Tech Review: Hitachi 3 Door Refrigerator (Model#RS31SVND)



After 1 years research I finally have another object of desire. I am talking about the new gadget which my dad gifted to our family this Diwali - a 3 Door Refrigerator from Hitachi.

As usual, this Review would be less technical (with less of Technical Specifications) so that a layman can make a buying decision. This is one of the products which I am thoroughly satisfied with though the price is on the higher side. Its MRP is currently Rs.42,000 & you can get it from selected Retails Stores anything from Rs.39,000 to Rs.42,000. I bought it on the day of Dhanteras at Rs.38,999 with an Electric Toast & Grill free from Hypercity (Malad) & they just increased the price to Rs,40,999 on the day of Diwali.
Some of its salient features -
  1. 366 litres refrigerator & has 3 sections - the top most one is the Fresh Food Compartment (like a regular refrigerator), the middle one is a large Vegetable Compartment (drawer) & the lowermost one is a large Deep-Freezer Compartment (drawer) for storing non-vegetarian items.
  2. The Vegetable Compartment being at the middle position reduces the strain on your back, as it is the most frequently used & is placed at a comfortable position.
  3. Its tall as almost I am :-) - standing tall at approximately 6 feet.
  4. It weighs almost I am :-) - 72 Kgs.
  5. Rather than being broader, this Refrigerator is longer & thus allows more space for items to be stored.
  6. Has facility of auto-ice making - you just need to fill in water to the water tank in the topmost section & ice cubes gets automatically dispensed to the ice tray when it runs low on ice. The water tank also has inbuilt water filter to purify the water before making ice.(No need of separately filling in water to ice tray & twisting the tray to obtain ice. Ice cubes are directly dispensed)
  7. Nano-titanium filter keeps the refrigerator odour-free by cleaning out all bacteria.
  8. Vegetable compartment is set to high humidity to keep vegetables & fruits fresher for longer period of time.
  9. Has provision to turn off auto-ice maker when you feel there is no necessity of ice.
  10. Has Quick freezing option to quickly freeze items like ice cream which have been just inserted into the deep freezer.
  11. Fresh Room section (drawer) in the Fresh Food Compartment to store items of regular use.

Suggestions -

  1. Permanently Turn Off auto-ice maker from the controls when sufficient ice has been dispensed & you do not feel the need of ice on a frequent basis.
  2. Turn On Quick Freezing when you have start the Refrigerator after keeping it Switched Off for a long period of time. This would enable faster formation of ice & also quickly freeze items like Ice Cream, if you have recently kept them in the Deep Freezing Compartment.
I have attached the snaps so that you can have a better idea. Do write to me if you need to know any further about this Refrigerator before making a buying decision. For more technical details & specifications you can google around or check at http://www.hitachi-hli.com/3doorRefrigerator.html

34 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am looking to buy the same but was worried about the power consumption and also any noise

Rag M said...

I am looking to buy the same but was worried about the power consumption and also any noise

Baudhayan Lahiri said...

Since the 3 doors necessarily eliminate the need to open multiple compartments every time, Power consumption is expected to be normal. Haven't bothered much to check on that. Go ahead with your plan & get this cool thing & you will really love it :-)

Anonymous said...

Hello Mr.Lahiri, Thnx 4 d info. I m gtng a used Hitachi RS31SVND in 26k. 1 yr old in meticulous condition. Wht say ? (Thanks in anticipation : SANDEEP)

Baudhayan Lahiri said...

@Sandeep - 26k is a really cool deal for a Fridge in such a good condition. Don't wait... just go for it!!!

Zara Amir said...

Hitachi doing great job electronics worls.
PEL and Hitachi have great technology electrical goods.

aravindc said...

i am looking to convert this 3 dor fridge freezer into a refridgrator section for storing water bottles, beer etc

any idea how to go about it? vaugely i believe we shd be able to adjust the freezer thermostat settings to get this done.

Anonymous said...

Over a year on, how is this fridge doing? Any complaints yet?

Does the veggie drawer with its top-access to stuff cause any items at the bottom to be hard to get at, or even sort of forgotten?

Is the compressor/fan noise noticeable at night in your living room?

Any after-thoughts/regrets yet?

Thanks

Uday

Baudhayan Lahiri said...

