Sunday, January 12, 2014

Koolatron KWC-4 Coca-Cola Personal 6-Can Mini Fridge

Koolatron KWC-4 Coca-Cola Personal 6-Can Mini Fridge
  • 4-Liter mini fridge holds up to 612-ounce cans of soda
  • Cools up to 32-degrees below ambient temperature
  • Self-locking recessed door handle
  • Vibrant red exterior with white Coca-Cola trademark
  • Measures 11 by 8 by 11-inch

I really like iced apple juice, but the ice was melting before I ever finished my drink. I was going through apple juice like crazy, but never really drinking much of it. I bought this personal fridge to cut down on wasting apple juice (don't like it all watered down from melted ice). It works so well, that I can fill a 12oz glass with juice, put in a few cubes of ice, and seven hours later, the ice has not melted. Think about it...seven hours! If I leave a glass of ice and juice out for 30 minutes, the ice has melted down to little bitty bits and the juice is too watery.

I used the "Mastercool MSC52224A Infrared Thermometer in Case with FREE MSC52220 Analog Thermometer" that I bought from Amazon to check the temperature performance. The manual for the mini fridge says that it is capable of cooling to 32 (deg F) below ambient. I checked it on a hot day, a warm day, a cool day, and several times between using the digital IR thermometer and it is consistently 32-45 degrees cooler inside the fridge than the outside temperature. Even on a 90 degree day the ice did not melt and I didn't have to replace my drink. The inside temperature at the warmest spot was consistently hovering around 45 to 47 degrees (F). My drink was at around 36 to 38 degrees, depending on where I measured it.

On the days that were around 70 degrees, this fridge read temperatures close to freezing. In fact, I was amazed when I pulled out a frosty glass of apple juice. It happened only once, but still...worth mentioning.

I think the trick to getting this to work optimally is to provide several inches of space for the back end where it vents out the heat. I used the thermometer there as wellthe vent on either side exhausts at about 90 degrees (F) but at a low volume so it is not very useful as a space heater.

The unit runs quietvery quiet. It comes with both an AC adapter, and a DC lighter-socket adapter for the car. The power switch has three positionsOff (middle) to the right is 110AC, and to the left is 12VDC (car). There is a single green LED to indicate ON operation, there are two warm air exhausts on each side at the rear, and two cool air intakesone at the back plate, and one on the top at the aft end. This is why ventilation and spacing is importantdue to the proximity of the hot air exhaust and cool air intakethere needs to be room for the warm air to dissipate and not be drawn in by the cool air intake. The manual says 6 inches space all around, I've found that about half that works in my situation.

I have not tried a six-pack, or tried using it in a car. What I can say is that if you like to have a cold drink handy to sip on all day while you study, this unit is worth every penny. I have not had to waste a glass of juice because it was watered down since using this unitfor that, 5 stars easily.

Buy Koolatron KWC-4 Coca-Cola Personal 6-Can Mini Fridge Now

This little "backup" fridge keeps 6 soda cans very cold. The look is pretty neat. My main quibble is with the latch mechanism. It's a little plastic thing that I'm afraid will break because it takes a little bit of guess work to figure out wither to pull or turn to open. (It turns.) It's perfect for a small conference room, but I'm just afraid that after long usage someone will figure out how to break it. I guess time will tell.

OK, three years later my little buddy died. The handle broke and had to be glued back on a couple of times. But finally he gave up the ghost. So much for my private stash of sodas at the office. I got my money's worth.

Read Best Reviews of Koolatron KWC-4 Coca-Cola Personal 6-Can Mini Fridge Here

I purchased this for my cubicle at work. I wanted to keep water or soft drinks cold enough that I didn't need to keep heading to the cafeteria for ice. It works great for that purpose. CAUTION: It will only fit 12-oz cans of soda, and 8-oz bottles of water (these can be tricky to find). A single 16.9-oz bottle of water will only fit inside sideways, and will take up all the available space. I keep it turned on 24x7. The fan noise is very low (think White Noise). I agree with other reviewers that the latch is flimsy and seems easy to break; use it with extreme care. But overall, the price, size and functionality of this mini fridge make me a happy customer.

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It cools a bottled water to a fine drinking temp. It does not do a good job of keeping food cold in office temp conditions. If the ambient temp is 75 degrees, the fridge contents are just cool. I didn't trust my tuna and mayo sandwich after realizing that...but to have a cold drink handy, it's great!

PS This thing died after about 11 months. Per customer service, the part I need to make it cool again costs more than the original price. Since all it did was sit for 11 months, longevity is NOT a strong suit for this item. Would not buy again.

If you expect refrigerator-quality cooling, this isn't for you. It's cute and quiet, but only cools to ~54F where a standard refrigerator cools to ~43F. So good enough for sodas, but not so great for dairy products!

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