<p>Ok, so my family is in a bit of a predicament, so I was wondering if anyone could give me any ideas on what to do.</p>
<p>My mother woke up this morning and went into the kitchen to find water leaking out of our freezer. She opened it up, and the ice was melting and the food was starting to thaw. Our freezer had died. She rushed around trying to move as much food as she could into our other freezer and clean up the mess. An inconvenience, but not too bad. She called the repair people at Sears, and they can’t send anyone until Christmas Eve morning. He said it sounded like the condenser was broken and that it would cost about $250 for the part and labor. This is a big expense for us, as we live paycheck to paycheck and the worsening state of the economy has not helped much. Our refrigerator is only 4 years old, but our warranty has expired.</p>
<p>Then she started worrying that the refrigerator part might die too. It’s apparently been making this weird noise sometimes that sounds like a humming/buzzing noise and then a click. She put a thermometer in the refrigerator to measure the temperature, and it was only 55 degrees, way above the ideal 35-38 degrees. Now we have no idea if the entire refrigerator is even fixable, so we may have to buy a completely new one, something we really can’t afford.</p>
<p>So now we’re at a loss for what to do. We have to wait till Christmas Eve to find out if the fridge is savable or if it will cost more to repair than buy a new one. I’ve called a friend who lives nearby to see if his family has any coolers we can use to try to save the food, so that’s what we’re going to do for now. But can we really last this way until Christmas Eve? My mother was thinking of buying a small compact refrigerator, but it seems very expensive to do that, especially if we might have to have to buy a new normal one too. It could prove useful in the long run, since my younger sister is going to college in a year, but in my opinion the added expense doesn’t seem worth it.</p>
<p>We’ve also called all the repair companies in the area who advertise 24-hour service in the phonebook, but so far we’ve just gotten answering machines.</p>
<p>Do any of you have any opinions on how to handle this crisis or any other ideas of what we can do?</p>
<p>How neighborly are your neighbors? Here’s how we’d proceed:
(1) Start calling around to see who has an old fridge/freezer in their basement that they couldn’t bear to part with when they got their new one.
(2) Check Craigslist and buy a used one locally.
(3) Call a local handyman and ask what he would recommend.</p>
<p>PS, FWIW I think your fridge/freezer is toast. Sorry.</p>
<p>I was once able to revive a dying refrigerator by vaccuuming the coils, as you are supposed to do every year or so (but we never do it). You might try this, just in case. </p>
<p>How hold is the unit? It may be worth replacing from an energy efficiency standpoint if five plus years old. </p>
<p>Is it an auto defrost unit (both fridge and freezer)? If so, it may be the clock timer that controls the defrost cycle rather than the condensor or compressor. Make sure your repaiman is not trying to sell you more than you need (although diagnosing the defrost clock is one of the first troubleshooting steps in a situation you describe).</p>
<p>You can get a dorm sized fridge for $100-$150, maybe less at any of the big box stores like Lowes, Home Depot. If your sib needs one, might as well buy it as a temporary fix. These are abundant as used units on Craigslist as well.</p>
<p>You may be hard pressed now to buy a full-sized unit and arrange delivery prior to Christmas.</p>
<p>Good luck.
edit: vacuuming the coils if they are dust covered as suggested is worth a shot, but it may be a temporary fix.</p>
<p>If you do need to replace the unit, some utility companies will give you a credit for buying a more energy efficent one. check with your local power company to see if they either give you a rebate or a credit towards your electricity use.</p>
<p>after much ordeal and waiting for repairs, our just over a year old fridge was fixed with a $7 thermostat replacement.Repairman tried to sell us a completely new computer piece. Google the phrase that best describes your problem and you’ll get forums with experienced repair people who will help you diagnose your problem. we also had to wait for repair and used bags of ice from the market to help keep the fridge part at the right temp.</p>
<p>Argh !!!
