Keeping Cool (Lec Silverline T 2125)

Member Name:

Product:	Lec Silverline T 2125
Date:	28/04/01 (174 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Big enough for 3

Disadvantages: Dodgy spot welding on thermocouple

Some ten years ago when moving house I decided that the old fridge with the tiny little icebox compartment had to go and it did. In its place, in the ‘new’ house, I installed a Lec Silverline fridge/freezer model T2125. With just myself and my son to cater for, (the three girls had gone off and got married) this unit was just about the right size and at £200 was also at the right price.

The only other consideration was the space into which it would fit but at 20 inches wide and 21 inches deep the vacant gap in the kitchen was more than large enough to accommodate it, taking into account that the rear of the unit had to be at least two inches clear of the wall to let the ‘element’ cool without restriction. The makers thoughtfully supplied a spacer to fit to the back of the fridge to ensure that it would not be pushed too close to the wall. The house builders had also thoughtfully supplied a mains socket in the space, which must be a first for Council property.

Another thoughtful attribute of this fridge/freezer is that the booklet gives comprehensive instructions on how to re-hang the door to open the other way should a customer need a unit where the doors can only open to either left or right.

The four star fridge/freezer stands four feet tall with the top section, slightly smaller than the bottom section, comprising of the freezer bit with its own door and a shelf dividing the 2.25 cu ft area into two. There are two drop down plastic doors inside that help to keep the cold in when the main door is opened so icing up inside is reduced. The booklet claims that it will take about 15 lbs of frozen food. I never weighed what I put in but it swallows more than a week’s supply of frozen foods for three people, with a bit of room to spare. The freezer door closes firmly and the rubber seal makes it airtight.

The bottom section has two heavy-duty, plastic covered wire shelves, the top one of which has an egg
tray for twelve eggs. The salad box at the bottom is large enough to fit three or four large lettuces in it and in the inside top of door there is a tray where I can keep three packets of butter and underneath there is room for five bottles of milk at a push. All this extra weight doesn’t unbalance the door and it shuts as tightly as if the door was empty.

With the temperature control set to between 3 and 5 the fridge will de-frost itself when and as necessary and without human intervention. De-frosting the freezer section is a man’s job and to avoid the melted ice seeping down into the fridge section I place a couple of towels in the bottom of the freezer bit to soak up the water. The booklet tells me that there is a bung in the roof of the fridge compartment, which if removed will allow the water to flow into a strategically placed container. They told me but they forgot to tell the manufacturer, as there isn’t one, which is why I put towels in to soak up the water. To help things along a lot I place a bowl of boiling water in the compartment and shut the door. Naturally I will have switched the fridge off and pulled the plug and removed all the food from both sections before doing so.

So far it was too good to be true and sure enough one evening after about 18 months the motor stopped and refused to re-start. However, being electrically orientated I traced the problem to a thermocouple fitted to the motor. One electrical contact had been spot welded to the body of the thermocouple, as is the normal practice, but the motor vibration such as it was, had eventually broken the weld and thus the circuit. To cut a very long story short I was able to get a replacement from a service engineer who lived in the next town but in re-fitting the wire, the terminal also came away in my hands. I soldered it back in place and for the next 9 years the fridge has run trouble free and is still doing so. So much for factory spot welding.

>So apart from a shoddy thermocouple this fridge/freezer has served me well for more than ten years and I can see it lasting me out until my day of judgment, the world ends, aliens land and eat us etc. etc. etc.

O.K. So the cynic in me suggests that the makers know full well that the spot weld will come adrift after time but will not improve on it because with the rest of the unit being so reliable their service engineers would have nothing to do. Why else would the guy that I saw have a box full of these tiny units? £30 callout charge plus an hour to fix the problem, at least £20, plus the cost of the thermocouple, £15 and you don’t get much change out of £100.

To minimise the need to de-frost the freezer bit, don’t stand with the door open trying to make your mind up on what to take out. Even with the inside doors closed the warm, damp air from the kitchen will get in and turn to frost on the inside walls and could even build up and prevent the door from closing properly, thus allowing more warm, damp air in. It is better to take that extra second to make sure that the door is closed fully.

It is not advisable to place things on top of the unit because if you do you will find a build-up of condensation between the top of the fridge/freezer and the bottom of the item stood on top.

Summary: