Customer Reviews for the NewAir 24" Stainless Steel Built-in 46-Bottle Dual-Zone Wine Fridge on Amazon.com

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tlawado

1.0 out of 5 starsAVOID THIS PRODUCT AT ALL COSTS!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 20, 2019

This fridge's advertised versatility for either built-in or free-standing uses is pure fallacy. It comes with an unannounced feature (cue sarcasm) that will ruin your flooring materials, subfloor, and floor joists if left running for an extended period of time. We bought and installed it in our dining room in May 2019, pleased with its performance until we decided to rearrange the room. Upon moving the unit, water had leaked from the back and ruined about 2 sq. ft. of our 85-year-old wooden floor. We consulted the documentation and warranty, only to find no mention of a drain requirement and a hurdle to warrantying –all claims oblige the buyer to pay the vendor shipping both ways to determine if the product is faulty or not. In other words, a warranty investigation might run up to 50% of the unit's cost just to ascertain the issue. Almost half a century since the Consumer Protection Agency came into being, the old adage of "buyer beware" still rings true!

So what led to the leak in the unit? After removing the lower access panel at the rear, we found a condensation pan fed by a 1/4" ID tube from a receptacle molded to the interior of the unit. This waste pan was overflowing and was the probable cause of the leak and floor damage. The condensation waste pan measures approximately 2"x 2"x 3" deep and can hold less than a cup of liquid. We experimentally found out that the drip rate of the condensate was about one-quarter cup per day, guaranteeing that the pan will overflow within five to seven days of continuous usage. Furthermore, the leak is at the back of the unit, in negligible continuous amounts, which are absorbed by any permeable surface and will ultimately cause rot, mold growth and require remediation –all at the customer's expense.

The condensation waste pan is attached to the product frame using two screws, oriented horizontally on opposing sides of the bottom of the pan with only one accessible which makes it impossible to remove. Emptying the pan calls for transfer to another vessel due to its location amidst the compressor, tubing, thermostats, electrical wiring and connections, necessitating the use of an absorptive material such as a towel or sponge. Contact between water and electricity is potentially harmful and poses a fire hazard.

What's more, the temperature in the lower section of the unit (larger; 2/3) must be lower than the temperature of the upper section (smaller; 1/3). This means that your stock of white wine will always be frozen. We found out, on an empirical level, that setting the lower section to a temperature equal to 50°F and the upper section to 45°F would result in an actual temperature in the upper section of 50°F, exposing a lack of transparency in the product documentation.

It is outrageous that the manufacturer and vendor do not disclose the likelihood of this eventuality occurring in their documentation, or mention that this product is unsuitable for built-in installations. While there is an opportunity for those who install it in free-standing mode to notice any leaks, realistically, who would move an appliance once it is operational except to clean? Don't even think about buying this product! If you do, you will be faced with an external condensate waste pan that is unattractive but cost-effective, and will be appreciated by thirsty beings like spiders and insects in your house. You'll have spent over seven hundred dollars for a refrigerator only to find yourself coughing up thousands to repair your flooring and install water pans on your floor.