Repair-It

Yeah.

Went to home Depot. Floor selection not great. Wickford appliance was closed. Went to Lowe's. Much better floor selection. Ended up with this.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Frigidaire-26- ... 1000225693

Pretty decent sale so that works even though $1600 with tax and removal of old fridge is plenty expensive for me. This appeared to be the cheapest thing that met all requirements and didn't have cheap feeling drawers.

Will post more but I think the compressor died in my old fridge. Removed the run capacitor and tested it with my sweet harbor freight clamp on meter. It tested perfect. So...I'm done with it.

So the past few days things seemed to be warming up inside. Also the water line in the freezer door froze. When I was looking at that, I got down on the floor to disconnect the union that goes up to the door (when I thought it may be a filter issue or something) and while I was on the floor playing with the water, the discharge air underneath began smelling like fried electronics or something. It was a little alarming but it went away after 20 seconds. Well I guess this was the compressor failing.

Like I said, I was able to remove the start capacitor and test it using my meter. It is rated at 15 uF and I tested it at 15.5 so...that was disappointing. I could have tested that the compressor was getting power but pretty sure that's what failed. Not replacing that (yes I can get a replacement compressor, I checked).

So yeah the new fridge is 36" wide so the widest I can fit. It is about the tallest thing I can fit, too, though I could remove a trim piece and go another inch or two if they make 72" tall units. It has the most space (26.8 cu-ft) for a fridge of this exterior dimension with ice maker (it would be another 1.2 without ice maker). Drawers had nice rollers, not plastic on plastic. 7 LED lights inside so hopefully those last forever. No screens, no dual opening doors, no fancy trim. I could have spent another $200 on a Gallery series which basically just had fancier trim, as well as a 2nd ice maker in the freezer drawer with a big tray. I can buy ice which we do once a year for parties.

It was listed as $850 off until 10/23. Has 1182 ratings on Lowes.com with 4.3/5 stars. I got the touch resistant stainless. The real stainless is 4.4/5 and has a slightly higher recommended rating so there's some variation there as the finish should really not have an impact on anything...

I really didn't do much research or shopping around so I am kind of impressed I was able to decide on something so quickly. We do have a backup fridge in the basement but even with that, it's a major inconvenience obviously.

Unfortunately I just bought 3 new filters for my old fridge which are useless to me now. Delivery is free (they even had it in stock). $20 to remove old fridge, though there is a $50 rebate through National Grid. Not sure if I have to have them come and remove or if I can take credit somehow...

For brands I was down to Frigidaire (Electrolux), GE and Whirlpool. I wanted to avoid LG and Samsung based on my Consumer Reports reading a year ago. I asked someone in the store (maybe it was Home Depot) do any of these last longer than 10 years? She said....10 years is what they all target now. So my old Frigidaire lasted 14. Bonus years? Sigh.
The floor model was unplugged so I rolled it out and plugged it in so I could see the lights and display. My father in law was all nervous. It was funny.

Some reading reveals the ice maker sucks. Doesn't make ice very quickly. I actually disabled the ice maker in our current fridge anyway. We don't really use ice. A slightly more annoying design choice is the water dispenser makes room temp water. Not chilled. It's funny because the fridge we have now doesn't make very cold water though it does have a coil inside the fridge. This may be one reason there is more room than competitors, no coil for water. I dispense into my water bottle which sits in room temp anyway. I just mentioned this to Jamie. She goes "I don't really care about ice.". Then I mentioned the water. She says "I don't like cold water.". lol, perfect.

Sooo...these aren't show stoppers but I could see people being annoyed with both. We'll be fine. I still think $1500 is a good price for what this is.

There are more but I wanted to save this one for later: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg74-zOpG2g

Ugh. This is killing me.

Ended up buying a CR subscription. Turns out Frigidaire and Electrolux are ranked...at the bottom for refrigerator reliability based on 2008 to 2018 survey data. I can't find the exact model but similar ones are down in the 40s.

Results in the following chart are gathered from Consumer Reports’ 2018 Spring Survey of 35,978 French-door refrigerators, owned by members who purchased a new unit between 2008 and 2018.

Our predicted brand reliability ratings are based on a statistical model that estimates problem rates within the first 5 years of ownership, for French-door refrigerators that are not covered by an extended warranty or service contract. Higher ratings are indicative of better reliability. Brands receiving a red or orange rating cannot be recommended by CR at this time.

Of course I think this means the ice maker issue is pretty wide spread. There is an updated gasket kit that seems to make things way better.

Here are the reliability rankings:

Predicted Reliability
Kenmore
6 / 10

LG
6 / 10

GE
5 / 10

KitchenAid
5 / 10

Maytag
5 / 10

Samsung
5 / 10

Amana
4 / 10

Jenn-Air
4 / 10

Whirlpool
4 / 10

Bosch
3 / 10

Thermador
3 / 10

Frigidaire
2 / 10

Electrolux
1 / 10

I don't really trust Kenmore because they aren't really a brand so it probably depends on the underlying manufacturer though this would suggest that on average, they are good regardless of which one is actually is. Still....but look at LG. Sigh.

