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my refridegerator is breaking. what to do? - 7/17/2009 3:18:06 PM   
pahunkboy


Posts: 33061
Joined: 2/26/2006
From: Central Pennsylvania
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Hello.

The freezer sort of works.  The fridge part had been acting up.  Now it is not cold.   It is a Frigidaire, 3. cube feet.

It is not that old.

It did this last year- then it began to work again later.

So- the new units are -- not as good as the old models??

(freon???)

Anyhow- I can not maneuver a large fridge- and I have not decided what size I want- and at what price.

Any thoughts on the subject??


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RE: my refridegerator is breaking. what to do? - 7/17/2009 3:42:41 PM   
Aylee


Posts: 24103
Joined: 10/14/2007
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Intermitent failure of your defrost chip.

Check and make sure that it is not iced up.  Call a repair guy.  You probably need a new chip / board in it. 

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RE: my refridegerator is breaking. what to do? - 7/17/2009 3:47:05 PM   
Termyn8or


Posts: 18681
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I got two words for you - buy used. I was never sorry I did.

Other than that, consider getting someone to fix the one you have. If you can get someone competent out there, like thirty to fifty for the call, they might just find that all you need is a new defrost timer. Less money and no moving. (it does sound like a defrost timer to me)

I always try to fix something rather than replace it, but that's just me. When I do buy used I prefer it to be from a private owner and I like to see just what kind of environment the item has been in.

T

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RE: my refridegerator is breaking. what to do? - 7/17/2009 6:30:01 PM   
LafayetteLady


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From: Northern New Jersey
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If it isn't "that" old, is it under warranty? In any case, either call someone to come in and find out if it can be repaired or buy another one. But what you can afford and will suit your needs. Seems pretty much like common sense. You need a refridgerator, your's isn't working. Is this really something you can't figure out?

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RE: my refridegerator is breaking. what to do? - 7/17/2009 6:35:33 PM   
DesFIP


Posts: 25191
Joined: 11/25/2007
From: Apple County NY
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When was the last time you cleaned the coils?
Turn it off, get a coil brush, a vacuum cleaner and a flashlight.
Using the flashlight so you can see, scrub those coils clean, not a speck of dust to be seen and keep the vacuum on it as you go so the dust doesn't settle back down.

In the meantime, you should move turn it off, move all food into a friend's fridge, and let all the built up ice in the walls melt. Also check that the little connector to the drain pan isn't plugged.

And if you have pets, clean the coils every three months. I got a new dog this spring, and wham inside a couple of months I needed a repair call. Once or twice a year doesn't cut it when you have a constantly shedding Golden Retriever.

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RE: my refridegerator is breaking. what to do? - 7/17/2009 7:27:44 PM   
pahunkboy


Posts: 33061
Joined: 2/26/2006
From: Central Pennsylvania
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quote:

ORIGINAL: LafayetteLady

If it isn't "that" old, is it under warranty? In any case, either call someone to come in and find out if it can be repaired or buy another one. But what you can afford and will suit your needs. Seems pretty much like common sense. You need a refridgerator, your's isn't working. Is this really something you can't figure out?


I don't really want to spend more then $100.  I still have to pay the water bill.   ..which I sort of need a running start on the water bills - as winter heating season is soon here.   The budget is strained.  ...so much so- that I am plotting when to buy gasoline.  I am not behind per se on the household bills.     Not yet.      I finally got the homeowner exemption onto the house taxes- it took a while to tabulate- and now the mortgage company wont do its adjustment until december.  So- I guess I am suppose to pay it and then get it back later.

My income has to stretch alot farther lately... particularly after the heat bills from this past winter.

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RE: my refridegerator is breaking. what to do? - 7/17/2009 7:29:24 PM   
pahunkboy


Posts: 33061
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From: Central Pennsylvania
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quote:

ORIGINAL: DesFIP

When was the last time you cleaned the coils?
Turn it off, get a coil brush, a vacuum cleaner and a flashlight.
Using the flashlight so you can see, scrub those coils clean, not a speck of dust to be seen and keep the vacuum on it as you go so the dust doesn't settle back down.

In the meantime, you should move turn it off, move all food into a friend's fridge, and let all the built up ice in the walls melt. Also check that the little connector to the drain pan isn't plugged.

And if you have pets, clean the coils every three months. I got a new dog this spring, and wham inside a couple of months I needed a repair call. Once or twice a year doesn't cut it when you have a constantly shedding Golden Retriever.


I think the unit is enclosed. I might have to unscrew it all- to get back there.   I have never cleaned the coils.

