<p>I picked up a used mini refrigerator at a yard sale this summer for my son’s dorm room and when I brought it home, I plugged it in and it cooled down very nicely. However, the unit makes a fairly promiment humming sound that alternates on and off. If it were me, this would drive me crazy in a tiny dorm room, but my husband said that they all make this sound. Does anyone have any experience with these mini refrigerators?</p>
<p>If the dorm room is in a warm climate, my guess is that the noise from the A/C will be louder than the noise from the fridge!!! I think they all have relatively noisy compressors, and the students don’t seem to notice it after the first 24 hours.</p>
<p>Ha – if your son has a room anywhere near my D, noise from the frig will be the least of his problems.</p>
<p>On a seperate minifrig issue, please everyone pay attention if the box says this end up. Many frigs, including the adorable stainless steel one, with the sepearte frezer and frig, in the Target ad, have oil that will leak out and render the frig inoperable. When I visited Target I saw some stored on their side. Further I do not think they will fit standing up in most SUVs. So I convinced my D to go with the smaller box like ones.</p>
<p>My S has a new one that he got last year before his freshman year. I was around it a few times while running and I never heard it make any loud noises. He never complained about any noises either.</p>
<p>Just a question - with all of the cost cutting measures colleges are taking, has anyone heard of schools reducing or banning unnecessary energy guzzlers like these fridges? Are they really necessary? I don’t recall anyone even thinking about having one when I was in school, but then maybe they didn’t even make them back then.;)</p>
<p>I had one when I was in college 72-75.</p>
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Considering the exorbitant room and board fees that colleges get away with charging, students should be allowed the convenience of a mini-fridge in their rooms.</p>
<p>The amount of noise depends on the brand and model of the unit. Our older son has a kenmore which is very quiet (it’s 3 years old). We bought our younger son a cheap one (Avanti brand, I believe). We plugged it in at home to check it out and after having that thing run for 24 hours in our living room, we were ready to throw it out. The noise coming out of that fridge drove us crazy. It’s sitting in our cellar and will bring it to the dump when we have the time. His school rents refridgerator/microwave units so that’s what he ended up doing. Actually, one roommate rented the fridge for the room, one roommate brought the TV, and son bought the rug.</p>
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<p>At this point, put it in the dorm room. If it drives them nuts, then they can throw it out and buy a new one. It is not like you bought a new one and can return it.</p>
<p>How about putting it in your son’s bedroom for a week? He should know by then if it bothers him.</p>
<p>D’s college requires energysaver mini-frigs, if you bring a frig in at all. When I went to law school, you had to rent frigs from the school–you couldn’t bring in your own.</p>
<p>““On a seperate minifrig issue, please everyone pay attention if the box says this end up. Many frigs, including the adorable stainless steel one, with the sepearte frezer and frig, in the Target ad, have oil that will leak out and render the frig inoperable””. </p>
<p>My understanding is that the oil settles back after it has been transported on its side, just put it in the upright position and don’t plug it in for several hrs.</p>
<p>I recommend spending a bit more. You will get a quieter unit but more importantly get one with a completely separate freezer. The cheap ones with an aluminum freezer compartment frost up very quickly and need frequent deicing.</p>
<p>Both my S’s schools provided a “micro-fridge” in each dorm room. It was the kind with a small microwave attached to the top of the fridge. I assume it was to prevent kids fr. hauling in bigger power sucking microwaves that ancient dorm power systems could not sustain.</p>
<p>S’s never complained about refrig. noises.</p>
<p>My Ds schools says specifically microwaves 800 Watts or less. </p>
<p>edad, we are going with NO freezer dept.</p>
<p>Ncmentor – apparently there have been a lot of issues/returns – read customers reveiws.</p>
<p>“Ncmentor – apparently there have been a lot of issues/returns – read customers reveiws.”</p>
<p>That fridge may be a POS, I don’t know and haven’t read the review. I was talking about transporting any fridge. Wanted to give accurate info because so many fridges will be transported over the next month. And by the way it’s always a good idea to support the compressor if your moving a fridge. Packed in Beach Towels work just fine…</p>
<p>My D’s school does not permit appliances other than a 'fridge in the rooms. There is a new mini-kitchen on each of the 3 floors, with a fridge, sink and microwave and a big,new kitchen on the main floor that can be shared by all.
As for the 'fridge making noise and disturbing the guys, maybe they’ll all snore and won’t hear the machine!!</p>
<p>NC, I dont think it is a POS, I think becuase it is bigger it is harder to transport. When a box says this end up and the store doesnt stack it corectly and it wont fit in an SUV – I think that is creating problems. You may be right, that people are returning it premarturely. Its a shame, it looks adorable, but we went with a smaller one.</p>
<p>“people are returning it prematurely” - Not likely, once the damage is done it doesn’t get better with time. But they may be plugging it in prematurely and not letting the oil settle after transporting it on its side.</p>