kerala.

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by Sophomore

Currently looking for a Fully automatic front load 6-7 kg washing machine. Which one is the VFM these days? LG is what my family prefers because of the reliability of our current semi automatic LG which is still going strong. Replacement was considered because of current year alarming water levels which eventually will get worse because of the soon approaching summer down here in Kerala.

Get LG, along with extended warranty - which includes every thing - all parts and labour, excepting a few rubber parts.

[mercedised]

Originally Posted by Sophomore

Currently looking for a Fully automatic front load 6-7 kg washing machine. Which one is the VFM these days? LG is what my family prefers because of the reliability of our current semi automatic LG which is still going strong. Replacement was considered because of current year alarming water levels which eventually will get worse because of the soon approaching summer down here in Kerala.

I bought 6 kg Samsung front load automatic with 3 years warranty from flipkart last year. It is working fine, no problems.

[Sophomore]

Originally Posted by Aroy

Get LG, along with extended warranty - which includes every thing - all parts and labour, excepting a few rubber parts.

Originally Posted by mercedised

I bought 6 kg Samsung front load automatic with 3 years warranty from flipkart last year. It is working fine, no problems.

Thank you for the suggestions.

How are the reviews on IFB? The dealer who is also our friend recommends IFB. He does not push though.

[sgiitk]

Originally Posted by Prowler

The freezer atop the refrigerator keeps the food at around -5 to -9 degree C whilst the Chest Freezer keeps the food at -18 degree C. In a refrigerator, you can't store perishable food for long. You will notice that meat will change color to a darker hue if you store it for more than 10 days. A dedicated freezer is designed to store food for a long time. A properly stored meat will retain its texture, color and taste even after a year.

Only problem is thawing the food

Are you talking of single door units?

I have had two and even three door units for over 25 years and have not faced this issue. -15C or lower is there for the taking. So sorry I beg to disagree. One think I will say is that side-by-side two doors though fancy are very inefficient in space utilization.

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

Are you talking of single door units?

I have had two and even three door units for over 25 years and have not faced this issue. -15C or lower is there for the taking. So sorry I beg to disagree. One think I will say is that side-by-side two doors though fancy are very inefficient in space utilization.

Actually the less you open the refrigerator the colder the temperature that a freezer can maintain. We have two refrigerators and one is used for long term storage (opened once in two days or so). The freezer in that gets pretty cold, even on shelves some liquids freeze if left too long.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

Are you talking of single door units?

I have had two and even three door units for over 25 years and have not faced this issue. -15C or lower is there for the taking. So sorry I beg to disagree. One think I will say is that side-by-side two doors though fancy are very inefficient in space utilization.

I was talking of the ubiquitous 2 door refrigerators the whole market is flooded with. A refrigerator's freezer typically keeps the temperature between -4 to -9 degree C tops. Your actual temperature will vary on a host of factors - insulation, door gasket condition, the frequency of door opening and the settings. Sir - I have quoted from the manufacturer's literature.

Deep Freezers are designed to keep the food at a much lower temperature - 18 degree C. Walk-in freezers in Ships and commercial freezers may have a different working temperatures. Meat and some produce require to be stored at least at -18 degree C as prescribed by the EC commission in the year 1989.

"Experts have found that when stored at between -30°C and -18°C, the reaction rate for fruit and vegetables is two to three times slower. For sensitive substances in particular, this means that their vitamin content deteriorates significantly faster at higher temperatures. After one year of storage at -12°C, the vitamin C content in vegetables is only about 20% of the vitamin C content of those stored for the same period at -18°C." to quote from an European manufacturer - Liebherr.

[meerkat]

Hello friends,

I'm in the process of installing complete lighting fixtures and stuff in my new flat, and am looking for 4000K options only. So in terms of local availability, I've practically just two options: Philips and Corvi.

Philips dealers don't seem to have LED battens in their good-looking model "Essential - TarangBright". I'm not too keen on their "Astra" model, which is available, because of its looks.

So, my only other option is pretty much the Corvi brand. Are any of you familiar with this brand? Their claims are just fantastic ("Lifetime Warranty", 150 Lm/W efficiency, > 0.97 PF, and so on)! They are also good-looking, not cheap chinese imports (made in India), and compared to Philips, less costly too! Is it too good to be true? They don't seem to have much information available online, and their only contact no. is never answered by a human being! However, one of their dealers I know for several years assures me that he'd provide direct replacements for 5 years in case of problems!

There is another potential issue with Corvi LEDs: -- owing to the much higher efficiency, the surface light intensity expected is roughly twice as high as that of Philips! Would that be a major problem if one happens to look directly at the light? Any first hand experience?

So I'm kind of undecided about what I should do now. I'll NEVER go for the ubiquitous "Cool Daylight" (6500K), and would like to avoid 3000K too, if I have the choice! Hence the need for 4000K lighting (although I'd have preferred 5000K, -- popular in some other countries, but not available in India). I'm also not too keen on going online because of warranty worries.

I'd much appreciate any advice from you guys in this regard. Thanks.

[diyguy]

Originally Posted by meerkat

.. looking for 4000K options only. So in terms of local availability, I've practically just two options: Philips and Corvi.

You should look at this wipro one. I have it in all my rooms and have also installed it for my cousin and recommended to my friend. It has a 4000k setting that you can use. The rate is lower than what you see on this link and all my lights were sourced from pepperfry. You can find a local dealer and order it through him but doubt you can match the online prices.
https://www.wiproconsumerlighting.co...hanging-batten