Panasonic India has launched their new series of refrigerators - VEGERATOR. It is an inverted refrigerator with the freezer on the bottom and the more commonly accessed parts on the top. This has advantages of not having to stoop low and fetch the vegetables which are one of the most commonly used section of any refrigerator. The philosophy of having the vegetable section at the bottom was to keep it away from the cooler parts so that the vegetables didn’t become frigid and die or cold.

Panasonic has removed this issue by separating the freezer section from the normal section via a two door access. This is also seen in many of the frost free and also direct cooling refrigerators these days. Only the very low end refrigerators have a single door.

Image Courtesy : panasonic.co.in

There is no word on the pricing on the website though. The following are the features of this refrigerator.

For convenient storage of heavy, space-consuming vegetables, the vegetable case is located in the center where items are easy to see and take out. Panasonic’s Vegerator is a completely new style of refrigerator.
Convenient, Revolutionary “THE VEGERATOR”

Easy to See - The frequently used vegetable case is right at waist height, so you can see all the way to the back.

Easy to Get - You can reach the food inside while standing straight up. It’s easy to get even heavy or bulky foods in and out

Easy to Arrange - You can do everything in a natural posture, with no bending down. This makes it more efficient to use while cooking.

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Our washing machine from whirlpool had a standard service done under the AMC today. At the end of the service the service man introduced a product from whirlpool - A defrost timer.

Image courtesy : whirlpoolindia.com

So what is this device? We all know that defrosting a fridge involves shutting the compressor off for a period of an hour or so. (depends on the brand and the settings). The red button for defrost is a timed switch which turns the compressor off and back on at the end of the pre-defined timeout.

This is a good thing but requires manual intervention. Most of us forget to defrost the fridge and end up seeing layers of ice in our freezer. This is actually not good for the fridge. Ofcourse this is applicable only to Direct Cooling fridges and not the frost free ones.

So this device, sits in-between the mains and your fridge. Every 8 hours, it shuts the supply to the fridge off and turns it back on. It is not clear how long the fridge stays off though.

The features are given here from the website:

• Pleasure of Frost Free in Dc
• Power Saver
• Auto defrost after every 8 hours
• Hassle free installation
• 1 year warranty

The price as mentioned on the website is Rs. 800/-

One thing strange here is that the technician mentioned it has a 6 month warranty whereas the website says it has one year warranty. Not sure who is correct!

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Well the lamp in the picture above  is the new one. Our fridge is about 6 years old and the bulb inside gave away recently. So I set upon the task  to replace it myself. The bulb is enclosed by a clear plastic case. This protects the bulb from objects and also from water which can develop inside the fridge.

Once the plastic case is removed, the bulb can be unscrewed just like the typical Indian incandescent bulb. Push inwards and twist it out anti-clockwise. The area were the bulb fits into the holder is covered with rubber to avoid water from getting into the socket.

The bulb inside is called “practitone” and is manufactured by Philips in India. The cost if the bulb is 17 rupees in Chennai. It should be easily available in electrical stores. Please note that this bulb is not common across all refrigerator models. Our fridge is from Godrej. Direct cooling type.

This is what the bulb looks like. This one ofcourse is the blown one. To replace it, you have to push it into the socket and screw it clockwise and release it.

The bulb is also called as “pygmy lamp” probably because of its shape. The same model is used in kitchen chimneys which illuminate the hob area.

In case you need details about the bulb you can reach Philips at :

1860-180-1111 (BSNL/MTNL only)

or

011-6600-1111

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Williams bough this fridge about a week back and we wanted to cover it on aavaas. The main criteria for Williams was that he didn’t want a big unit. He is a single guy and his requirements are very limited. The main use for the fridge would be to store beverages, some bakery items and cold water. So purchasing a standard 160 0r 180 litres model would not have made any sense. Also the space constraints at his place prompted him to look for a small model.  

Image Courtesy : .videoconworld.com

Surprisingly, in India, there are only two companies which make sub 100 litre models. One is Videocon and the other is Haier. The former is easily available though.

We purchased the unit at NEXT shop at Usman Road in T-Nagar. The unit cost was close to 6000 rupees if I am not mistaken and the special offer gave us a steam iron from an unknown brand along with the unit - FREE.

This is the address of the shop:

Address  : New No.50 , Old No.39 , South Usman Road , T.Nagar , Chennai - 600017 - Tamil Nadu
Contact No  : 044-32972768
Email  : tnagar.retail@next.co.in

Specifications of the fridge

Model No. S-091DX
Capacity (L) 80
Door Finish: Stainless Steel Grey
Colours: Stainless Steel Grey
Door Handle: Recessed
Door Emboss: No
Freezer Door: Transperant
Lock: No
Chiller Room: Yes
Ice Trays: 2
Shelves: Wire shelves, 1 nos.
Crisper cover: Glass
Crisper Box: Transperant
Bottle Rack: Yes
Egg Tray: Yes
Utility Tray: Opaque
Water Dispenser: No
Table Top: Yes
Humidity Control knob: No
Special Refrigerator Mount: No
Dimensions (W X D X H) in mm : 437 x 530 x 777
Net Weight (in kg): 25

Review

The unit is not an excellent value for money. For about 2000 rupees more you can get a standard 160 litres fridge. The space inside is not that great either. We will try to post some pictures of the interior later on. The bottle rack can hold only one litre bottles and that too only 3 at the most. The bigger bottles such as 1.5 and 2 litres are impossible to accommodate inside.

The unit only came with one ice tray than the two which is mentioned on the website. The cooling of the unit is ok. It has an inbuilt voltage stabilizer. So there is no need for a separate one. The compressor is visible from the behind and there is plenty of gap at the back. This could be a great place for pests if you are not careful.

There is a small cooling adjusting knob inside the fridge which allows you to select your preference. In the centre there is a defrost button (red color) which would shut the compressor off and thaw the ice which has formed in the freezer compartment.

The quality of plastics inside is average and could have been more solid. There is also a dedicated egg shelf. I think it can hold around 6 eggs. There is also a small vegetable tray available.

The unit has an energy efficient compressor. It operates between 135 V to 145 V hereby consuming less power and better energy efficiency ratio.

The unit has a 6 year warranty.

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This post comes from real experience at home. About a week back, we started getting a real bad smell in our living room/dining room. We were really not sure what the issue was. We tried to mop the floor with fragrant oils, left the windows open so that fresh air could come in, and even cleaned the washbasins and kitchen sinks. Nothing seemed to work at all.

First we thought that maybe some organic matter has got lodged in the sink so we tried to use Drainex to flush it out too. This also had no real effects. Finally we suspected the fridge and realized that this maybe the problem. We were unable to see or solve the issue.

We cleaned the interiors of the fridge and left it without powering on for a couple of hours. But when we switched it back on, the smell returned. Giving up on self remedies, we called the Godrej mechanics. Our fridge is nearly 5 years old and is the regular (non frost-free) model.

The mechanic opened the rear portion of the fridge where there is a tray to collect water from the chiller tray. Since only water is supposed to accumulate in this tray, it is not accessible to users. The tray is designed in such a way that its proximity to the coils of the fridge dries up the water that collects in it.

In our case, what had happened was that one of the milk packets leaked and drained completely into this tray. The temperature differences spoilt the milk which caused all sorts of smells to emanate from the fridge.

The mechanic cleaned the tray thoroughly and we are now able to use it normally.

The take away from this post is:

• Regularly defrost your fridge if it is not a frost-free model.
• Avoid keeping milk packets in the chiller tray and check them for leakage prior to storing.

Interested people can also take annual maintenance contracts (AMC) for their refrigerators.

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