I did not read thru this entire thread so some of my advice may be worthless. I went thru this a few months ago with a Jennair fridge we had purhased 4 yrs ago from Sears. I went for over three weeks without my fridge and freezer ( a least we had some small fridges from out business and that came with the house when we bought it. Stilll, we lost a lot of food and we were definately incovenieced by having o walk outside with arm loads of food every time I cooked.
The compressor went on the appliance…even though it shouldn’t have. I would suggest contacting whoever you bough it from…calmly state your issues, no just with the appliance not living up to it’s expectations, but the hardship it has caused your household…when all was said an done, I got mine repaired , plus another part that was on the verge of failure and got a check for $250 woth of lost food, plus a $50 gift card from Sears.
Businesses are hurting and most , not all are willing to do what they can to appease their customers.
Been there and feel your pain
What a shame that the appliances were not built to last even to their warranty, le alone a few yrs later !!</p>
<p>Sears often says the condenser might need to be replaced but usually it doesn’t. The condenser is a self contained unit that usually doesn’t break (although of course, it’s possible).</p>
<p>btw - There’s only one condenser/cooling unit that cools both the freezer and the fridge part.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Check the fan on the condenser.
— Pull the fridge out from the wall and take a look at the fan that’s by the condenser which is at the bottom of the unit.
— Unplug the unit before you remove the back cover.
— You might need to remove a pressboard or metal cover from the lower back part of the fridge to tell if the fan isn’t working although you can usually feel the air flow or detect it by holding a piece of paper near the intake/exhaust and seeing if it flutters.
— Plug the unit back in and see if the fan turns on within a few minutes. If it doesn’t, then it’s likely bad. You can call around to appliance parts stores and buy a new one. It shouldn’t be expensive. You can probably replace it yourself but be sure to unplug the unit before touching anything there or replacing the fan.
— Be careful of touching the condenser itself unless the fridge has been off awhile since it can get hot - especially if the fan is broken. There can also be a ‘hot smell’ as a result.</p></li>
<li><p>It’s possible that even if the fan isn’t coming on it might be because of a bad thermostat. If the fan does come on, the problem can still be a thermostat. You’d need to check to see where the thermostat is in your fridge to see if it’s reasonable for you to replace it yourself - it probably is. You can google your fridge model number and sometimes find online diagrams to tell you where the thermostat is. This should also be a low cost item you can get from an appliance parts place.</p></li>
<li><p>I doubt vacuuming the coils will fix the problem but you should vacuum them anyway and try to do it once a year.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>I’ve never had anything go wrong with my fridges other than the condenser fan which I’ve replaced a few times on two different brands of fridges. Afain, this is a fairly low cost item - roughly $20-$50.</p>
<p>If you don’t feel comfortable doing the above you might want to call some other appliance repair place, hopefully one that’s been in business a long time and is reputable. If you have Sears do it watch out - they’ll likely try to talk you into a ‘maintenance contract’ for some more money. I’m already suspicious of them when they state it’s likely the condenser when they haven’t even looked at it. It doesn’t matter if your fridge is a Sears unit or not since Sears doesn’t actually make fridges. Most of the Sears fridges are made by Whirlpool. I think Sears must make a lot of money off of their appliance repair business.</p>
<p>Have them check the evaporator coil before they tell you you need a new compressor. And check your warranty, as the compressor is usually under warranty for LONGER than the other parts, and if the unit is only 4 years old the compressor may still be under warrantly.</p>
<p>Is there a local appliance repairman you could call? He’d have no interest in selling you a new appliance and might give you a more honest answer, at least a quicker one.</p>
<p>This happened to my still-under-warranty Amana bottom freezer unit. I used a daily bag of ice in a cooler and a compact dorm sized fridge with a freezer shelf that I knew my girl would be able to use when she started college. It took about 3 weeks for the diagnosis/ordering the condenser/installation. It was the middle of summer and a real pain. You have my sympathy…and I hope you live in a cold climate.</p>
<p>My oven died last week. Sears said the soonest they could get a repair guy over was two weeks. The last time they were here it was $400 to replace the computer and $600 to do the broiler. (I skipped the latter.) This time I got smart I stopped by the local appliance store I’d heard good things about. It’s tiny. I enter the shop and the owner says, I think I can get you my repair guy this afternoon. I talk to the repair guy whose a little worried about the snowy weather, but promises if not that afternoon the first thing the next morning. Ten minutes later he calls and asks if he can come now there’s been a cancellation can he come now. The repair is done right away and I have a working oven. And the little store has a new loyal customer.</p>
<p>As for the fridge. If you are in a cold climate, I’d just stick things in a cold chest and put them outside. Otherwise, do you have a rental place? You might be able to rent something.</p>
<p>our refrigerator died this summer- but it was quite a bit older than 4 years.
