Another one bites the dust

[retro-man]

Something has not been right for the last 2 weeks with my Amana Distinction side by side refrigerator. Ice cream not solid, deli meats going bad in 2 days. Check the freezer with a thermometor and it was reading 22 degrees. oh oh. took the vaccuum out and cleaned all the coils front and back, a lot of dog hair and dust. check yesterday morning and it was down to 10 degrees. still not a zero where is should be. ran some errands and got back home and it was at 28 degrees. called my local repair guy to have him come out and check to see if it was defrosting. he took the inside back panel out and no ice build up. his response was it is dying and time to start shopping for a new one NOW. it gave 11 years of service. he stated i was lucky to get more than 10 years out of any newer appliance. what the hell? well after internet searching i picked out a frididare side by side from a local appliance dealer. What interested me is that looking at their web site and then calling the store i saved 150.00. he stated they are cheaper online and we have to honor that price. if i went into the store to buy it without this knowledge i would have paid full price. it will be delivered this afternoon. one of the selling points is i needed one in bisque color. no one else had one. we are moving into the new house in less than 2 months so i didn't want to dump another 1500.00 into a fridge i will only use for 2 months. i thought the amana was going to last at least 15 years. oh well.
Jon

 

[combo52]

DYING AMANA

Your Amana probably was low on refrigerant and most likely had a leaky evaporator coil, Amana had more than thier share of problems with this. We replace evaporators all the time in Amanas repair should cost around $400-450.00.

 

[rp2813]

My sister's Amana suffered death by cat hair.  It might still be working otherwise.

 

After learning what happened to her fridge, I make it a point to vacuum the coils on my 2008 KA SxS even though they say it's no longer necessary to do so, and I only have one cat that lives mostly outdoors.  I'd like my fridge to last longer than 10 years too.

 

[retro-man]

So they came to deliver the new fride yesterday while i was out getting the mail. nice delivery guys. opened the back of the truck and i looked in and asked them is that my refigerator? they reply yes it is. i said that looks white out here in the sunlight. they checked the paper work and said yes it is white. I ordered bisque. they called the store and the saleman got the stock # off by 1 letter. of course he got my credit card # correctly. so off it went back to the store. supposedly they are delivering the correct fridge this afternoon. the old one is hovering in the 18-28 degrees in the freezer. i keep advancing the timer to not defrost the freezer. i missed it once for about a half hour and it went up to 35 degrees. we shall see what today brings. got to laugh.
Jon

 

[mixguy]

Refrigerator Life

My mother has a Hotpoint that is over 55 yrs old and still running strong! The rear coils get vacuumed 1 or 2 time a year. We don't use the freezer compartment because she has it connected to a timer for defrosting nightly. The water collects in the chiller try that gets emptied once a week or so. The only parts that have been treplced in the interior light bulb and the tempered glass over the vegetable bins. The glass was replaced with plexiglass cut to fit having the same thickness and the glass panel. She also cooks on a Tappan gas "DoughBoy" range that she got from her mother when their new home was "all electric." My grandfather liked Wizard large appliances at the local Western Auto store. The range, refrigerator, chest freezer, and "semi automatic" washer all from tht store. As a kid, I thought they had the best selection of local toys and I liked seeing the circulars when they arrived in the mail. I usually got to see them to keep me pacified while they looked through their more important mail.

 

[a440]

Dirty Coils....

<span style="font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: medium;">On both of my refrigerators I have used the foam type filters that you can find at Lowes and such. I am sure they are made to be used in window type air-conditioners.  It is the type that you can cut to fit.  Very cheap!</span>

<span style="font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: medium;">I cut them to fit on the back of the refrigerator where the air is drawn in from the coil fan.  I have never had to vacuum the coils since doing this.  I was changing the filter every six months.  Last time I waited a year.  I consider that we are clean, but wow!  The filter was nasty.</span>

<span style="font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: medium;">I don't wash them out.  Just throw them away and cut a new one.</span>

<span style="font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: medium;">Brent</span>

 

[retro-man]

well the correct unit got delivered wed. they brought it in and i unloaded the old one onto the counters and table. hooked up the water and plugged it in. all was fine. then.... they tried to get it into the position under the cabinets. this sob is about 1/2 inch taller than the other one. it would not fit. so i told them well no reason for you guys to hang around. i had to take a saw and slowly and i do mean slowly cut about 1/2 from the bottom the cabinets. took about 1 1/2hours to accomplish this. finally got into place cleaned off the counters and table, threw out a lot of stuff from the freezer. very different insides led lighting. strange color when you open the doors. ice maker has filled the bin and all is well. the only problem was me being on my foot standing too long. i had foot surgury 2 weeks ago to fix a broken bone on the top. it hurt like hell after and was quite swollen, but rest and putting it up after helped. now the delivery guys, i thought they were twins at first. guys in their 20's blond blue eyes and built. one of them was very open about his strength and size. he was glad to show off his muscular body. oh my! they could have stayed the afternoon but were on the clock. lol

 

[combo52]

CLEANING CONDENSER COILS

The condenser coils do not need to be clean enough to eat off of, but they do need a good supply of air flowing over them. For this reason putting an air filter in front of them is not a good idea doing so will be like having a very dirty clogged condenser. The small fan under the refrigerator is not designed to pull air through an air filter and the newer machines have even smaller more efficient fans and fan motors. Adding an air filter could void the warranty on the compressor if it failed.