Fridgemate info

THERE WAS A BLOKE IN NERANG, QLD THAT WAS FIXING THESE FRIDGES BUT FROM PAST EXPERIENCE WITH THEM AND KNOWING THE FINAL PROBLEMS BEFORE THE COMPANY WENT BELLY UP, I WOULD USE IT FOR A ESKY. THE COMPRESSORS HAD PROBLEMS AND WERE FAR TOO SMALL FOR THE JOB. AT ONE STAGE YOU COULD BUY THESE FRIDGES BRAND NEW FROM HIM FOR $ 250 WITH NO WARRANTY OR HE WOULD MODIFY THE FAULTS FOR ANOTHER $150. I KNOW A BLOKE THAT WAS BUYING THEM AND MAKING A NICE PROFIT RESELLING THEM, KEPT ONE FOR HIS SELF AND IT BROKE DOWN ON THE FIRST TRIP. COMPRESSOR BLEW UP. I GOT CAUGHT TOO.

I bought one new- probably got about 40 hours use out of it (over a year or so) B4 it died.
Spoke to the guy in Nerang some time ago- he laughed at me and suggested I write it off....
Sorry, but you bought a DUD- hope you paid less than I did.
Save up for an EVAKOOL- they are brilliant.
Cheers

Mark,
I too was caught! I made up a lid from aluminium and polystyrene foam. Have a sheet of aluminium bent up 50mm all round and weld corners.Pop-rivet or weld lugs on the ends for the catches. Fill with a 50mm sheet of foam. Run some door seal ( sticky on one side) around the edge and you have a great little esky for about $25. The insulation is great.

Mal T.

Mark,

There seems to be a heap of stories about these FridgeMates, and few of them are good. I have one as well, and I have had it for about five years now, and it has (almost) always worked just fine for me.

Noisier than an Engel etc, nothing like as good a compressor and the lid is a pain to lug around.

However, it works for me.

The one problem I have had was just at Christmas when it wouldnt cool properly due to it losing 70% of its gas. I took it to Cory (the guy in Nerang) who rebuilt the whole compressor for $195 (I didn't want to take any chances) and it now works well.

I will dig out his contact number and you can give him a call. Be warned though, he likes to explain everything in some detail so you may be on the phone for a while!

Mark,

You can contact Cory on 07 5530 5800 or 07 5527 2787

The address is:

Unit 7
73 Lawrence Drive
Nerang
4211

I don't know what the flashing lights on the top means - probably that you have a short or a dry solder joint on the controller and nothing to do with the compressor at all.

I would view this as good news.

Call Cory as he is the expert. If you are in the area you should drop the fridge in to him. He charges $20 to do the initial diagnosis which isn't too bad.

Don't expect wonders though - these fridges are underpowered for the tropics and like anything, if they don't get their rest cycles then they can become unreliable.

Good luck.

Reading the various comments on the fridgemate, there's a bit of interesting history here, it may need confirmation but I'm pretty sure I'm right. The guy that owned "Fridgemate" and after it went belly up started selling the "Super Kool" fridges which eventually went South, well he's now one of the principle owners of "WAECO" Australia. I'm not sure what this all means but history has an uncanny way of repeating itself and the quality of his previous products leaves a lot to be desired.