Home Improvement Product Reviews

Basic and Utilitarian., November 16, 2009

By 

Gary Peterson (San Diego, California USA) – See all my reviews

  

Our refridgerater/freezer was somewhat small for our circumstances and we felt particularly short in the freezer part. So, when we were shopping in our local warehouse store we spotted this Frigidaire model and thought it might work. It was stark and utilitarian looking but we had a corner of the garage in mind for it’s residence and the looks were fine. It fit the spot perfectly, and that was more important. Plus, the price was very reasonable. What more could you ask?

We’ve now had our freezer for six months and it has worked perfectly. it’s quiet and efficient (it takes about worth of electricity per year). At present time it is storing six turkeys, purchased at .37 per pound, frozen lasagna and several packages of frozen beef and pork. We haven’t had to defrost as yet. We’re totally satisfied with the freezer and are looking forward to years of service.

Gary Peterson

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Best Buy for the Money, October 22, 2009

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B. Carmichael – See all my reviews

  

This freezer works great. It is exactly as depicted and is a perfect size for a smaller space. The first freezer was damaged in shipment, but the vendor, ABT, was extremely helpful and replaced the freezer without any problems. Their service is fantastic, and the people at the Customer Service Department are real professionals.

I would highly recommend this freezer for any size household. I bought the manual-defrost to save energy costs.

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nice freezer, December 9, 2011

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Dana R. Scharfenberg “just on time” (Bothell, WA) – See all my reviews

  

My only real complaint about this deep freeze is that it arrived dented on the top. Sometimes it hinders the lid from shutting properly. Make sure you inspect it before the delivery people leave! Otherwise, I like the design and size of this deep freezer.

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A WISE PURCHASE ON OUR PART. I HAVE NO COMPLAINTS WHAT-SO-EVER ABOUT THIS PRODUCT., January 29, 2012

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D. Blankenship (The Ozarks) – See all my reviews

  

  

  

  

I really cannot say enough good things about this particular freezer. We actually have two of these in our home and will soon be adding another. (More about that later). Right off the top though I want to tell you that when you consider the shipping charges on this model and the asking price here, you can probably do much better if you buy locally. If you have a truck or larger SUV you can easily carry this thing home and avoid delivery charges. Anyway…

We went the route of manual defrost as we have had automatic defrosting units in the past and to be quite frank, they, the automatic defrosting units will cause a significant rise in your electric bill. With these small units we have found that complete defrosting is quite avoidable if you simply take a nice and sturdy plastic scraper (like the one you use on your car windshield in the winder) and keep the frost build-up down every few weeks are so then the chore of completely emptying your unit is kept to a minimum. We have found that once ever 18 months or so is quite adequate.

These units are extremely quiet and there is no problem with the motor/compressor constantly coming on. We have both of our freezers on our back porch next to an old refrigerator we keep as a back-up and overflow unit. The reason we choose to purchase and install two smaller units, rather than one large chest unit, is that we found with the large chest unit we simply had too much food wastage over the years. Food seems to get lost in these things and I for one absolutely hate digging thought bags and packages and freezer containers to find one small item…all the while risking frost bite.

We always have a large garden and neither my wife nor I do any canning. This is a choice we made several years ago. All of our produce from the garden in properly prepared and then frozen. We also buy in bulk and have found we save a tremendous amount of money in doing so. The presence of a large or smaller home freezer makes it possible to capitalize on discounts on perishable foods. This we do often. The only drawback of this is the cost of a deep freezer. You can get one like this for under 0 and the annual energy cost varies, but is usually somewhere around a year. To break even, you’re going to need to be saving about -70 a year on your food costs. For our family, we can sometimes save that much in a month due to our deep freezer. Between the flash-frozen vegetables bought at a discount, the frozen casseroles prepared ahead of time, the breakfast burritos made at an incredibly cheap rate per burrito, the produce from our garden socked away for later, and countless other little things, the deep freezer saves us money almost every single day.