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RE: my refridegerator is breaking. what to do? - 7/17/2009 7:31:18 PM   
LookieNoNookie


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Joined: 8/9/2008
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quote:

ORIGINAL: pahunkboy
Any thoughts on the subject??


Yes....get a new SEARS credit card.

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RE: my refridegerator is breaking. what to do? - 7/17/2009 7:43:00 PM   
whippedboy678


Posts: 9
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I got mine on Craigslist for, I think, $125.00 2-3 years ago and it has worked perfectly. It is full-sized.

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RE: my refridegerator is breaking. what to do? - 7/17/2009 7:50:11 PM   
MasterG2kTR


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From: Wisconsin
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If the coils are fully enclosed there should not be any need to clean them. It is also possible that a small leak (refrigerant...i.e.: freon) has developed and now that we are in the warmer months it simply cannot keep up. It may be possible to charge it if this is the case, but you must also fix the leak too.

btw.....3 cube feet is really small. If that's really all you have, a new one might be around $100. I recently bought a small dorm sized one for work and it was only $60 (I think it was 1.8 cf)

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RE: my refridegerator is breaking. what to do? - 7/17/2009 8:40:12 PM   
LafayetteLady


Posts: 7683
Joined: 5/2/2007
From: Northern New Jersey
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quote:

ORIGINAL: pahunkboy

quote:

ORIGINAL: LafayetteLady

If it isn't "that" old, is it under warranty? In any case, either call someone to come in and find out if it can be repaired or buy another one. But what you can afford and will suit your needs. Seems pretty much like common sense. You need a refridgerator, your's isn't working. Is this really something you can't figure out?


I don't really want to spend more then $100.  I still have to pay the water bill.   ..which I sort of need a running start on the water bills - as winter heating season is soon here.   The budget is strained.  ...so much so- that I am plotting when to buy gasoline.  I am not behind per se on the household bills.     Not yet.      I finally got the homeowner exemption onto the house taxes- it took a while to tabulate- and now the mortgage company wont do its adjustment until december.  So- I guess I am suppose to pay it and then get it back later.

My income has to stretch alot farther lately... particularly after the heat bills from this past winter.




I understand about stretched budgets, but most areas have a local store that sells used and scratched or dented appliances. As someone else mentioned, you can try craigslist or the news paper. I often find myself calculating my gas, and timing my cigarettes to make it through with my budget which is probably a lot tighter than most. The point is that you can't NOT have a refridgerator. If you have no fridge, you have to buy food that doesn't need to be kept cold or eat it right away which will screw up your gas budget from having to go the store all the time. Realistically, repair men are probably going to cost you more than a "new" used fridge. Start looking around.

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RE: my refridegerator is breaking. what to do? - 7/18/2009 3:07:19 AM   
Aneirin


Posts: 6121
Joined: 3/18/2006
From: Tamaris
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Things we buy are not as good as they were, the idea of industry, is to maintain custom, so building something to last is against good business, that being if an item lasts almost forever, they may be reducing their market, bad for business. The other thing is, everyone now seeks to cut costs, bung out a product that if it does for the years warranty, it is good enough, but corners are cut, substandard parts are used when manufacturers can get away with it, something that will last for the guarantee period is the aim of many.

Another thing, I recently repaired a refrigerator which had developed an annoying buzz, a buzz that developed into  a really annoying vibration, driving the owner, one of my friends nuts. To save my ear from the constant wingeing about the noisy fridge, I went in there and discovered the fault. The compressor though mounted on vibration damping mountings, was not screwed down properly, the nyloc nuts were at the ends of the threads, they had never been tightened onto the seating washer. The result, the rubber mountings were shot, battered to death between compressor mount and mounting stud, the noise was vibrating metal on metal, transmitting itself to everything that touched around. I made new rubber packing pieces, ran a die down the mounting to reform the damaged thread and with repair washers corrected the ovalised hole worn in the compressor mounting.Once the original nyloc nut had been threaded down, to the place where it was secure, but allowing movent to be damped, the fridge took on a much, much quieter operation. All that, because of in manufacture, some half assed numpty had not tightened the nylocs down.

That could have been the death of a fridge to an owner out of warranty period, I wonder just how many of that make suffered the dump because of the same fault. Manufacture, or rather assembly as it seems to be now, is not anywhere near the crafted with care goods of the past.

Pahunk, others words are true, purchase pre owned, it is a much much more economical buy, and the old, well, they might not be efficient according to the efficiency scales, but they do tend to be built well and last. The other thing I do when seeking an appliance, is use online recommendations from the likes of www.which.com, as to what is a reliable and value for money buy, reports made on the product from the point of view of the buyer and user, not the hype of a commission seeking sales rep that does not even have the knowledge to wire a plug.

