Mini fridge issues

Taiwan Living in Taiwan
1

I don’t have much experience with mini fridges but since they are apparently the most commonly included fridge here in studio apartments, I’m hoping some mini fridge veterans here could give me their feedback.

The one I have is Kolin brand, separate fridge and freezer compartment, 85 cm tall. The fridge was one of my concerns about this apartment, since all the apartments I’d seen in the same price range had newer larger size fridges which are obviously more convenient for long-term rental. But everything else about this apartment was better, so I figured I’d make do with the small fridge. Another thing to note about this fridge: it is obviously very old - very dirty and worn looking.

Now that I have actually started using the fridge, I’ve become aware of a number of issues:

back of fridge (not freezer compartment, fridge itself) is constantly covered with ice which builds up progressively over time. I have manually defrosted the fridge twice - but the ice layer comes back within a few hours of starting up the fridge again. Any food item too close to/touching the back of the fridge freezes.

Temperature throughout fridge seems uneven. I can’t quite figure out why, but when I take stuff out, some stuff seems properly cooled, other stuff semi-cool or slightly warm depending on location in fridge. Stuff stored on the right side seems cool, stuff on the left side more warm. Anything I place in the produce drawer at the bottom comes out feeling only semi-cool.

This is the case despite the fact I now have the dial turned to the maximum cool setting (7). Any temp on the dial less than 7 just makes the above issues more noticeable.

Is this just par for the course for a mini fridge? I ran it by a friend I talked to back home, who told me mini fridges are not really meant for storing food in homes. Their best use is as an amenity in hotel rooms, to offer guests drinks during a short stay - but they have too many limitations to be used as an actual fridge in a long term accommodation.

This is a bit of a predicament for me because I signed a year lease for this place and I’m not going to eat out all the time, I actually prefer to prepare my own meals - so I need to be able to store food.

Do you guys agree with my friend? Have your mini fridges had similar issues and limitations? Or is it possible this fridge is just too old and is failing and needs to be replaced?

If there are things I’ve described here that you specifically know shouldn’t be happening with a properly functioning mini fridge, I’d appreciate your pointing them out, so I can list these when requesting a replacement from the landlord.

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The dorm fridge may not be the most efficient piece of equipment for food storage, hence the cost of purchase. The ice build up in the back is most likely due to opening and closing in a humid environment. Put calibrated thermometers in different zones and be sure your perishable foods are stored under 41 F.

If the temperature exceeds 41, pack the fridge with Taiwan beer and buy a better unit.

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If you rented through an agent, time for them to earn their fee. Otherwise, see if the landlord is amenable

If not, consider getting yourself the fridge you want. If the one you have now is old and not working properly, that impacts the electric bill. You can sell it when you go

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There was an agent who showed me the apartment, but the agent is out of the picture. Is there some way she could help with the fridge issue if I contact her?

I did express concerns about the fridge to the landlord when I first arrived, because I saw there was massive ice build up on the back of the fridge. She sent out a handyman (her nephew) who turned the fridge down to “2” and he said the fridge was meant to be kept on ‘2 or 3’ so ice did not build up. Well, I tried that, and there’s no way this fridge is meant to be kept on 2 or 3 - on 2 or 3 I end up with a fridge full of warm food.

That’s a really good point about the electric bill. My first bill seemed puzzlingly high.

I will try to talk to the landlord about this again, describing all the issues with the fridge.

If I need to buy my own, where do you recommend looking for the best price? And how would I sell it on leaving? What are the best places for listing used appliances for sale?

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We got new one for the office at DOLLARS Mega store (B1) at about NT$4,000, its on Minzhu Road, near Wenzhou Uni, not far from Bullet train station

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Did she take a fee?

Old appliances. Is the rent very low?

I would buy new from Carrefour, maybe Facebook Market but probably not. Sell on Forumosa or Facebook

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I hate mini fridges and they all have issue with freezing. Ones I had last time even have condensation around the door during humid days. This tells me that it’s poorly insulated. I got a larger fridge and got rid of the mini fridge. If you’re buying new buy ones with better efficiency rating because they tend to have shit efficiency. Only real way to fix this is that the fridge needs to shut off every 3 hours or so, and reverse the refrigerant flow to turn it into a heat pump while turning off the blower, in order to thaw the coil out.

The one I used to have must be manually defrosted by cleaning it out completely, remove the back panel in the freezer compartment to expose the coils, and thaw it out manually with a blow dryer. The coil becomes encased in a block of ice and the entire fridge ends up warm even at the highest setting.

Also check inside the fridge compartment for an adjustment which adjusts the baffle. This doesn’t affect the thermostat at all but reduces the amount of cold air that makes it into the fridge compartment.

