Apr 21, 2009 06:16 PM
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(Updated Apr 22, 2009 06:55 PM)
I own a Whirlpool 320 Litre, double door, Frost Free (FF) Refrigerator, (model no: WRN32RGG3), purchased in Jan-2000 from Sri Surya Electronics, Gajuwaka, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. My earlier fridge, a simple single door Kelvinator began giving problems after almost 10 yrs of use.
My new whirlpool cost me Rs. 24, 000/-. It was a big amount and none of my friends had such a huge fridge in those days. I chose the model for its large freezer compartment, where I could stash non-veg items, especially sea food available so abundantly in Vizag. The warranty for complete refrigerator was for one year.
What is a Frost Free refrigerator?
In a conventional fridge the evaporator tubes are coiled around the freezer compartment, located at top inside the fridge. It absorbs heat inside the fridge and causes moisture to condense on the tubes. This causes ice build-up, which can slowly reduce efficiency of heat transfer, as pure ice acts like an insulator.
Moreover this also causes the humidity inside to be high, thus likely to damage vegetables stored inside due to frost. In the non-frost free models one had to remove ice by manually switching off the supply or pressing the defrost switch. This defrost switch shuts down the compressor and allows ice to melt. When the temp inside slowly rises after ice is melted, the thermostat contact closes back again and the compressor is made on.
In a Frost Free (FF) model the evaporator coil is hidden in a separate chamber and a fan is provide to suck in hot air from the fridge and blow it over the evaporator, cool it and then blow cold air into the fridge, in the process all moisture is condensed at the coil of evaporator and is prevented form getting inside the fridge. This avoids frost formation inside the fridge and keeps humidity low.
The condenser coil in a conventional fridge can be see located outside at the back, painted lack. In a FF refrigerator the condenser coils is embedded in the walls at the sides of the fridge, thereby not allowing water to condense in between the insulation and steel outer body o the fridge.
If the outside of your FF fridge feels warm to touch, it means the fridge is healthy and doing its job.
Breakdowns
My first breakdown surfaced at 10 months of use. One could call it a minor fault. The inside bulb got fused. I had no problem contacting the local Whirlpool service and they attended to the complaint promptly. The lamp was replaced free as my fridge was still under warranty. While changing the lamp I noticed that the translucent plastic panel in front of the lamp had got melted a little and had deformed, so it was not snapping back in position. It was somehow put back in place and since it was a minor problem, I did not pursue that with whirlpool further.
The second breakdown was failure of the door switch at 5 years (Oct-2005). The door switch has twin isolated contacts, one for switching on the inside lamp when door is open and the other for switching off air circulating fan when either of the twin doors is opened. It cost me a total of Rs 500/-(Rs 150 for the switch + 350 as home visit charges.)
Then came the failure of the electromechanical defrost timer at 6th year, in 2006 which set me back by Rupees 2500 approx. Later the blower fan motor also failed which cost 1800 rupees.One thing that I liked about whirlpool service, in spite of all the breakdowns is the prompt response. They charge Rs. 350 for a house visit in addition to cost of spare parts replaced. If the problem is not solved in one visit they would come multiple times till problem is rectified and at no additional visiting charge.
Since I am an electrical engineer I did some study of the circuit and found the electromechanical timer to be its weakest link and costly too. Since there is a lot of moving parts in it, it is prone to premature failures. It is a kind of shaded pole motor with a ferrite magnetic core, which rotates and drives the timing gear. Its contact opens every 8 hours and then the defrost heater get energized to melt the ice that is formed on the evaporator coil located behind the freezer cubicle. When all the ice is melted and temp has risen sufficiently another thermostat contact closes, which gives supply to the compressor and fan circuit once again.
The electromechanical defrost timer can get noisy after a bit of wear and tear, which is normal. The timer began malfunctioning again at 8th year, in 2008 end. The plastic timer gear got worn out and was slipping. The contacts were not opening and once open they were not closing back. I used parts from the older timer and rectified it on my own. I have spent close to 6000/- rupees on spare parts so far. I hope Whirlpool has improved the design and have made their new fridges more reliable.