But electronics in household appliances, aside from the obvious, tv and stuff like that, I try to avoid any device with an electronic brain, as more often than not, that electronic brain in it's enviroment is short lived, I prefer with fridges to manually defrost from time to time and all my appliances I interact with their action, not simply leave the brain to it's own devices.


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Everything we are is the result of what we have thought, the mind is everything, what we think, we become - Guatama Buddha

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RE: my refridegerator is breaking. what to do? - 7/18/2009 10:19:52 AM   
DesFIP


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Joined: 11/25/2007
From: Apple County NY
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Aneiron, we used to call that kind of thing a Monday made item. Guy comes in hung over on Monday morning and does a half assed job all day.

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RE: my refridegerator is breaking. what to do? - 7/18/2009 12:35:38 PM   
pahunkboy


Posts: 33061
Joined: 2/26/2006
From: Central Pennsylvania
Status: offline
At the old place, I had 3 of them.  I used them as I needed.   A full size, a 1.6, and a 3.

(mom kept giving me one, lol)

I want to do something with my ceilings  over the winter. The ceilings at too high in some rooms.  I may put up hooks- and hang bags of crumpled newspapers, to lessen the cubic feet I heat.   This way- I still have the tall ceilings- as they are nice in the summer.

I am on the computer too much.  I should get the place deep cleaned.

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RE: my refridegerator is breaking. what to do? - 7/18/2009 1:24:28 PM   
DesFIP


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Joined: 11/25/2007
From: Apple County NY
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Get a ceiling fan and exhaust the hot air in summer, and push it back down from the high ceilings in winter. If you're reasonably handy you can exhaust them yourselves.

_____________________________

Slave to laundry

Cynical and proud of it!


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RE: my refridegerator is breaking. what to do? - 7/18/2009 1:37:03 PM   
pahunkboy


Posts: 33061
Joined: 2/26/2006
From: Central Pennsylvania
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quote:

ORIGINAL: DesFIP

Get a ceiling fan and exhaust the hot air in summer, and push it back down from the high ceilings in winter. If you're reasonably handy you can exhaust them yourselves.


I love them in the summer.  I tried them in the winter- and the 3 dont do anything.  They make the place drafty.  I know that one reverses the direction for the cold.

I have another ceiling fan - I got off the curb (someone gave it away) it would be good to get it put up.

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RE: my refridegerator is breaking. what to do? - 7/18/2009 3:29:37 PM   
gobsmack


Posts: 56
Joined: 8/11/2008
From: Mars
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Give it a good hard kick and see if that makes it want to start working again.

If not work, get a saw. Cut a hole between the freezer and the fridge section. Fridge part is now cold again.

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RE: my refridegerator is breaking. what to do? - 7/18/2009 5:05:11 PM   
pahunkboy


Posts: 33061
Joined: 2/26/2006
From: Central Pennsylvania
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: DesFIP

When was the last time you cleaned the coils?
Turn it off, get a coil brush, a vacuum cleaner and a flashlight.
Using the flashlight so you can see, scrub those coils clean, not a speck of dust to be seen and keep the vacuum on it as you go so the dust doesn't settle back down.

In the meantime, you should move turn it off, move all food into a friend's fridge, and let all the built up ice in the walls melt. Also check that the little connector to the drain pan isn't plugged.

And if you have pets, clean the coils every three months. I got a new dog this spring, and wham inside a couple of months I needed a repair call. Once or twice a year doesn't cut it when you have a constantly shedding Golden Retriever.


I took it to the yard and hosed it down.

So now we shall see.  :-)

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RE: my refridegerator is breaking. what to do? - 7/18/2009 5:07:28 PM   
DesFIP


Posts: 25191
Joined: 11/25/2007
From: Apple County NY
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Hosing down the outside won't improve its working. And let's hope you didn't short it out by getting water where it shouldn't be.

_____________________________

Slave to laundry

Cynical and proud of it!


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RE: my refridegerator is breaking. what to do? - 7/22/2009 9:28:45 AM   
ienigma777


Posts: 283
Joined: 2/20/2009
Status: offline
YES INDEED; USED...50 bucks, if you get a year or more...you've made money. Learned that after I bought a NEW PHILCO and one year to the very day, after the warrenty expired, the compressor went out, so much for the great PHILCO brand.....no more 800 bucks for me...50, 75...you got it.

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