So I looked at the top rated LG (which is like $3500) and, surprise, it is riddled with negative reviews, complaining of junk (including compressor issues). I really need more time to do research but at this point, and given that nothing high on the list seems to be anywhere near my $1500 price point, my best option is probably just to get that 5 year warranty for $190, and I have 30 days to do so. If they have to repair it 4 times, they'll replace the whole fridge or something. And if it turns out just to be ice maker issues, I can deal with that. Or disable it completely. I am actually kind of stressed out about this and sickened at the same time. I knew refrigerators were a huge black hole...so buying one on short notice really sucks.

Whirlpool seemed like the only other brand in my price range (and still higher) and they aren't exactly great. GE a little better...I can look at GEs I guess but I didn't like what I saw at least in the store. Why are these so goddamn expensive and garbage??

It does seem like the french door refrigerators tend to have ice maker problems, and not just Frigidaire (because the ice maker is in the fridge compartment so air sealing and water draining can be an issue). I assume this would apply to any fridge on top design. It turns out the old school freezer on top is probably the most reliable (and the one I hate the most, functionally). And from an ice maker standpoint, a side by side with that on the freezer should be OK.

Also as far as CR goes, I don't know that I should get whipped up over bad customer reviews. It is possible that, especially on the highly rated ones, if someone bought it due to CR recommendation and they have an issue, those people are going to FLOCK in and leave nasty grams all over the place. But the real question is, what is happening statistically? And that's theoretically why the CR ratings should be useful. Frankly this applies to ANY consumer review of ANYTHING ANYWHERE. You almost just have to sort of do a comparison looking at total numbers, number of 5 star, number of 1 star, and look for trends. It is really exhausting.

I mean I could get one with no ice or water I guess. More space...less problems? This might be all moot because it is supposed to be delivered tomorrow though Jamie did not receive a call today...

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Frigidaire-Gal ... 1000761802

I see a water filter...where is the spout and where is the ice maker??

I think maybe it only has the freezer ice maker and no water spout. I dunno, I am tired. After all of this I guess I'll spend the $190 on the warranty and at least be covered for 5 years...even though I think I can fix the ice maker issue myself with the updated kit they have (which is only $50).

It will also be interesting to see what my actual ownership experience is. It seems unlikely at this point but what if I have zero issues?? Then I don't know what I can even believe anymore. Probably means what I've been doing the whole time....buy on features and price, fix it myself when it breaks.

Looked at a GE that is like $2100. Good space. Similar ratings on Lowes as the Frigidaire. Checked CR. Rated 80. Good rating. Scrolled down. 5 bad customer reviews, all mostly complaining that theirs leaked refrigerant and the compressor and condenser had to be replaced. I mean goddamn. I'm going to stick with what I picked and just get the $190 5 year warranty and move on with my life. This is just ridiculous.

Probably no going back now. It is installed, old fridge gone. Evidently it just fit which is handy. Then again the kitchen people probably knew what space was correct for a 36" fridge (including height).

I will have to inspect when I return. I may even call Lowe's today and get the warranty. Also some people say I should even try to get frigidaire to provide that ice maker kit on day 1 to avoid the problem in the first place. I guess I will inspect and see if it looks like additional sealing/insulation is part of the design on the very unlikely chance they revised the design over the past 5 years...

One of the top rated Kenmores, with a score of 85, has a customer review with 37 out of 42 reviews being 1 star.

I really do assume that the small percentage of people who have problems must come to the site and unload. I'd be pissed, too, but statistics are a bitch. Still, it does make me a little nervous.

Anyway I need to make sure I can buy the warranty at the price it was advertised. They just go by price. In the price range I bought it on sale, the warranty would be $190 but that sale ends after tomorrow. So I need to make sure if I buy it, it is at the purchased price not the current price. I will call to verify and maybe just see if I can purchase that way. I'd think they will need the serial number though...

I called. They will honor the purchased price that is shown on the receipt. So that would be $190. Cool. I have to go in with the receipt so I'll deal with that when I get back since I have 28 days.

Apparently Ian was very excited and told me about all the features. He also dispensed ice. I cringed. Haha

This is interesting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TL1GxmCe3_4

Claims all he does is shut the ice maker off every couple of weeks and any ice build up melts. Let's recall the design, which would theoretically apply to any fridge-on-top design where the ice maker is inside the refrigerator part: There is a coil behind the maker, and the maker is supposed to be insulated from the rest of the fridge which is NOT at ice temp. There is a small fan (almost a PC fan) that basically turns that area into a mini-freezer. There are various moisture and freeze-up problems that can lead to icing of not just the coil but the drain. Ice can build up and interfere with that fan. Other moisture issues can cause electrical problems with the plugs. In severe cases I've read about the fridge rusting out from the back cause of chronic water issues.

So the coil has a defroster element on it which I guess would be the case in any freezer coil. It will run periodically. This is supposed to melt the ice and it goes down a drain and into the pan on the bottom, where it evaporates. This guy figured out that if he just shuts it off every couple of weeks, the defrost cycles are apparently enough to melt everything and keep ice from building up.

I think I'm still getting the warranty...