Tales of the unexpected.

[andyjawa]

Tales of the unexpected.
This might cause controversy as to a choice for 2 folks with no kids who either are pretty skint or who are anything but skint but refuse to pay over the odds for something very flash and mega expensive to impress the neighbours perhaps as a lesson in object snobbery; that`s so sad and yet so true. But quickly moving on.
Curry`s model CUL55W20 is a freestanding larder fridge size 84.5 X 55.3 X 58.4 ( H. W. D.). I31Litres of Chinese made wonderfulness and is currently 139 quid. A bargain, el mucho cheapness for an under the counter fridge, with a 1 year warranty. Just for fun I looked Statesman brand model L255 (also made in China, also freestanding) as the Curry`s fridge seemed kinda very familiar as I have that Statesman model and it cost me 220 quid (but with 2 years warranty which, least after 6 months since I bought the thing seems to do what a fridge should do sans problems). Bottom line is, turns out it is the same fridge. A quick bit of very basic arithmetic = a difference of £81 between those 2 retail prices. Spoiler Alert: and you`ll get change from that to go towards paying the outrageous utility bill. So let`s see what extended warranty plan you can get for £81 from Mr Curry`s. Turns out a lot! 1 year plan = 18 quid for one year, 2 years £35, and 5 years costs £45. Looks as though I bought my fridge and paid too much…..curses, dang and blast and very much not like me, I must be slipping but I`m still going to do the Great British Leftist thing and blame everyone else! Too much in a rush when I moved house though not having the internet at the time didn`t help as my defence otherwise I`d bought the Curry`s creation.
Thought I`d better then check out my Statesman freezer model U355W (2 years warranty) which cost me 215 quid against the Curry`s freezer CUF55W19 (83litres, 84.5 X 55.5 X 57.5 – H. W. D.) which currently costs…………£119…nooooooooooo! (discounted from 149 quid). That is the same freezer too.
Sometimes, in life, when passing a mirror and catching that manly white haired full bearded handsome reflection (good grief) all one sees is two large pointed ears, a straw hat and a carrot in the gob! Haven`t slept well for 2 nights running.
One lives and learns.

[andyjawa]

Update: Freezer Curry`s essentials CUF55W19 seems to have been discontinued as noticed on 19/09/2023. If you go to Argos site and look up Bush NE5585UCFR (for completeness sake: £179, it has a 1 yr warranty but with cheap insurance to extend if you wanted to) you will now find it which is the same as the Statesman U355W (2 year warranty as standard was £220 now seen at £270 – yeeks, that`s inflation for you!) with of a very small cosmetic difference to the door handle area – which is neither here or there – as I only noticed because I bought the Bush as a 2nd freezer.

[andyjawa]

Even more updates: the Statesman larder fridge that I bought in March 2023 has failed me, and having handed it my revolver, it knows what it must now do!
Noticed that it has been serverely icing up whether the stat set on 4 or 1 and a bit. It is not the stat at fault as it cyles on /off as you would expect, neither has the thing got a defrost heater to fail least via the wiring diagram. Bit of a strange fault the way it has nucked itself. Anyway, the thing is being exchanged next week so we`ll see how things pan out from there with the new one. I mean how difficult should this be? It is a simple larder fridge with no whiff of a pcb to screw up and yet it has.

[andyjawa]

24/07/24. Ref 27/09/23 post. the new replacement Statesman Fridge that was exchanged. Well the newly exchanged fridge is also freezing up exactly the same as the first one so there is obviously a design problem there or perhaps it is the t/stat after all and both were fitted with the wrong stats which could mean the whole imported lot are.
So I`m now, apart from making myself look like a total jerk – it happens but luckily not that often(
?) no further forward BUT I`m not going to lose sleep over it and continue to defrost the contraption every 5 weeks which, thinking about it, I would`ve had to have done if I`d bought the other version with the ice box which gives me the impression there has been a mix up of stats or perhaps phial sensor lengths not reaching within the liner far enough to control the hidden evaporator pipe work. And so to try to cure this problem because I`m too busy elsewhere juggling my charity volunteering and archaeology stuff to get it exchanged again is to e-mail Statesman and see if there has been a cure for the machine meantime such as like a new stat. Probably will not get much of a reply and if not I`ll update. And if so I`ll replace the stat myself with a Ranco VXO larder stat and see what happens and update that too.

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