Fridge/ Freezer Help

[Butchers Dog]

Guys,
Help me out if you can.

I have one of those common side by side fridge/freezer combos and it is giving me heartache. It is about 6 years old and a few weeks ago it gave out (temp increased to the point of ice melting in freezer). The fridge also increased in temp.

I figured I would defrost. I cleared out all items and thawed for two days. Plugging back and it was subzero fridgid temps. I thought my worries were over.

A couple weeks later, the temps are rising again. Anyone know what it may be? Does it need a recharge?

Note, I know nothing about refrigeration.

Any thoughts out there? I would really appreciate the feedback.

Thanks,
BD

 

[Ceiling Cat]

There are only a few things you can do for yourself before you have to call a repair man. First, check the condenser. It is a radiator that releases heat from your refrigerator , you will find it under the refrigerator ( behind a removable panel ) or behind the fridge. See if it is coated in dust, if it is, clean out the dust with a vacuum cleaner and a brush. This should allow better air circulation and cooling. Check to see if there is enough space behind and to the sides of the refrigerator to allow good air flow
The second possible problem is the thermostat, this is a matter for the refrigerator repair man.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

I had the same problem a couple of months ago and I hate to tell you this but there's a good chance you need to get a new fridge.

I called a repair man in to look at my problem fridge and he said there was a pin hole leak somewhere because all my cooling fluid had leaked down to zero.
So, he recharged the system with new coolant that had a clogging agent in it that would find the leak and plug it up.

And it worked for a while, - the only problem is that the temperature got hot again after 7 days or so and called the guy in again.
This time he told me my compressor was all shot to hell and needed to be replaced. The cost of doing that repair was so high it was a better thing to just buy a new fridge.

The guy told me that the manufacturers are all designing their fridges to only last about 5 years these days because they want people buying fridges more often.
So, they deliberately put in cheap compressors and so on.
Gone are the days when fridges would last 13 years or even 20 years.

It costs about 80 dollars, some places 120 just to have a technician come in and tell you what's wrong with the fridge.
If the fridge is 6 years old and you have cooling problems, you have a serious problem and if you have a serious problem with a 6 year old fridge you're better off just buying a new one because the repair cost is just too high. That's just the economics of fridges these days.
They are becoming disposable commodities.

If you need to buy a new one, to me, The Brick has the best prices. If you have a Costco membership you can buy a pretty good one from them at Costco.ca and they'll ship it free. Price is pretty good too. Can't buy one at a Costco store though. Only online Fridge sales by Costco.
If you buy a new Fridge don't get a Frigidaire one. THey are the cheapest junk out there. Go GE or Whirlpool. Wirlpool has a lot of fridges that are Wirlpool rebrands like Kitchenaid, Maytag, Amana. If you get one of these you are really getting a Wirlpool fridge.

 

[hamermill]

Faulkner applicances rated near the top in home stars

 

[SkyRider]

The guy told me that the manufacturers are all designing their fridges to only last about 5 years these days because they want people buying fridges more often.
So, they deliberately put in cheap compressors and so on.
Gone are the days when fridges would last 13 years or even 20 years.

My 33 year old GE refrigerator is working fine. Meanwhile my neighbor is on his 4th refrigerator in the past 33 years because he fell for that modern "energy efficient" crap.

 

[plumber2]

Dust on the cooling coils now on the. Bottom of the fridge

My 33 year old GE refrigerator is working fine. Meanwhile my neighbor is on his 4th refrigerator in the past 33 years because he fell for that modern "energy efficient" crap.

Keep it clean with a swiffer. Duster it will help prolong the life of your fridge

 

[wrxed2]

It's not defrosting. Likely there is frost on the back wall when it is not cooling.
When you shut it off for two days you defrosted manually. Could be a number of things.
Defrost timer, heater element, or defrost limiter.
Cleaning the condenser coil is always good practice. When it is blocked with dust the freezer will
cool but not well, eg. ice cream and bread soft.
Call for service. A good company/service guy should be able to make the same conclusions.