Now another reason we have two of these freezers (and will soon be getting yet another) is that we keep vegetables, of which we use a lot, in one and we keep meat in another. We buy our meat in bulk, either at the local store or quite often we will purchase a half-beet. And of course there are the fish we catch (I am only able to catch really stupid fish, so we do not have that many fish in our freezer at a given time as overall, as a tribe, fish are quite a bit brighter than I am).

We have been using these units for well over a year now and have had no problems what so ever. They do have a light on them that tells you they are running which we constantly check. We did have a power outage last year that lasted for over 24 hours (this was a real bummer), but dry ice took care of that problem and we saved all of our food.

All in all these are good freezers and if you manage your shopping correctly, they will save you quite a lot of money. They are light enough that my wife and I can move them from location to location (when empty) with no difficulty what so ever. We do not use the locking mechanism on our freezers as there is no way a raccoon can get the lid open and they are the only critter that would be interested in their contents other than our grandsons.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

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Better than expected, February 28, 2012

I received this item quickly and the delivery included setup and placement. The freezer is big enough for my needs and it had more baskets than I expected. It has been working perfectly.

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Bought one for my Dad, August 3, 2011

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Lorie E. Borges (California, USA) – See all my reviews

  

I ordered this freezer for my 87-year-old father who lives alone. He loves it and now he can buy in bulk, have more food on hand and go shopping less often.

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Descent Priced product – but GE dropped one feature (details hidden in the model #), October 18, 2011

By 

M. Gavett (Minnesota, USA) – See all my reviews

  

We purchased the FCM5SUWW based on a trip to a local store and found out when we unpackaged ours that GE has pulled a fast one. The model in the store had the same model number but when you look at the actual freezer name plate on the back it has an extra letter in the model number. The model we purchased is the FCM5SUCWW and the display was model FCM5SUBWW a previous revision with the same package model number. GE has revised the model numbers and left the base order model number in the generic form so they can change production at any time. The difference between the ‘B’ and the ‘C’ model revision is the small vertical divider that is used to keep items from falling off the internal step above the compressor. This is listed in the parts diagram for previous models and was eliminated in the ‘C’ and newer revisions. We wish we had this information prior to putting it in service as we had another choice but food was thawing so we decided to keep it.

After initial startup we noted the lid seal is not the greatest and leaks air so it tends to build up frost rapidly around the top couple inches of the freezer. After several emails back and forth we found GE’s customer service has no clue and they finally suggested a service call be made. If they offered a better magnetic seal like the upright freezers this would never happen and be a great product. Customer service suggested to much humidity and to high of room temperature but it is in a 70 degree basement with 46% humidity it should have no problems whta so ever. We can’t wait until it really has some humidity in the spring or summer.

FYI – don’t count on replacing any parts on this model as most of them exceed the initial cost of the unit. GE customer service made light of this fact but even the single wearable item like the lid seal requires the entire lid be replaced as the seal is not availible for purchase seperately a 1 cost. We only paid 9 for the complete unit.

Final comment: at the end of the day; yes – it does keep frozen food frozen (quietly) and yes – it is a nice looking, small sized product. But the lid seal is a real problem and parts are not an option due to excessive cost. We only hope it will last a few years before the compressor fails due to the lid seal not sealing very well. GE should at least offer an updated replacement seal instead of having to buy a complete lid. We also wish they included the divider as previous revisions did. Shame on you GE !!!

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A good buy, June 11, 2011

A good buy that is, if you buy it locally. The Amazon price is ridiculous. It can be had for no more than 0 all over the place. Anyway, it is a great product, just wish it were self defrosting. For a small family it is a perfect size, fits in a small area.

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Decent purchase, worth the money, September 30, 2010

The freezer chest looks small and does not take a lot of space. It maintains temperature and is very convenient to use.
It is great for a family of 4-6 people. Fits all my Costco purchases, easy for children to open and pull out the pizza.
I would only change one thing in this chest: I would make the lid “slow-close”.
Overall it is a great item for the price.

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