Repair-It

Fancy computer diagnostic modes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuxV18oGEg4

This one is like a breath of fresh air. You can run the ice maker through some tests. This guy was pretty laid back. It's really hard to judge the severity of a problem from lay people on the internet.

Very detailed video of removal and installation of ice maker...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q01CWOUNnWQ

Here it is. I give the installers a C+. Maybe a B- depending on what your standards are. I mean the old fridge is gone, the water got hooked up, it's running, and all that. But I made some small tweaks to the door height and the mullion thing in the middle. But what was much more annoying was all the plastic wrap all over everything. Inside there was still tape and plastic wrap on all the drawers. And a big sheet of foam between the fruit/veg drawers and the deli drawer. So I had to work at that for probably 45 minutes.

The water is room temperature as reported. Ice maker works fine. Overall I'm happy so far. The drawers do feel pretty cheap (thin plastic) but I think they operate reasonably well because they have rollers. It's not plastic on plastic.

It barely fits in the opening, but it does fit. However it is not properly leveled. It really can't go up any more because there is a trim piece under the cabinets (over the fridge). It is held in with 3 screws and the carpenter specifically planned for me to be able to remove that should I get a taller fridge someday. So I will remove that and then be able to raise the front of the fridge the required 1/4" or whatever so the angle is right for the doors. Plus this will give more cooling space at the top and that's probably a good idea, too. I didn't buy the warranty yet but the Frigidaire factory warranty is over $300 for only 3 years, so the Lowes at $190 for 5 seems like a good deal to me.

Opened it up to about a 3/4" gap which is twice what the spec is (should be pretty noticeable comparing to the above pic). Aside from the 3 screws, it was also pinned in from the side so it took some prying to get it out. I just bent the pins off flush with the wall. I used a table saw to cut off the extra height from the filler. Then I found my wax stuff and filled in the gaps as much as I could. This kind of finish carpentry is so tedious but satisfying when it comes out well. This came out...ok. Oh and I leveled the fridge. Tipped it up/back a bit and lowered the anti-tip feet. Yes I measured my 3/4" goal after leveling. I did check the rear setback and it is at least 1". Maybe a bit more. So that is also to spec. It seems like there is a perfect amount of depth to accommodate the fridge cabinet (just not the doors, which are intended to stick out - there are "cabinet depth" refrigerators available but I like this better).

I finally got a chance to go to Lowe's today to buy the fridge warranty. While I was waiting for someone, I browsed the refrigerator section again and looked at the $200 more expensive Gallery version of what I bought and also the one I bought. Right away I noticed that the one I bought was down to $1,399 or another $100 off. Wow. So when an appliance person came over I said I wanted to buy the warranty but that I noticed the lower price. Of course they refund the difference since it dropped within 30 days of purchase. So....I got my 5 year warranty for $190-$100 back. This was a pretty amazing set of circumstances. This effectively makes the warranty $90 for 5 years, a no-brainer. I feel pretty good about that. I suspect this model is at the end of its life but I don't foresee that causing any issues. It should mean that whatever happens to these is already well documented and any fixes possible should be pretty easy to find.

Here is the review I just posted on the Frigidaire website (chance to win $1000).

It is approaching a month since I have purchased this fridge in an emergency situation when my old Frigidaire from 2005 died (probably compressor). Apparently 14 years is good these days so I was happy enough with it to look at Frigidaire again. At Lowes I quickly zeroed in on this model because it was basically the best value for something that met all of my requirements.

This is my first refrigerator on top design and what I like about it is:
- General size. High cubic foot rating for the outside dimensions.
- Layout inside.
- Full width deli drawer. Awesome for organizing yogurts and other stuff that we commonly had to hunt around on shelves to find/reach before.
- Discounted price. I paid $1500 and it ended up even further discounted to $1400 which Lowes matched. I think this is a really great buy for $1400 or even $1500.
- The drawers operate on rollers rather than plastic on plastic

Here are some things that I would consider negatives:
- I do not think this is competitive in the $2300 range where it was originally priced even though I realized it is a fairly old model now
- Horror stories about the ice maker
- Non-chilled water from the dispenser
- The water dispenses from the front which requires me to hold the lever with one finger as I dispense into my water bottle. Yet for ice I must hold it all the way back. It takes away from the convenience of having it.
- The drawers inside feel flimsy but this is offset by what I said above that they roll smoothly which is more important.
- You really need to open both fridge doors completely to fully open the wide deli drawer or else it will gouge the seal on the doors.

I ended up buying the 5 year protection plan because I was so nervous about the ice maker. That said, this model is old now and the ice maker issues seem to be well understood (there is a upgraded seal kit for example). I don’t anticipate any issues with anything else so as long as I keep my eye on the ice maker, I should be good, and I have the 5 year plan anyway.

Overall I do recommend this, especially at the $1400 price point. I really don’t think you can find more fridge for the money, especially for a fridge on top/freezer drawer design.

Should have gotten this refrigerator instead- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3pYZwol6Dc

OK that was really funny.

So around 1 month into ownership in late Nov, I heard a faint clicking sound emanating from the ice box area. Immediately I assumed that it was the coil freezing up or ice build up around the fan (which is how it starts). I initiated a manual defrost cycle by holding the + and - buttons down for like 5 seconds. I also removed the entire ice tray and dumped out all the ice, because it seems like the ice would work against the defrost coil. I heard some definite melting/draining sounds and the sound went away. I put the ice tray back and let it build ice again. Actually, I also turned off the ice maker completely for a few days to make sure everything melted.

Fast forward to yesterday, about a month and a half later. I heard that sound again. So I again initiated a defrost cycle. This time I did not touch the ice tray, nor did I turn the ice maker off. This morning it seems like the sound is gone. This is much less than I did last time so it will be interesting to see how long it goes this time.

So I think there is ice build up and the normal adaptive defrost is insufficient because of the lack of enough insulation around the ice box. I could just do monthly manual defrost cycles but since it seems like my fridge is going to be susceptible to the issue, what I'd like ideally is for the foam insulation upgrade kit to be installed. And I'd like that done under warranty. So now the question is, how do I go about doing that? I don't think I can just call and ask for it (I could try). Seems like a stronger case would be to have an issue. I don't want to wait until the fan locks up and the ice box is no longer able to freeze water. I will have to think about this. I could semi-fabricate something and say I have ice issues and have to manually initiate a defrost cycle to make it work again. That should trigger a response in the form of that foam insulation kit.

Fortunately I have plenty of warranty time and the monthly defrosting will probably keep this at bay indefinitely, worst case.

That didn't do it. So this morning I dumped the ice, turned off the ice maker, and initiated another manual defrost. I'll give it maybe 2 days and turn everything back on. That's what I did in November and that seemed to last a while.