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Yes the agent took a fee, but my understanding it was just for “finding” the apartment? (although actually I found it, online, so really she just helped the landlord list it/show it). She didn’t say she could help with anything after the contract was signed, which was about 1 1/2 months ago. Are agents supposed to help with things like getting an old appliance fixed? My Taiwanese friend actually did contact her on Line to tell her about the fridge early on, but she said “you can talk to the landlord about that” - not offering to help.

In my opinion the rent is not low, much more than I intended to pay on arriving, but it’s in Da’an, and it was very difficult to find a decent place here for a decent price - 27k/mo.

My basic impression is the landlord simply doesn’t maintain the apartment, and is perhaps reluctant to put any money into that she doesn’t have to (?) so there are a number of problems here, of which the fridge is one of them (to give you an idea of the state of the place: two of the aircon remotes are broken, the aircon units are dirty, and one aircon unit is making noises).

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thanks for the suggestion. what kind of fridge did you get for 4k? that seems very reasonable, although from what I’m reading here it may better not to get another mini fridge but something a little better!

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Why did she take a fee to rent you a broken fridge? You contacted the landlord as she asked, problem wasn’t solved.

You’re paying to rent an apartment with a refrigerator, so there is that money

Nobody will want to somve this problem for you. You can try to push them to solve it, or you can buy a new fridge

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If you need frozen items, this one for bit more might be good (i use this brand at my home here for full size 2m tall one, works good less power
this is mini one for 6,000

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My freezer often freezes over too, I just empty it and drag it into the shower and blast it for 5 mins LOL

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My mini fridge has the same issue of ice freezing up top ever since I bought it new. I think it is because the cooling components up top has to cool the whole fridge. So when the setting is too high then it continues to cool eventually causing things to ice up. So turning the setting down would solve the issue. Just keep stuff that needs to be colder up top or just let it ice up.

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I checked inside and didn’t see any other adjustment except the temperature dial.

I have manually defrosted the fridge a couple of times, but the back is covered with ice again within a few hours of resuming operation.

have your mini fridges also had the other issues I listed above?

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I don’t have that mini fridge anymore so I can only go off what I remembered.

Basically the fridge would work fine for about 15 days or so, and then all the compartments would be warm. Upon opening the back of the freezer (where all the coils and fans are) they are encased in a block of ice. I would use a blow dryer to defrost it and it would return to normal. But in 15 days it would be encased in a block of ice again. It was annoying as fuck.

What I mean is, both the freezer compartment and the fridge compartment should have some kind of adjustment dial on it. The one in the freezer compartment should control the cold in the freezer, and the one in the fridge would adjust the baffle. I guess you could also manually block the vents in the fridge compartment so it doesn’t freeze your food.

But honestly I’d just be done with this shit and get a better fridge.

Ask the landlord if he wants to fix it, if not throw that fridge away or sell it to someone else.

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I wanted to add a follow-up to this post in case anyone else out there having minifridge issues comes across this one day and can benefit from my experience.

After two months of my bringing this up to the landlady, there was FINALLY a resolution to this problem. The landlady spent a really long time gaslighting me before doing anything, and she didn’t replace the fridge with a new one, but here’s what she did do: she had the fridge replaced with another fridge from another apartment of hers (now empty). Though the replacement fridge isn’t new, it’s only a year old, and in very good shape.

I immediately saw a huge difference: everything in the replacement fridge is properly cold, and temperatures are even throughout the fridge. I’m no longer having an issue with some things feeling only semi-cold or semi-warm depending on where they were stored in the fridge. So it’s clear the other fridge was failing, probably due to a faulty thermostat, but because the landlady didn’t want to deal with it, she tried to make me into the problem rather than the fridge.

So if you face a similar issue I’d say trust your gut and don’t give up. If you think your fridge isn’t working properly it probably isn’t. If your landlord stonewalls you and won’t budge, at least get a repairman in to look at the fridge yourself; then you’ll have a report from a professional to give them. I did contact the manufacturer and found out it would only cost me $300 NTD to have them come out and diagnose the issue, but fortunately the landlady finally gave in and I didn’t end up needing to do that.

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At least this update should prove useful for your landlady’s next tenant when he shows up to report that your shitty old mini fridge still isn’t working now it’s been moved to that apartment. :sweat_smile:

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lol, funny you should say that I was just thinking the same thing myself. All they did was kick the can down the road basically, since whoever moves into the unit next door is now going to be facing the same problem I did! I guess she probably won’t rent to foreigners anymore, though, after her experience with me. She’s probably hoping to get a local in who “won’t complain” and will just put up with it. The last thing she said to me was: I’ve done my best now, I can’t deal with any more problems; if there are any more problems I think you need to move out and find a new place to live.

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