When to replace a fridge?

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Spicoli43 said:
I think an important part is where to get a fridge, or specifically, what retailer offers the best EXTENDED warranty because as stated, they will break. There will never be another 30 year appliance.

Costco gives a 2 year total warranty if you have their credit card. There is no other warranty you can buy.

HD and Lowe's here now offer a 5 Year extended warranty...
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My 10+ year old washer and dryer have worked trouble free since I bought new.
 
I'm probably jinxing myself. Our SxS fridge has had a few minor problems I've been able to fix myself. All dealing with the water and ice maker. It is 24 years old. Our washer and dryer (Whirlpool front loader) has been trouble free for 10+ years. In 24 years I'm on my second DW, second range, and 4th above the range MW. On the original range the main failure has been the oven ignitor.
 
swimmer_spe said:
My 10+ year old washer and dryer have worked trouble free since I bought new.
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My 60 year old GE washer and Frigidaire dryer work fine, but the dryer needs a new belt about every 20 years... used to be 10 years, but belt material technology appears to be improving...
 
swimmer_spe said:
I thought it was Samsung that were the worst.
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I haven't found a brand that is good. They make them to break. My Whirlpool washer and dryer are 2 years old, the dryer is dead and the washer is close. The Maytag dishwasher needed 2 service calls and it gave a hint that it's almost dead by turning off mid cycle.

I don't know how old you are, but in the 80's, they had the "Lonely Maytag Repairman" commercials where the dude had nothing to do... Not anymore, homeboy works 160 hours a week now.

For the first service call on my Samsung oven, I was talking to the guy and he commented on my LG Dishwasher, said his store doesn't work on LG... When a repair joint won't even touch a certain brand, that says a lot. They would be paid no matter what by me or the warranty, but they choose not to even deal with an entire brand.

That's why I get 5 year warranties on everything... If it makes it that long and dies in year 7, so be it, but everything I have owned as an Adult has barely made it a Year without a service call.
 
Spicoli43 said:
I haven't found a brand that is good. They make them to break. My Whirlpool washer and dryer are 2 years old, the dryer is dead and the washer is close. The Maytag dishwasher needed 2 service calls and it gave a hint that it's almost dead by turning off mid cycle.

I don't know how old you are, but in the 80's, they had the "Lonely Maytag Repairman" commercials where the dude had nothing to do... Not anymore, homeboy works 160 hours a week now.

For the first service call on my Samsung oven, I was talking to the guy and he commented on my LG Dishwasher, said his store doesn't work on LG... When a repair joint won't even touch a certain brand, that says a lot. They would be paid no matter what by me or the warranty, but they choose not to even deal with an entire brand.

That's why I get 5 year warranties on everything... If it makes it that long and dies in year 7, so be it, but everything I have owned as an Adult has barely made it a Year without a service call.
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I am old enough to remember those old Maytag commercials.
 
Ron Van said:
When you say "maintained correctly," what do you think that means?
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I was thinking the same. To me good refrigerator/freezer maintenance includes: periodically cleaning the coils (3-4 times a year) and it wouldn't hurt to do a manual defrost annually. I've had issues with refrigerators that are fixed by simply doing a manual defrost. Not for frost accumulation on the box, but for ice forming in places that impede proper functioning. Ice jamming the ice maker, ice in the filler for the ice maker and ice in the drain line. I've gotten 24 years out of my current main SxS. I've had to replace a few parts and it is showing its age but it hasn't had a problem keeping frozen food frozen and refrigerated food cold w/o freezing it.
 
Sparky617 said:
I was thinking the same. To me good refrigerator/freezer maintenance includes: periodically cleaning the coils (3-4 times a year) and it wouldn't hurt to do a manual defrost annually. I've had issues with refrigerators that are fixed by simply doing a manual defrost. Not for frost accumulation on the box, but for ice forming in places that impede proper functioning. Ice jamming the ice maker, ice in the filler for the ice maker and ice in the drain line. I've gotten 24 years out of my current main SxS. I've had to replace a few parts and it is showing its age but it hasn't had a problem keeping frozen food frozen and refrigerated food cold w/o freezing it.
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Back when refrigerator coils were on the back of the box, you could get to them to clean the coils but now they put the coils under the unit making it hard if not impossible to get to the coils. Out of all the refrigerators I’ve had (3 just in the last 3 years), none of them have failed to cool. My problems are by far having to do with the ice maker not working for various reasons like a frozen water supply tube, or ice maker circuit stopped working. Luckily, you can buy the entire ice unit online and swap them out fairly easy.

Nowadays, it seems maintenance is changing filters and making sure the seals are not compromised.
 