 

[plumber2]

Fast eddies appliance repair. Www.fasteddieappliances.com

 

[RickC]

When my old fridge acts up it is usually a drain blockage from the freezers drain tube that goes to drip pan , a pea or something small blocks the hole , so i defrost, clean hole and good to go .

 

[The Options Menu]

It's not defrosting. Likely there is frost on the back wall when it is not cooling.
When you shut it off for two days you defrosted manually. Could be a number of things.
Defrost timer, heater element, or defrost limiter.
Cleaning the condenser coil is always good practice. When it is blocked with dust the freezer will
cool but not well, eg. ice cream and bread soft.
Call for service. A good company/service guy should be able to make the same conclusions.

Yes-- I had a fridge where the defrost went, after some googling it could have been one of several things, and all out of my skill set to fix. One thing that you can do if you don't want to wait the 2 days for the fridge to thaw (and your stuff to go bad) it to put your stuff in a cooler or plastic bins (to keep it cool and frozen), and then open up the back of the freezer portion of the refrigerator freezer. It's usually just a number of screws and plastic plugs. After it is open and unplugged you can then use a hair blowdrier or heat gun (rags and a bucket, maybe something in the way of a pick that you'll be vary careful with) to rapidly thaw the block of ice that is blocking the ducts and radiator bits. It's tedious but it will get the job done before your food thaws.

It's also not a 'permanent fix'.

 

[notthemama]

I have a non self-defrosting FIRESTONE fridge from the 50s in my garage that my parents bought used in the 60s. Makes a great unit for beverages and the occasional overflow from the kitchen fridge. It also has that satisfying clunck as the door handle closes and locks.
The new fridge in the kitchen is about 7 years old and I'm betting I'll be replacing it soon.
If the defrosting trick doesn't work, scrap it. The new ones don't last.
If you repair it, something else will go. More cost effective to replace.

 

[james t kirk]

I had the same problem a couple of months ago and I hate to tell you this but there's a good chance you need to get a new fridge.

I called a repair man in to look at my problem fridge and he said there was a pin hole leak somewhere because all my cooling fluid had leaked down to zero.
So, he recharged the system with new coolant that had a clogging agent in it that would find the leak and plug it up.

And it worked for a while, - the only problem is that the temperature got hot again after 7 days or so and called the guy in again.
This time he told me my compressor was all shot to hell and needed to be replaced. The cost of doing that repair was so high it was a better thing to just buy a new fridge.

The guy told me that the manufacturers are all designing their fridges to only last about 5 years these days because they want people buying fridges more often.
So, they deliberately put in cheap compressors and so on.
Gone are the days when fridges would last 13 years or even 20 years.

It costs about 80 dollars, some places 120 just to have a technician come in and tell you what's wrong with the fridge.
If the fridge is 6 years old and you have cooling problems, you have a serious problem and if you have a serious problem with a 6 year old fridge you're better off just buying a new one because the repair cost is just too high. That's just the economics of fridges these days.
They are becoming disposable commodities.

If you need to buy a new one, to me, The Brick has the best prices. If you have a Costco membership you can buy a pretty good one from them at Costco.ca and they'll ship it free. Price is pretty good too. Can't buy one at a Costco store though. Only online Fridge sales by Costco.
If you buy a new Fridge don't get a Frigidaire one. THey are the cheapest junk out there. Go GE or Whirlpool. Wirlpool has a lot of fridges that are Wirlpool rebrands like Kitchenaid, Maytag, Amana. If you get one of these you are really getting a Wirlpool fridge.

Absolutely correct.

There is no money in making appliances last 20 or 25 years any more.

Though I personally HATE whirlpool. (I had purchased Kitchen Aid Appliances in the past and had nothing but problems with my washer and oven, though the dryer, fridge, and gas cook top were fine.)

And I have some bad news for you trout.....

Fridaire is owned by Electrolux. (Huge appliance maker that competes with Whirlpool.)

AND GE Appliances is also owned by Electrolux. So, Frigidaire = Electrolux = GE Appliances.

I was talking once to a kitchen cabinet manufacturer (Bloomsbury, maker of fine cabinetry) and he told me "other than Miele or Bosch, they're all shit"

 

[Butchers Dog]

Guys,
Thanks for taking the time and all the detailed responses.

