Anyone bought a refrigerator they like?

I was about to re-subscribe, but saw this thread (and one about legal stuff and one about cats, all on the first page) and realized there is little useful audio discussion here anymore.

I, for one, would hate to see you go. The info you gave us in the record cleaning thread is priceless.
 
I have a Samsung and I do not recommend it.
The ice dispenser chute too often becomes clogged with ice. Removing it is a PITA.
And it emits a faint high pitched squeal periodically.

I fought with Samsung for 6 months last year and actually got a 100% refund. I was getting melting and refreezing ice constantly. I'll never purchase a frig with in the door ice dispensing again.
 
Well I missed a lot while travelling yesterday!

First, apologies to anyone offended by the thread misplacement. I fully intended to put it in Off Topic but I was in a hurry. I would have no objection to moving it.

Interesting that so many people said Samsung is unreliable. Including service and sales guys. I put 10x more stock in that than a single customer who bought a single appliance and decided a whole brand was junk. You can find reviews on any make/model both good and bad - from "Works great!" to "Everything broke on this unit" to "Don't buy anything by XXXX, it's all junk!"

Consumer Reports polled thousands of customers and their data shows Kenmore, GE, LG and Samsung all pretty close in repair rates (32-35% of respondents saying their units required repair). The other bunch is Maytag, Kitchen Aid, Whirlpool at 40-47% (in that order, so Whirlpool had the worst rate of breakdowns. Yet may here are saying the reverse: that Samsung is awful and Whirlpool is great.

:dunno:
 
Consumer Reports polled thousands of customers and their data shows Kenmore, GE, LG and Samsung all pretty close in repair rates (32-35% of respondents saying their units required repair). The other bunch is Maytag, Kitchen Aid, Whirlpool at 40-47% (in that order, so Whirlpool had the worst rate of breakdowns. Yet may here are saying the reverse: that Samsung is awful and Whirlpool is great.
We're a self-selecting, small-N, inherently-biased sample. No statistical validity should be assumed; no conclusions should be drawn.
 
I bought an Amana side-by-side refrigerator with ice and water dispenser about 25 years ago. Never had a problem until it stopped getting cold about 5 years ago, so I contacted someone to check her out. The repairman replaced the thermostat for cheap and told me the Amana was a keeper. In his experience, the model lasts forever and are much easier to service than the new models. This impressed my wife and needless to say we still use the same fridge today.
 
When we remodeled the kitchen we decided we wanted a unit that was only cabinet depth. Stuff was always getting lost on the back of our deep 26 cu ft Maytag. So we bought a 42" wide Kichenaide. I couldn't see spending the money on a Viking or a Sub Zero. And it a lot quieter than most other brands. The only thing I ever hear in the kitchen is the ice dropping in the ice bin.
 
Good point DaveV. Also if a brand sells a lot of units, there are going to be more total breakdowns, and any given person is likely to hear about more breakdowns of that brand, but their rate of failure may actually be lower.

Found a Samsung this morning (bottom freezer, double doors above with ice and water disp), normally $2599 at Lowes, but a $500 rebate thru mid May. Has a lot of the nicer features and can't beat the price.

Thought about fixing the old one and did a bit of troubleshooting. Compressor is running very hot, actually shut itself down when I unplugged it for a minute to vacuum around the fan down there, when I plugged it back in it ran for 3 sec and shut down. I think an overheated compressor combined with sudden loss of fan cooling = thermal shutoff. Let it sit an hour with a small fan on the compressor to cool everything down, and it fired up. Still runs hot and doesn't cool the fridge side enough, but it's not totally dead. Left that extra fan running. What I learned in an hour of web searching was that a hot compressor and weak cooling probably means the compressor is on its way out. This unit being at least 20 maybe 25 years old, it's probably not worth fixing.
 
Vacuum your coils people. It will help your compressor run less and prolong its life. This unit was a mess!

Yep, that's what I was sayin' above. Most common cause of trouble in fridges is plugged up coil / crapped out condenser fan. Dirty coils and / or a bad condenser fan will cause loss of efficiency and high head pressure which directly results in higher current draw and eventual failure of electrical components. Overheating the compressor cuts its life short too, and of course if it can't get rid of the heat it can't absorb any from inside the fridge.

Gotta clean the coils at least once a year, more often if you have pets. Also make sure the condenser fan is running, it's super important that the coils have air moving over them.
 
I don't know why, but I read this whole thread. I didn't see any mention of Electrolux, the largest appliance manufacturer in the world. They make Frigidaire, but they also make their own Electrolux brand appliances. We bought a fridge a few years back. It was maybe a thousand more than competitors, but it was the quietest refrigerator I've ever seen. With today's open floor plans, that's important. The fridge is essentially in the living room. Anyway, good quality and reliable. Just saying.
 
Not sure that I understand this cleaning of the coils. Can I use Deoxit? And which one?
The coils are similar to heatsinks on electronics. If they are full of debris, the amount of cooling air that should pass through is now reduced and can't efficiently release heat. The result is your compressor works harder and longer than it was designed to, using more energy and shortening the life of your fridge.
 
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Well this thing resolved itself rapidly. My sister (who lives closer) and I both researched fridges and liked this one nice Samsung. Bottom freezer, side by side up top, ice and water in the door. Mom and sister went to Lowes to look. I found out they had a $500 rebate this month. She texted later that they found a returned one of the exact model, $600 off due to a small ding in the TOP no one can see. Plus the rebate I suppose. So that's MSRP $3100, regular Lowes price $2599, $600 off for the ding plus $500 rebate, final price $1500. Screaming deal and they're delivering Thurs. I'm like holy crap that was easy.
 
Stuff never goes that well! Today I had a poly-jack guy come to fill in a void under our driveway and lift up the slab where it meets the garage. He was supposed to be here yesterday but the gun blew up. Guy had trouble all day, finally called a service tech from the eqpt. vendor, and ended up knocking off early to go clean his gun and hoses. The driveway barely got lifted 1/2" one side out of 3", so he has to come back. I signed the contract in November, it got cold, he tried in Jan., then, as he says 'kinda forgot about it' until I called the office to ask where they were. It's been a circus since day 1. And now my electric garage door has quit!

But Mom's got a new fridge coming so all's well. :thumbsup: Thanks for the advice and entertainment guys and gals.
 
They say things happen in threes, so you might be good for a little while. But if I was you, I wouldn’t walk under any ladders or look at a mirror the wrong way!
 
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