@Uday....the fridge is doing perfectly fine. I don't have any of the listed issues that you have mentioned.

parag said...

HI
Thanks for such a detail review... could you please tell me whether it has light in vegetable compatment and fridger section....does it botther u at night ?

Thanks

Parag

parag said...

HI
Thanks for such a detail review... could you please tell me whether it has light in vegetable compartment and fridger section....does it bother u at night ?

rachna said...

Mr Lahiri, I am interested in buying three door fridge in 366ltrs capacity. its been some two years u r using this prodcut, can u tell me you face any kind of problem u face as far as functionality is concerned. Its been said their after sale service is very bad please , suggest???
Rachna

iSagar said...

Hello Baudhayana,
Are you using STABILIZER for this fridge ? Dealer is suggesting me to buy one. They say it is not necessary but recommended to have a stabilizer. What do you say ? If you are using a stabilizer then could you please provide the specifications ? Thanks in advance.
Best regards,
Vidyasagar

Baudhayan Lahiri said...

@Vidyasagar - I have never ever used any Stabilizers for any electronic gadgets I have bought so far in my life.

G.M.Singh said...

The detailed description u gave of the fridge was really encouraging. Im looking for a triple door fridge which is available only in hitachi n whirlpool. while the reviews of latter were highly disappointing,ur post created some curiosity in this hitachi product. Still i've some doubts like is the upper portion which is just half of the whole fridge sufficient for a family of 4 or 5 people; ur fridge seemded lacking in space in such a manner it will take a lot of exercise to find what u have kept in the rear part and big dishes will be difficult to fit in. I'll take it as a favour if u ans my querry about space to satisfaction and also the latest showroom price (of 306L fridge).

Baudhayan Lahiri said...

Sorry everyone for delays in reply.
Here are the answers -

@Parag - There is no light in the vegetable compartment. But since it is like a drawer it actually doesn't botjher me much.

@Rachna - Frankly I have never bothered about after sales service for reputed brands, coz I have rarely had any bad expereince with any reputed band and also that I am quite a techhy and can manage to solve most of the problems. It's more than 2 years and the Fridge is absolutely fine :-)

@G.M.Singh - We are a family of 4 and currently the space in the upper section is more than sufficient for us to keep food, though the pictures might not reflect that. Moreover we use Microwaveable vessels to store food and this saves space. Using too many dishes and plates will occupy more space and make it risky for spillage. The vegetable and freezer compartments are also quite sufficient to store your veggies and non-veg products. It's best you hit a store to have an in-person preview before you book this.

somen24in said...

friend Lahiri

iam from kolkata ,,i like this model i see in hitachi site --they said this is not star rated model . now a days every where almost every body try to save power ,
i have hitachi split 1.5ton 5star followmw model --

also i see there booklet also other site they not mention how much power input ---this 3door model ,
if you have main catalog from hitachi --if there any wright up --on power input or powerconsumption .

somen bhowmik
kolkata/
somen24in@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

thnaks lahari for this review .The review in mouthshut.com is bad. functional problems and bad after sales service. PLease reply to me at anjali_kadam2000@yahoo.com. i stay in mumbai

Anonymous said...

How is the performance of your fridge now, after 2 years? I intend to replace my 10 year old single door whirlpool. I am oscillating between whirlpool and hitachi. Is there any problem with the drawers? Is there any provision to keep milk bags and where is it?

Baudhayan Lahiri said...

The Fridge is perfectly fine and we generally buy 2-3 Milk bags and store it in deep freezer (last drawer). We keep it outside overnight submerged in water to liquidate it.

Anonymous said...

I have just bought a R-S31SVND. Two sides adjuscent to the doors are becoming hot. When I reported the same, they said it is common in all frost free refrigertor. Is that true. My earlier refrigertor was not frost free so i'm not in a position to verify the same.
Can any of you (using the same model) confirm whether you are also experiencing the same?

Baudhayan Lahiri said...

Yes, thats true. The sides get warmer because you dont find any coiling which used to be present in older non frost free refrigerators. This is perfectly fine.

Suraj said...

Thanks for the blog post. I just bought the 438lt one.

RG said...

