Any Appliance Doctors in the house?

[primesuspect]

My fridge is screwed :(

At first it was just getting a bit warmer. Now, the freezer is running at fridge temps (not cold enough to freeze water), and the fridge is like, room temperature (read: warm). This is if the thing is cranked up to the highest setting.

A friend suggested cleaning the coils of dust and gunk. We did that. Still screwed.

Does the compressor ever need to be "recharged" a la auto air conditioners, or is it just f*ked?

Help me short-media kenobi, you're my only hope :(

[Mt_Goat]

Sorry to say but when its over its over.:(

Basically when they go it is not worth getting them fixed unless you are a good repairman yourself. Because if it is fixable, which usually its not, a good honest repairman is extremely hard to find. Most often the compressor or the circutry that controls it go bad. Armed with this information I suggest going to Sears or looking at the classifieds for a good used one.

[primesuspect]

i tell people that all the time when it comes to fixing their old computers. I hate to be told that myself ;D

[TheBaron]

hey a new fridge is always a good thing to have. every time we get a new one i'm surprised by all the upgrades in fridge tech that come along with it... i didn't even think there was such a thing

[bothered]

I believe you can get some recharged but I don't know anybody who has.

[Flintstone]

Depending on the fridge, it's typically not worth the effort of even calling a repair dude. That's coming from a guy that used to manage 41 apartments at one time. But I will say this, also from my experience, if you buy an older replacement, say from the paper, be careful when you move it not to lay it on its side. For some reason, the older boxes cannot be laid down as they will not cool when uprighted and turned on. The new ones, say in the last 3-4 years, are OK. From what I've seen from delivery guys, you could transport them upside down and they'd still work when righted and plugged in. Sorry you're having troubles. At least it's not the dead of summer!

Flint

[DogSoldier]

I was commenting about this to my wife just the other day (Actually, about the air conditioner, not the fridge) It used to be much more effective when I first got it 3 years ago, do you have to like... top up the coolant or something? I've cleaned the filters a few times, but it's still weak-ass compared to how cool it used to be. (pun intended)

edit// BTW, we have a small bar fridge that's somehow transformed itself into a freezer, if anyone's interested in purchasing it.. please, contact me.

[Mt_Goat]

Depending on the fridge, it's typically not worth the effort of even calling a repair dude. That's coming from a guy that used to manage 41 apartments at one time. But I will say this, also from my experience, if you buy an older replacement, say from the paper, be careful when you move it not to lay it on its side. For some reason, the older boxes cannot be laid down as they will not cool when uprighted and turned on. The new ones, say in the last 3-4 years, are OK. From what I've seen from delivery guys, you could transport them upside down and they'd still work when righted and plugged in. Sorry you're having troubles. At least it's not the dead of summer!

Flint
Actually it's all refridgerators and not just the older ones. It is because the refrigerant goes into the coils in a liquid form insead of the gas state it normally does to cool. When the fridge is uprighted a lot of the refrigernt gets trapped behind a valve that only operates one way and the compressor starves and dies.

[RWB]

From recent experience of my buds, those repair men screw you any chance they can. They say one thing is worng and not thetruth. I think something simple was screwed with his fridge, the guy said he needed a new compressor - I suppose it was. The guy went out got a new one from his truck, said he replaced it and it did run fine but it cost him a pretty pretty penny.

While the guy was walking out my bud asked him for the old one but the dude wouldn't give it. Not sure what happened after that tobe honest, but knowing him he went off on his ass. We(my family and I) saw something about this on the news sometime within the past two months about them doing this EXACT thing, but they had hidden camera's. When asked for the old part the owner would leave the room for a moment, and the repair guy would quickly pull out the new one he supposedly replaced and scratched it to **** with a knife to make it look screwed up.

ON CAMERA. Don't trust them anymore. No one. :shakehead

[Clutch]

RWB is right, a repair man will try to screw you big time. I worked in the appliance center at Lowes and I would have told you to clean the coils also, but you did that. So it is time to lay her down gently and send her off to where the appliances roam free.

[CB]

Recharging the coolant is only a band-aid, and to keep it working you will have to continue to recharge it after that.

This is because the coolant is not designed to ever go anywhere. Barring malfunctions it stays the same forever, and never needs 'recharging'. It's not like a battery. Coolant does not loose potency.

If you need a recharge (actually refill) it can only be because there is a leak in the system somewhere, and unless that leak can be found, then it will just happen again, and coolant leaks are not easy to find...

[TheSmJ]

Depending on how bad the leak is though, it might be worth while if you don't want to drop $500+ on a new fridge right now.

[primesuspect]

Things work out.

My good friend's parents just so happened to be getting a new fridge yesterday. They asked him if he wanted the old one (still works, just old and kinda dated-looking). He said "sure" and promptly brought it over my house.

Having good friends is worth more than gold.

Thanks, microman :)

[Kristof2]

Screw the used one from your friend. Admit it! you want this one!

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=6366005&type=product&productCategoryId=cat05004&id=1077624214385
:D


Kristof2

[Nomad]

I should have seen this thread sooner because we have a working fridge empty on our front porch we're trying to unload.