We were all ready for Chrismas. Got the ham, check; prawns, check; chicken, check; beer, check; wine, check, salads, check; ice cream, check etc etc etc.
Went to the fridge first thing Christmas Eve morning and uh oh, not very cold at all. Crap!!!
Every now and then in hot humid weather, our stupid fridge builds up ice between the freezer and the fridge section which stops the cold air getting into the fridge and our first guess is that this is what has happened.
So after we had all had breakfast, we emptied out the freezer and took everything in it down to my old green beer fridge and spent the next hour or so defrosting the freezer and in particular, the channel into the fridge, herein after called the white fridge.
When we were certain we had it completely clear, turned it back on, stuck a thermometer into where the cold air came into the fridge and waited, and waited. The thermometer got down to 14c and there it stayed. Obviously it was something more than just ice build up.
So after lunch and a few thought provoking ales, we decided that the only thing to do was to bring the old green beer fridge (much much smaller) upstairs somehow try to fit everything into it.
So John and I carried it upstairs past the more unglamorous side of the house and we set it up inside. Sonia then insisted on cleaning it (ye gods woman!!!) and we turned it on.
We had a couple of beers as thanks to our sterling efforts of not dropping it at any point and while we waited for it to get cold.
After a while we checked it and bloody hell, no cooling at all. Had a close listen and the motor wasn't running (it had been earlier). Shit!!! Did the Microsoft thing and turned it off and turned it on a couple of times - nothing. Cursed it using all of the known words as well as a few more we invented - still nothing. Crap!!! We are in deep poo poos. I blamed it all on Sonia for cleaning it.
Had another beer while we contemplated our next move and to stop the beer from getting warm. It was now about 4pm and we had spent the whole day buggerising around with fridges.
The best thing we could come up with was to give the old fridge a good kick and just as I was about to deliver the fateful blow, what's that? The beautiful hum of a compressor. Yeah!!! The temperature has dropped. Yeah!!!!! There's life in the old girl yet.
So we decided on another drink before we started trying to fit everything into the smaller fridge. John and I grabbed a beer and Sonia went to the white fridge in the kitchen to get a bottle of water. She brought it back, held it out and said "Have a look at this". The water was partly frozen. During the course of the day, the white fridge had decided to get its act together and was now working. We didn't know whether to laugh or to cry. In the end we just had another beer to celebrate.
Unfortunately, that was not the end of the drama. At about 8pm, we suddenly lost power. More cursing. Checked the neighbourhood and we were the only ones affected. Went to the switchboard and the main circuit breaker had been tripped. Turned the mains switch back on and held my breath. Everything fine.
A few minutes later, we lost power again. Is the old green fridge having one last shot at us? Turned it off at the wall and turned the mains on again. All fine.
A few minutes later, power gone again. Yeah!!! It's not the fridge.
And then in one of those insightful moments that only comes after quite a few beers, I realised that the first power drop out came after I had turned on our dazzling lighting display out front (best/only lights in the street) and that one of those displays was a very old Santa that blows up into all his happy jolliness by way of an electric fan. Turned Santa off, turned the mains switch back on and waited, and waited and. . . . .Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelu-u-ujah.
You will be pleased to know that the rest of the evening was uneventful. Poor old Santa has now been retired, in disgrace.
New Year's Eve--we're at our son's house and Christmas music is playing through their Amazon Echo. Alexa does as she is told. Two rotisseries are going for the crowd, turning pork roasts. Suddenly, Alexa stops and won't respond. It turns out two rotisseries were too much and the next day a plug-in needed to be completely replaced. Lap of luxury we're in these day!
Calamitous situation avoided after a stressful period of time and one or two choice words, sanity and electricity restored in the nick of time, thanks for sharing your story Terry, all's well that ends well:)
wow that was such a fine tale, I enjoyed living every moment of it with you - having grown up in Brisbane (and now don't live far south of you) and having owned many and various old fridges and done the fridge dance on the eve of important occasions before, it was like a half memory to hear your tale.
goodbye santa, long live the fridges and drinkies!!!!!!!