Thanks for such an exhaustive review. Its great for a layman to asses if he would want to go for this Hitachi Product. I have a few queries, if you could help we with any of those:
1. The Specification on Hitachi's website for this pproduct says Power Rating as "N/A". But generally such products are supposed to have *star* ratings, like 4-star,5-star. Should we go in for a product which prices quite high but does not specify any *star* certification.
2.Does this product make a lot of noise while starting up or while it is on.
3. I read a couple of reviews, where people suggested that the cooling of this fridge is not apt for use in places like Delhi, where the summer temperatures are really high and the summer is wuite humid too. Have you faced any such issue, in terms of cooling or excess humidity, leading to things getting spoiked in extreme summers.
4. How effective is the temperature/thermostat control.

Sorry for the deluge of queries. :)

Anonymous said...

Is this forum still active and can we expect answers. If yes I am posting my isse which I am facing with my 3year old Hitachi 3 Door fridge. Just after a few months i noticed that lot of ice is deposited between the fridge body and the Freezer Compartment which is at the bottom. I thought initially that I may not have closed this compartment properly or someone else in the family casually closed it, so we get ice depositing there. But after that i carefull closed the door and still found the ice deposing didnt stop. It happens so bad at times that the door cant be closed properly and I need to remove the ice manually. I believe this issue is related to this fridge not properly de-frosting. If someone knows and answer or remedy for this pls share.

Baudhayan Lahiri said...

My fridge is still working perfectly after 4 years. I do a through cleaning once every year after removing both the drawers and the defrost tray placed above the compressor.

I can only speculate that the freezer temperature might have been set for extremely cold setting or this might be a case of water leakage from an internal pip. Best to call up Hitachi and get it checked.

shenoy said...

It is almost 5 years, All is well I hope!

Baudhayan Lahiri said...

@Shivshanker - Yes, all is well as off now with good maintenance, had to spend Rs.4000 to refill gas in the compressor as the pipe was damaged at a place. I stay near to the see and so this quite common. Other than that I am still thoroughly satisfied with this fridge.

Unknown said...

Hi
I am planning to buy da 3door hitachi fridge,the dealer is quoting rs 55k but i guess is going to give a max discount of rs 3000.i find the looks of this fridge very chic.but since no one i know is using a hitachi fridge,since hitachi acs are common,is ur fridge in gud condition.i stay in chennai,were in summer months voltage fluctuation is common,also does da frost free function performance is gud,as in one earlier comment someone had a problem of ice deposition.

Thanks
Krutika

Baudhayan Lahiri said...

Hi Krutika,

Thanks for your message! I can confirm that since 2009 I had trouble free operation of this refrigerator. There is absolutely no requirement of defrosting. I have never ever seen any Ice accumulation. Just ensure that you maintain a good distance of the refrigerator from walls as it dissipates heat from the side.

Thanks,
BL

ritu said...

Hi,

We just bought a Hitachi 456 Litre Three Door R-WB480PND2-GBK . No one around us uses Hitachi fridge so we are quite skeptical but since we liked the fridge so we spent 56000 Rs on it. Only concern I have is that whether it is worth the money or not. we have Hitachi Ac and we are quite satisfied with it but I am unsure abt fridge. Can you share you share your experience about after sales service of Hitachi because mouthshut has very very bad and discouraging reviews :(


Thanks,
Ritu

Baudhayan Lahiri said...

Hi Ritu,

It's been 6 years now. We faced problem in the 4th year because there was some puncture in the gas pipe and the gas leaked out. Got it fixed for INR 4000 which included gas filling and replacement of a sensor. Other than that this fridge is worth its money. The freezer is esp v helpful since me and my family are hardcore non-veggies

Thanks,
BL

Unknown said...

I have hitachi refrigerator model
R-S31SVND. it's troubleshooting from last 2 year only bottom fridzee is working but not making ice.top part of the fridge is not getting cold. Showed to hitachi technical person but cannot find problem. Changed the circuit board but no solution. If I can get information about or solution.

Baudhayan Lahiri said...

Touch wood, I only had problem thrice in 11 years. On 2 instances it was to do with Gas leak and on 1 occassion it was a problem with the ice dispensation tray. I can't comment of the top of the refrigerator, but to test the ice dispensation tray fill water in the top storage and then keep "ICE MAKING" button on the top section pressed for 10 secs. It then performs a sequence of events to flush all liquid in the ice making water pipe and essentially cleans it. More than this I can't comment any further except for guessing that the gas piping inside your refrigerator is possibly damaged.