But the price of air-cooled refrigerator ranges from cheap 2000 yuan to expensive 10000 yuan. Merchants also like to "sell themselves and boast". Many people don't know the difference between them, let alone how to buy an air-cooled refrigerator. My family changed three air-cooled refrigerators, compared the differences of different air-cooled refrigerators in detail, and summarized a lot of experience in purchasing. Today, I will tell you how I feel:
Air-cooled refrigerator
In the direct cooling refrigerator, the evaporator is placed next to the inner wall of the refrigerator. When the refrigerator is running, the surface temperature of the evaporator (the inner wall of the refrigerator) will become very low, and when the air in the refrigerator contacts the inner wall, the temperature in the refrigerator will drop.
But the water vapor in the refrigerator comes into contact with the inner wall of the refrigerator, and it will frost on the inner wall of the refrigerator when it is cold. After a long time, a thick layer of "ice" will form on the inner wall of the refrigerator, resulting in uneven temperature of the refrigerator and inaccurate temperature control (the low temperature near the evaporator affects the accuracy of temperature perception of the refrigerator).
The biggest difference between air-cooled refrigerator and direct-cooled refrigerator is that the evaporator will not cling to the wall of the cold box, and there will be a fan (small fan) near the evaporator. When the refrigerator is running, the fan rotates to accelerate the air flow, and "cold air" will be blown into the refrigerator through the air outlet.
Therefore, the inner wall of the air-cooled refrigerator will not frost, and cold air can be blown to all corners of the refrigerator through the fan, so that the temperature of the refrigerator is more uniform and the temperature control is more accurate.
The reason why the air-cooled refrigerator is called "frost-free refrigerator" does not mean that the air-cooled refrigerator does not frost, and its evaporator surface temperature is also very low, and the evaporator surface will still frost. However, when the surface of the evaporator is frosted to a certain extent, the compressor will start the "defrosting" function, and the surface temperature of the evaporator will rise, melting the frost attached to the surface of the evaporator and evaporating the final condensed water.
Disadvantages of air-cooled refrigerator
The air-cooled refrigerator does not frost, the temperature is uniform, and the temperature control is more accurate. However, due to the "limitation" of its working principle, the air-cooled refrigerator will have several major shortcomings:
Expensive (compared with direct cooling refrigerator); High maintenance cost (many parts, complex working conditions, easy to break down); Loud noise (noise generated by the rotation of the fan); High power consumption (when the fan rotates to defrost); Food stinks easily and bacteria spread easily (fans blow smells and bacteria into various greenhouses); Poor water retention (food is blown dry by the wind for a long time, water is lost) and so on.
How to choose an air-cooled refrigerator?
It is precisely because of these shortcomings that when purchasing air-cooled refrigerators, we should not only pay attention to the basis of purchasing refrigerators, but also take "how to solve the problems existing in air-cooled refrigerators" as the focus of purchasing:
I. Capacity (door type)
No matter what kind of refrigerator we buy, the first thing to pay attention to is the capacity (door style). There are single doors, double doors and three doors, as well as double doors (double doors, cross doors and T-doors) and multiple doors (French doors and Japanese doors). Air-cooled refrigerator, there is no single door, and there are few double doors, which are basically three doors or multiple doors facing each other.
Generally speaking, the style of the door determines the size and price of the refrigerator. The capacity of single-door, double-door and three-door refrigerators is generally 30L~300L, and single-door and double-door refrigerators can be bought for several hundred yuan, and three-door refrigerators cost one or two thousand yuan; The capacity of two-door and multi-door refrigerators is generally between 300 L and 600 L, ranging from two or three thousand yuan cheap to ten thousand yuan expensive.
When we buy refrigerators, we suggest considering the capacity (door type) from three aspects: the first is the economic budget; The second is the habit of use; The third is the installation conditions.
Second, quality.
The quality of air-cooled refrigerator mainly depends on two aspects, the first is the "core" of air-cooled refrigerator-compressor and fan, and the second is the shell, which together determine the service life of refrigerator.
The operation modes of air-cooled refrigerators, compressors and fans in the market are divided into frequency conversion and fixed frequency, and the price of frequency conversion is more expensive than that of fixed frequency. Compared with fixed-frequency compressor and fan, variable-frequency compressor and fan can adjust the operation algorithm according to the working condition of refrigerator, which has the advantages of low noise, energy saving and accurate temperature control.
