Is there likely to be any help available to buy a replacement fridge

littleg_2

Has your daughter tried her local Lions or Rotary club - I'm sure they would be able to help, particularly due to the medical needs.

techspec

I looked into this some time back, as i have a relative with medication in the fridge.

There was money available from the DWP - as it was an essential item - but she decided to just buy one to avoid the stress.

Don't know how long they take to process though.

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/dwp1007.pdf

arachne

Scottish and Southern Energy/SSE (may be called something different in your local area, such as SWALEC or Southern Electric) offer free energy efficiency appliances for people who meet certain criteria (eg. low income) through their Warm Homes Discount scheme. I'm not sure but I don't think you have to be a customer of theirs to qualify (but I may be wrong) and I'm fairly sure it includes fridges. The number's 0800 096 6192. Can't hurt to ask.

lostinrates

Our fridge broke a few weeks/couple of months ago. I have been using it with ice blocks from the freezer, it's very effective.


It concerns me that it is read plus 23 in the fridge though......that's very warm indeed, warmer than most people heat their living rooms to.

I would want to double check that .

Amanda65

OP - just pm'd you

kloana

Deffo try the Social Fund. If successful, loans and grants can be administered pretty much immediately.

Failing that, Freecycle or eBay of course. I was looking for a fridge for my sister, didn't end up getting it, but found loads being auctioned off for practially nothing (in the case of ugly/old fashioned fridges, penny auctions abounded).

For her short-term needs, could she store her insulin in a neighbour's fridge, so she can get to it quickly?

HurdyGurdy

Thank you all so much for taking the time to reply. I was almost expecting a tirade of abuse for even asking (you know how some threads can turn nasty so quickly!). Thank you especially to Amanda for her PM.

My daughter said that the fridge started making a "clunking" sound last night, and that this morning, it is cold inside again, and seems to be working fine.

Personally I think that despite her assurances that there is no internal thermostat, there probably is one and she has knocked it while moving stuff around in the fridge. And maybe put it back as it was and been too embarrassed to admit to not seeing it when I asked her about it!

But whatever - the fridge seems to be operating fine this morning, and if nothing else, she can start to put a few pounds aside each week into an emergency fund so that if it does go wrong again (and the suggested "turn off for 48 hours" solution doesn't work) she will either have enough for an engineer to look at it, or enough to buy a new, second hand one, if it's not repairable.

Thank you all, again. There are some very helpful replies, for which I am very grateful. MSE at its very best

mickey54

HurdyGurdy wrote: »

Sorry - not sure if this is the right forum. Please move if not.


My daughter is a single parent. She moved into her first home just under a year ago, and bought the majority of her "stuff" second hand. Including a fridge freezer.

She has just rung me in tears, saying that she thinks the fridge is broken. There is no internal thermostat (which I told her to check, and make sure she'd not knocked it accidentally) but there is a button to check the temperature of each "zone". The freezer is showing as -22 degrees, and the fridge as +23 degrees, so it's not looking good.

She cannot afford to buy a new fridge at the moment - not even a second hand one. Unfortunately, I am not in a position to be able to help her either.

The major problem is that she is insulin dependent diabetic, and needs to store her insulin in a fridge.

Given this medical need, is she likely to be able to get any kind of grant towards paying for a replacement fridge, or maybe a crisis loan? Would crisis loans cover this kind of thing?

She is in receipt of income support and tax credits, and doesn't work.

Have a search on British Gas Energy Trust. They offer white goods. Complete applications. I have known others who have had rent arrears paid - and, been given assistance to buy white goods.

minimoocow

I see this one is now solved but in case it helps others there is also this charity:

http://www.acts435.org.uk/

To qualify you have to be "known to the church" but the church local to me partners with the advice centre so you definitely DON'T have to be a regular church goer (and in any case it is open to all)

HurdyGurdy

Thank you again for the supportive and helpful replies, and also to those who reported the troll. I am all for posts which put forward an alternative pov, and are straight talking.

I don't support those who are just filled with vitriol and spite. This thread has so far been extremely helpful (for example, I didn't know that insulin didn't *have* to be kept in a refrigerator all the time, so that's a useful bit of information) and I wouldn't like to see it deteriorate into a slanging match, and thereby lose the spirit of kind replies.

I have also reported *that* post, for these reasons.