Much appreciated.
BD

FYI, it is GE Profile and about 6 years old.

 

[lomotil]

Absolutely correct.

There is no money in making appliances last 20 or 25 years any more.

Though I personally HATE whirlpool. (I had purchased Kitchen Aid Appliances in the past and had nothing but problems with my washer and oven, though the dryer, fridge, and gas cook top were fine.)

And I have some bad news for you trout.....

Fridaire is owned by Electrolux. (Huge appliance maker that competes with Whirlpool.)

AND GE Appliances is also owned by Electrolux. So, Frigidaire = Electrolux = GE Appliances.

I was talking once to a kitchen cabinet manufacturer (Bloomsbury, maker of fine cabinetry) and he told me "other than Miele or Bosch, they're all shit"

For the most part, Germany and Japan are the only countries interested in making durable products for reasons such as national pride, technical prowess, tradition and maybe even profit. They have very demanding domestic consumers as well, with government working closely and efficiently with industry.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Absolutely correct.

There is no money in making appliances last 20 or 25 years any more.

Though I personally HATE whirlpool. (I had purchased Kitchen Aid Appliances in the past and had nothing but problems with my washer and oven, though the dryer, fridge, and gas cook top were fine.)

And I have some bad news for you trout.....

Fridaire is owned by Electrolux. (Huge appliance maker that competes with Whirlpool.)

AND GE Appliances is also owned by Electrolux. So, Frigidaire = Electrolux = GE Appliances.

I was talking once to a kitchen cabinet manufacturer (Bloomsbury, maker of fine cabinetry) and he told me "other than Miele or Bosch, they're all shit"

That's interesting about GE.
Just read the story on it. GE sold the home appliances business to Electrolux in Sept 2014 and the deal was scheduled to close in 2015.
Apparently home appliances are just too much of a low margin business for GE to bother with anymore and they're focusing on making huge machines for industry where the profit margins are huge.

That means new Electrolux designs will now have a GE badge on them.

Since the agreement is brand new though I think any machine made in 2015 and earlier with a GE badge on it is significantly different from Electrolux designs. It'll take at least a year or two for the tentacles of the 2 companies to become entwined into one unit.
If GE appliances are just going to become rebranded Electrolux's going forward then GE Appliances for all intents and purposes doesn't exist anymore.

The problem with Bosch and Mielle is that they're really expensive and a lot of consumers like me out there don't want to spend more than 1800 on a fridge freezer combo.

http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/L...liance-division-to-Electrolux-for-3.3-billion


If GE is gone for all intents and purposes that means there are only 3 manufacturers out there:

Electrolux
LG Electronics
Whirlpool

with Electrolux and Whirlpool both having maybe a dozen brand names under their umbrella.

 

[james t kirk]

^^^ You could try LG or Samsung, they might be better (Lest we forget that LG used to be called "Goldstar" back in the 90's. Yeah, the same guys who made Goldstar VCRs.)

As to Miele being expensive, yeah, their fridges are stupid expensive, but their dishwashers are farking amazing and not over the top expensive.

 

[wrxed2]

Interestingly the Miele fridges are made in the same factory in turkey as the top of the line bosch/thermador/gaggenau.
Bosch has a very wide range of products at every price point which I like as they trickle down their technology so their low end stuff benefits from the design/engineering of the high end product, just with less options.

 

[SkyRider]

There is no money in making appliances last 20 or 25 years any more.

My late departed Hitachi clothes washer lasted 25 years although it did need a repair job early in its life. It was also extremely water efficient compared to my current machine.

 

[bazokajoe]

I have a frigidaire stove and fridge for 15 years and not a single problem with either.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

I have a frigidaire stove and fridge for 15 years and not a single problem with either.

That's the key. Your Frigidaire fridge is 15 years old and was made with good parts.
My Frigidaire fridge was less than 3 years old, still looked newish, and had to be junked because the parts inside it and the assembly build quality were total crap and it was too expensive to bother fixing.
I'll stick with the Whirlpool group for now.