Bloody Santa, he created havoc here on Christmas Day too.
A friend came to our house on Christmas morning and during the conversation mentioned that huge tree branches were down round the corner blocking part of the road. When he got home he phoned and said it was our tree. Our house is a corner block so we didn't notice the branches.
Bloody Santa must have clipped the tree on his way down on Christmas Eve. Must have had too many sherries and beers on his travels. Either that, or it was the storm causing the damage.
So we spent Christmas Day morning playing with the chain saw and chopping down the two huge branches. good news is we have got lots more wood now when winter arrives.
@terryliv Your beer fridge looks like a Kelvinator by the door handles.Have had 2 die here.Caravan refrig replaced (3 way) and beer refrig which was a fisher paykel which they gave me 20 years ago as a loan refrig.I tried them for wty but they said as it was s/h when they gave it to me wty was declined !!lol The basic test when something is tripping cct breaker is to unplug everything and then reconnect one after another until culprit is found. Sounds like your main refrig has a defrost problem or blockage in drain not allowing the defrost water to get away.
@peterlgrave I did think about phoning you to see if you Christmas Eve callouts Peter. LOL
Yep, its a Kelvinator 380, purchased in Feb 1974. I know that because we went under in the 74 floods and this was the new fridge we purchased afterwards. It has been moved to various places many many times. At one time, one of Rohan's girl friends had it and it got painted green. She returned it after she left Bris. It can sit downstairs turned off for years on end but when we need it, turn it on and off it goes. Except Christmas eve. In hindsight, I think it needed to just sit for a while to let the gas settle down before turning it back on.
They definitely do,nt make them like that any more.We got a 230ltr kelvinator delivered yesterday to replace beer refrig (made in Thailand) and it has a 2 year wty, 1 door shelf ,you buy the extra shelf if you want it.I could lift it off the ground and even though i used to handle the kelvinator 380 & 480ltr on my own i definitely couldn,t lift it off the ground !!!
Talk about long stories, man. I've got an Aussie friend who hates them. I hope he never reads THIS story. He'd have hated it. All that detail when all anyone really wants to know is did you manage to save the beer? And was it still cold? Glad you enjoyed the holiday at home with your family. It was a fun story anyway. I was right there with you, all the way.
What a great tale! I enjoyed the adventure and glad you had enough ale on hand and thankfully, didn't let it get too warm! Then to top the situation with blown fuses?! OMG - funny now - not then I'm sure. Naughty Santa!
That is one big beer fridge. Fabulous tale, Gary had a call out to a woman who locked the cooked Turkey in the car boot on Christmas day, but that pales into insignificance after hearing your woes.:)
January 4th, 2018
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goodbye santa, long live the fridges and drinkies!!!!!!!
Bloody Santa, he created havoc here on Christmas Day too.
A friend came to our house on Christmas morning and during the conversation mentioned that huge tree branches were down round the corner blocking part of the road. When he got home he phoned and said it was our tree. Our house is a corner block so we didn't notice the branches.
Bloody Santa must have clipped the tree on his way down on Christmas Eve. Must have had too many sherries and beers on his travels. Either that, or it was the storm causing the damage.
So we spent Christmas Day morning playing with the chain saw and chopping down the two huge branches. good news is we have got lots more wood now when winter arrives.
Yep, its a Kelvinator 380, purchased in Feb 1974. I know that because we went under in the 74 floods and this was the new fridge we purchased afterwards. It has been moved to various places many many times. At one time, one of Rohan's girl friends had it and it got painted green. She returned it after she left Bris. It can sit downstairs turned off for years on end but when we need it, turn it on and off it goes. Except Christmas eve. In hindsight, I think it needed to just sit for a while to let the gas settle down before turning it back on.