We used a cooler for a few days- and bought a dorm size fridge, with no freezer, then found a chest freezer on craigslist that was donated to us. A larger fridge would be nice, but really we don’t need all that room & the smaller ones are much more energy efficent as are chest freezers.
Look on craigslist/freecycle, many people sell for cheap or even free when remodeling.</p>
<p>I’ve usually found a pretty simple repair. These things have heater coils to defrost the ice that builds up on the condendser coils. There’s a thermostat that turns on the heater. If that heater never comes on, the ice eventually builds up to a solid chunk, airflow stops, and the cooling goes kaput. The repair is to melt the ice with a hair drier and replace the ten dollar thermostat.</p>
<p>Most refrigerators that have lost power can keep food cold for at least 24 hours if the doors are kept closed. The fact that you measured the internal temperature to be 55 degrees while it was still plugged in suggests the automatic defrost feature of your freezer is probably working longer than it should. This probably means that the thermostat that controls the heater coil is bad. </p>
<p>There is a defrost timer that works in conjunction with the heater coil thermostat in the freezer. It controls the duration of the heater coil operation in defrost mode. It’s a simple mechanical device that is triggered by the thermostat. Because it lies downstream from the thermostat, I would first suspect the freezer thermostat being bad.</p>
<p>If you have a typical top freezer unit, unplug the refrigerator. Remove the freezer shelves and you should see the rear panel of the freezer compartment held in place with some hex screws. Remove the screws and the rear panel. You should see the cooling coils and behind it, the defrosting coil which looks like an oven heating element. At one end of that heating coil, you’ll see a round metal button (the size of a big coat button…at least that’s what it looked like on my unit). That part is plugged in and attaches to the heating coil. That part on my unit costs under $20.00. My thermostat uses spade connectors. Note which wire goes where if you plan to do the work yourself </p>
<p>Make note of your refrigerator’s make and model number. There are any numbers of appliance part websites that allow you to drill down to your thermostat. Get a part number and call around to see if anybody carries it locally. A four year old refrigerator shouldn’t need a new compressor. If you have a repairman come to the house, have him replace the thermostat only and turn the refrigerator back on. If that fixes the problem, you’re good to go. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Re Interesteddad: I had the same problem; used the old hair dryer, but my thermostat was a little more expensive…</p>
<p>I never knew that you were supposed to vacuum the refrigerator coils every year! Because of this thread (and the fear that if my 36" built in refrigerator dies, I may not be able to find a suitable replacement and my hardwood floors might get ruined) I got on a step ladder (kitchen aid built in refrigerator coils are on the top of the unit) with my heavy but very powerful miele vacuum/broom and did my best to clean out what looked like a grey cat living in my coils!!! Wow, I had no idea that was there. I had already learned that you should vacuum your smoke detectors every six months. Okay, what else is routine maintenance on appliances that somehow I never learned about.</p>
<p>Sears in our area gives lousy service also. We used to always buy Sears appliances, but because of their service dept., no more. We found a good local service company with same day service and fair rates. No more Sears purchases for us!</p>