In fact, one of the reasons why we choose a big brand refrigerator is that the big brand refrigerator has good manufacturing technology, good compressor performance, excellent application technology and stable and durable working conditions. When purchasing, it is recommended to identify the frequency conversion air-cooled refrigerator (which solves the shortcomings of high noise and high power consumption of air-cooled refrigerator to some extent).
The quality of refrigerator shell mainly includes two aspects: material and coating (surface treatment process), which jointly determine the durability and value of refrigerator. Good material shell and special coating and treatment technology make the refrigerator have better corrosion resistance, moisture resistance, antibacterial, heat resistance, heat dissipation, fingerprint prevention, easier cleaning and care, and higher value.
The shell material and technology of refrigerator are often determined by the grade (price) of refrigerator. The shell material of cheap refrigerator is generally plastic or low-end metal sheet. When purchasing, it is recommended to pay more attention to the shell material and technology of refrigerators (whether direct-cooled refrigerators or air-cooled refrigerators), such as high-end metal sheet metal, tempered glass and rock porcelain, with embossed, frosted and matte surfaces.
Third, the refrigeration cycle
As mentioned above, air-cooled refrigerators have a very big disadvantage-food tends to stink and dry. This is because the refrigeration system of the traditional air-cooled refrigerator is single cycle, each greenhouse uses a refrigeration system (a fan and an evaporator), and the air ducts of the refrigerating chamber and the freezing chamber are connected, so the cold air blown into the refrigerating chamber will also be blown into the freezing chamber, so there will be odor and rapid air drying.
However, if each greenhouse uses a refrigeration system independently, such as the fan and evaporator of the refrigerating room and the fan and evaporator of the freezing room, the temperature and refrigeration are controlled independently, and the cold air only circulates in a single greenhouse, then the problems of odor and quick air drying of the air-cooled refrigerator can be avoided.
This kind of air-cooled refrigerator with multiple fans and evaporators is called double cycle and triple cycle (multi-cycle) in the classification of refrigeration cycle system. Therefore, when we buy air-cooled refrigerators, we suggest that the refrigeration cycle system should be multi-cycle, so as to solve the problems of odor and excessive water loss of air-cooled refrigerators.
Fourth, the user experience.
The higher the parameter configuration of the refrigerator, the more additional functions and the higher the grade (more expensive), because it reflects the better performance of the refrigerator and can bring us a better use experience. Generally speaking, our experience is influenced by four aspects of refrigerator: noise value, power consumption (energy efficiency grade), control mode and additional functions.
The noise level of the refrigerator, of course, is as small as possible (especially for air-cooled refrigerators), and it is best to be below 40dB. If the noise of the refrigerator is too loud, when the compressor and fan of the refrigerator are running, the noise will interfere with our daily life, especially for families with refrigerators in the living room and dining room.
The power consumption of refrigerator is mainly affected by power, and this power is often related to the capacity of refrigerator. Although air-cooled refrigerators consume a lot of electricity, most air-cooled refrigerators in the market consume less than 1 kwh for 24 hours, and the difference is very small, so we don't need to pay too much attention when purchasing.
If there is a certain pursuit of energy-saving refrigerators, we should first pay attention to frequency conversion, and then identify the first-class energy efficiency.
Control mode of refrigerator, such as whether there is computer temperature control and touch screen control; For example, whether to support mobile phone control and realize intelligent interaction (entertainment, shopping, recipes) and so on. Refrigerators with these control methods can greatly improve our experience. When buying a refrigerator, it is recommended to choose from the budget and use requirements.
The additional function of refrigerator is the most important thing we need to pay attention to when purchasing refrigerators, especially air-cooled refrigerators. As mentioned above, the air-cooled refrigerator has the disadvantages of food odor, easy spread of bacteria, secondary pollution of food, easy air drying of food, rapid water loss and so on. These shortcomings can actually be solved by the additional functions of the refrigerator.
For example, the functions of odor purification, bacteriostasis, sterilization and antivirus can effectively solve the problem of odor and bacteria spreading and breeding in the refrigerator; For example, fresh-keeping and moisturizing functions and dry-wet storage functions, different technologies are applied to solve the problems of food drying and rapid water loss, and food is scientifically and reasonably refrigerated.