I have two refrigerators. A 24 year old Whirlpool SxS and a 20ish year old Whirlpool freezer on top in the laundry room. The SxS has coils that are under the unit and accessible by removing the grill and using a long brush to pull out the dust bunnies. The top freezer model I have to pull the back off and use my air compressor to blow out the coils. There is no way to do it with a vacuum cleaner or a brush. Both have had issues with the drain lines freezing up. The SxS has the ice maker from the other one, that I never hooked up. It fit perfectly and was an easy swap. Things are starting to go wrong with the ice and water functions. First the water filter started leaking, I just bypassed it because I needed a new $80 housing to fix it. I didn't think sinking another $80 into a 23 year old unit was worth it. Next the switch for the water in the door got flakey. One of the vegetable drawers slides is broken. And of course the earlier mentioned ice maker swap. I'll probably be getting a new one soon, it is the last white kitchen appliance in the kitchen.

A lot of issues can be resolved with a full defrost and a jolly good clean of the gaskets, inside of the cabinet, and the coils.
 
maydee said:
There are some factors that could help you decide when to replace a fridge as follows:

  1. Age: The average lifespan of a refrigerator is around 10-15 years. If your fridge is already reaching the end of its useful life or has exceeded it, it may be time to consider a replacement.
  2. Efficiency: If your fridge is using more electricity than it used to, it may be time to consider a more energy-efficient replacement.
  3. Repairs: If your fridge requires frequent or expensive repairs, it may be more cost-effective to replace it rather than continue to repair it.
  4. Capacity: If your family has grown, or if you need to store more food, you may need a larger fridge than what you currently have.
  5. Technology: If you want to take advantage of new features and technologies like smart controls, water dispensers, and temperature zones, it may be time to upgrade to a newer fridge.
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6. If your fridge is on your front porch, you may be a redneck.
 
bud16415 said:
We call that lawn art in these parts.
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That's what I call the various utility boxes in the corner of my yard. I have CATV, Duke Power, and legacy telco splice box in the corner of my front yard, along with a buried fiber splice box for AT&T digital. Google is also in my front yard, but they just direct bury their splices with a 5 gallon bucket lid buried directly on top of the splices to protect them from digging. Google laid fiber in our neighborhood in about 1/4 of the time it took AT&T to do it because they went with a faster method. Instead of using Ditch Witch horizontal drilling they used a giant cutter wheel to cut a trench between the curb and the street and buried the cable about a foot down. Deep enough that it didn't get cut when the town ground down our street this past summer to resurface it.
 
Sparky617 said:
That's what I call the various utility boxes in the corner of my yard. I have CATV, Duke Power, and legacy telco splice box in the corner of my front yard, along with a buried fiber splice box for AT&T digital. Google is also in my front yard, but they just direct bury their splices with a 5 gallon bucket lid buried directly on top of the splices to protect them from digging. Google laid fiber in our neighborhood in about 1/4 of the time it took AT&T to do it because they went with a faster method. Instead of using Ditch Witch horizontal drilling they used a giant cutter wheel to cut a trench between the curb and the street and buried the cable about a foot down. Deep enough that it didn't get cut when the town ground down our street this past summer to resurface it.
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At my old house a telephone/cable truck showed up one day and told me they needed access to my back yard as they had orders to set a pole right in the middle of my yard. I said what the hell for? He explained the poles in front of my house and down the side road of my property were no longer adequate and they needed to take the short cut across my field. Seems a new neighbor moved in and needed 3 phone lines and they were overloaded.



I asked the guy to show me where this guy lived and we walked down the street and he said that house and showed me the old single line coming from the pole. I looked over and 30’ from the pole was a stand up box coming from the other direction and I said hook him to that. The guy said WTF and opened it up and saw there were like a 100 lines in there.



So he said ya we can do that sorry to bother you. I said can you hook the next house also to it and he said why? I told him if he did that he could take the 5-6 poles out around my house that he said were not adequate any longer. He said ya he could do that did I want the poles when he pulled them out? I said sure as I was just about to buy some for some grape vines I was putting in. I tried to get him to drill the postholes but that’s where he drew the line.



I went back in the house and she said what did they want? I told her oh they are taking those ugly poles down and wondered if I could use them.
 
ojsameday said:
The average lifespan of these fridges is 12-15 years. If maintained correctly, it can last up to 20 years and more.
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Is there a specific brand that you might recommend for longevity or ease of repair? I think my Whirlpool is 15 or more years old and I have experienced ice maker and water solenoid problems. I gave up on both due to freeze damage of the overhead copper supply line. I have considered replacement of the line with PEX but a counter top ice maker is presently taking care of my needs since I live alone. I run the unit long enough to get a weeks supply and dump it into the freezer ice bin to have colder ice.

I do have the special brush to clean the coils but I can't recall the last time I cleaned them so I am very lax on maintaining the fridge.
 
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