Time To Get A New Freezer.

[okey kokey]

Ive been looking at getting a New fridge / freezer and noticed on the freezer door, there is always a badge showing 3 stars, can any one tell me what the star system means, is it the more stars the longer you can keep some thing in the freezer...?

thanks .....

[sbk]

Believe the stars have to do with the energy rating.

[okey kokey]

Thanks sbk, ive just had a look at our friends freezer and they are not stars but look like snow flakes ...? could this be some thing to do with the freezer rating...? and how cold the freezer gets...?

Thanks......

[sbk]

That one I don't know, never seen snowflakes on the freezers we have bought. The star rating has to do with how much energy the appliance uses.

[Crossy]

The 'snowflake' symbols are the freezer rating, a pukka freezer will have four stars(three one colour and the fourth inverted). Unfortunately they are not always shown

The snowflakes are supposed to tie up with similar symbols on frozen food packaging, to determine how long you can keep the item. I think these symbols are only widely used on European appliances.

There is often an energy rating label as well indicating how much power the appliance uses.

Edited September 24, 2005 by Crossy

[Tywais]

I believe sbk is correct. My frig has 5 bars 1-5 and written in Thai says 1=low, 2=below average, 3=middle, 4=good and 5=very good. Further down it indicates it is the efficiency (energy rating). Each manufacturer has their own grading scheme but has nothing to do with how cold it gets but how efficiently it uses electricity. Similar to the "green ratings" in the US.

I have an Electrolux frost-free two door frig with separate cooling controls in the freezer and the main compartment. The freezer is very cold indeed at only the half way setting of the control.

[Thetyim]

I think sbk is correct, something to do with efficiency.

Are we all talking about the same symbol system because the same symbols also appear on an aircon unit

Edited September 24, 2005 by Thetyim

[chownah]

I googled for "freezer ratings" (am I creative or what?) and found this site:

http://www.searchappliance.co.uk/Help/helprefrigeration.htm

which contained this:

Freezer Star Rating

Manufacturers use a 1 to 4 star system to grade refrigeration units:

**** (-18ฐC and colder) Will freeze fresh food from room temperature and keep pre-frozen products from 3 to 12 months.

*** (-18ฐC) Will keep pre-frozen products for up to three to twelve months

** (-12ฐC) Will store pre-frozen food for a month

* (-6ฐC) Pre-frozen food can be kept for just a week.

Fridges with freezer boxes are likely to be * or **. Freezers will be *** or ****. Remember if you want to freeze fresh food you NEEDa ****. Go for as many stars as possible, preferably 4 star.

[sbk]

Yeah, but okey kokey said these weren't stars, they were snowflakes, what the heck is that then?

[Thetyim]

Yeah, but okey kokey said these weren't stars, they were snowflakes, what the heck is that then?

It's a star that has been in the icebox for a week

[chownah]

I googled for "is a star the same as a snowflake when considering freezer ratings" (is my creativity boundless or what?) and found this link:

http://www.clasponline.org/files/Road_Map_Harmonization.pdf

Which contained this:

Freezer Compartment Temperature - India /

Lanka procedures use -15C (same as AUS/NZ),

while ISO uses -6C, -12C or -18C (snowflake).

then I googled "freezer rating iso snowflake" (breaking arm while patting self on back) and found this site:

http://www.energyrating.gov.au/rf4.html

Which contained this:

( The International Standards Organisation `star' (snowflake) marking scheme, the purpose of which is to indicate the freezing capability of the freezer compartment(s), is not used in Australia or New Zealand. It should be noted the International Standards Organisation `star' scheme is unrelated to the energy labelling scheme in Australia which uses `star' as a measure of the relative energy efficiency of the appliance.