american fridge/freezer

[middy]

Hi all, my O/H (who as forgotton valantines day may I add) as got the chance of an expensive kitchen cheap ( no it hasnt fell off the back of a lorry) my dilema is, if I puchase an american fridge/freezer will it be ok in Perth, my husband seems to think that with the heat over there that it will work overtime and eventually break within the first year. is this true? or is he trying to get out of buying one?

And why were on fridge/freezers what about other appliances also? (washer, dishwasher)

Any info much appreciated.

Amanda

[sheena]

hi guys, we are taking our american fridge/ freezer, its only 3 months old so im not leaving it!! as far as i know they should be fine, the oz us them so cant see why ours wouldnt! :)
sheena

[Lynandsean]

We too have one of these fridge/freezers but are not taking it with us for pretty much the reason your OH has said. Apparently Aussie ones are made more appropriate for the heat and also you may have to get the CO2 emissions clarified so not worth the trouble really!

Your other white goods can be taken and definately worthwhile if they are reasonably new/good condition or quality.

[middy]

Thanks for info, it looks like he has got away with not buying one then.

Is there any websites so I can look at what price they are in Perth?

Amanda

[ajgwa]

there are rules about the import of fridges. new ones should be ok in that it is mainly to do with cfcs and stuff like that i think - in particular for the disposal of them (i glanced at them but ignored it as my american fridge freezer is staying here and now can't find them).

your OH is right though - the fridges over there while to all intents and purposes appearing the same are designed differently in terms of their operating tolerances. ones from over here will work - but they will have to work harder than they are used to and so may not last as long as we expect them to. AQIS web site might be a good place to have a look for the rules involved.

[Phoenix]

This is an interesting topic, especially since we have a 22cuft american style fridge freezer, and the wife wont be parted from it.

however....
the duty cycle your fridge will have to undergo may indeed be higher in Australia, or it may actually be lower, what dictates the actual duty cycle is the difference between the inside and room temperature, but, if your house has air conditioning, it could prove that room temperature is on average lower than UK room temperature, which will mean the fridge will actually do less work to maintain the same steady inside temperature.

Another factor is location, locate your fridge next to a boiler or cooker in the UK (seen this done frequently) then it will have a high duty cycle, locate it in a cool breezy place and the duty cycle will be lower

[Liz]

Hi All

Since your on the subject of american style fridge freezers (with ice making machine), I was told that they don't work in Oz due to them working on a different voltage. The guy that told me this was a repairman for fridge freezers so you think he would know what he was talking about. Can anyone advise???


Cheers

Liz

[Phoenix]

The guy is wrong on the voltage issue, Australia has the same voltages as the UK

[John Sydney]

Fridges in Australia run on 240 volt 50 hz anything different will cause problems - Also Fridges in Australia are supposed to met Australian Design rules on cooling - generally must be able to operate above 40 deg C for weeks on end - This rule cause Fridges to be expensive. A lot of fridges sold don't met this standard ie fridges sold in Melbourne etc but Fridges sold up North will. You can check out fridge prices at retailers like Harvey Norman - As for "American Fridges" if you mean a fridge with and Ice maker they are very common in Australia - But true American Fridges ie GE were sold in Australia but seem to be replaced by LG etc hope this helps

[BullcreekBob]

G'day

We brought our "American Fridge" with us knowing full well that it would not have the cooling capacity to cope with being our main fridge during a Perth summer. We use it as a drinks fridge, stopring it in our garage where it's keeping the bubbly, white wine and PepsiMax cool, a job it does pretty well at.

The AF was only six months old when we came but we knew if we sold it, we'd get nowhere near a fair price for it. Hence the decision to bring it and use it for a bar fridge.