In for a penny...

...to save a pound in the long term.

Being a typical female I have been very, very grateful for my 320lt LG larger-than-the-undercounter bar-sized Defy fridge that we originally had here.

But, the LG was an 8-year-old fridge (B rated??) and it was chowing away at our stored solar power.  And it had a small freezer section with just enough space to hold a week or so's worth of food.  Plus, the fridge was always chockers - and needed re-arranging everytime I wanted to add something new to it's innards.  (Those damn half-full homemade sauce / jam / mustard bottles - they always take up so much space in a fridge, don't they?)

At the end of last summer I decided that I needed a freezer big enough to hold excess harvests from my garden.  It's just as well that I made that decision - as i found out 3 months ago that our local, and the only glass jar manufacturer in this country (Consol) has decided to stop making their preserving jars with the metal lid and metal ring seal!!!  What is wrong with them?

Anyway, I digress...  I have a chest freezer, but simultaneously adding the daily electrical consumption of a chest freezer to that of our old fridge would not be an ideal situation for our limited solar power.  It would effectively double up our power consumption.  Which we could handle in summer, but wouldn't be good in winter.

So, a-googling I went.

There are plenty of (expensive) imported A+ and even A++ fridges out there and which are actually available in South Africa.  But, I'm not looking to take out a bank loan.  Nor is RMan.

So, in April 2014 I wrote to the Defy manufacturer in Durban to find out if they had an A+ fridge.

Nope.

Nothing.

At that moment.

But, they were planning on releasing their latest model available from the end of September 2014.  And it was going to be an A+ model with a consumption of 484 KwH / year - roughly 133KwH / 24 hours.

Perfect.

I can wait.

I have patience.

Sometimes.

You cannot purchase directly from them (have they not heard of factory shops?) and have to purchase a Defy through a retail agent, and our closest one was the co-op in Swellendam.  I spoke to the lady in the kitchen appliances section and, after giving her the model number I had been supplied with by the manufacturing company, I asked her to please make a note in her diary and if she wouldn't mind contacting Defy closer to the time.

She did.

To make a very long story short (regarding Defy's web page and their displaying 3 models all with the same model number, but which are completely different fridges, one of which was ordered by the co-op, delivered to me, and swiftly returned the same day as incorrect) I finally, with the assistance of the Coastal Divisional Manager, received the correct fridge on Monday, 22 December 2014 - three weeks after I took delivery of the first incorrect fridge!!!  It seems none of their sales staff knew which was their latest model and which consumed 484kWh / year.  Hmmm....?

But, all's well that ends well.  It's a cracker :)

554 ltrs of
fridge and
freezer space :)

It uses only 1.33kWh / 24 hours compared to the old LG which used 2.1 kWh / 24 hours.  That gives us roughly an additional 800 watts - per day - to use on other things, or to be available during those dark, totally overcast winter days when the lights go on earlier and running the PC or laptop is required.

A+ rating with plenty of storage
 space

It's a beauty too :)

The old LG fridge freezer on the right
and the new Defy side-by-side A+ model
on the left.  I had hoped to get a white
model, but that will only be available
in February 2015.  I don't have that much
patience LOL so the stainless steel look
will have to do.

I have gained 120% more freezer space, and 98% more fridge space.  Nothing wrong with that, is there? :)

I have cleaned out the old LG, spruced it up, and it will be sold on - thereby recouping some of the cost (roughly a fifth) of the new Defy.  The chest freezer? We debated and came to the conclusion that we will keep it - just in case something goes wrong with the new fridge/freezer and it has to go in for repairs. I'd hate to have to throw away a whole bunch of (mainly frozen) food because I have nowhere to store it.  The chest freezer is in the garage, and is not in our way.

I was very chuffed, because it arrived in time to freeze the very last of the strawberries and youngberries, and will also hold home grown tomato puree ice cubes, and peppers, swiss chard, carrots and beans, etc for use when they are out of season.

Sometimes you have to spend a bit to save a bit in the long term.

Why?

Well, not only does this freezer now allow me to freeze a good portion of what I harvest, but this larger fridge / freezer will also make it possible for us to only have to go through to town once every 10 - 14 days, instead of every week, thereby saving on the fuel cost / transport footprint.

Happy days :)