Our dying Frigidaire All Fridge :(

[petek]

I felt a few days ago that my milk was a little on the warmer side and that I hadn't heard our Frigidaire all-fridge cycling. Not that I pay much attention to it but it just seemed to be running everytime I was in the kitchen. Checked as much as I could and did notice on the serial plate it was made in 2011 which is around the time we got it, or early 2012. So it barely got a ten year run and it's outta gas, literally.
So I phoned an appliance repair guy we've dealt with in the past when we had the apt building, explained what its doing, and he figures it's leaked. To replace the evaporator and charge up it's going to cost about $900 yikes. I didn't near pay that much for it all those years ago..

So a quick trip to Lowes , HD etc and there's not one to be found that will fit the space without a long long wait. We don't want a fridge/freezer combo so it looks like we're going to bite the bullet and have him fix it. Luckily he said he has the part in stock and has repaired a lot of them. Here I hoped it would last at least 15-20 years being as it's pretty basic,, no fancy electronics, no icemakers etc etc etc.. just a plain old white box fridge.

Every part undersides I could see was made in China incl the Panasonic compressor, but assembled in USA.

 

[combo52]

FD All Refrigerator

These are known for evaporator leaks and FD refs in general have far more than their share of trouble with sealed system leaks.

 

I wonder how the repair guy justifies $900 dollar repair cost, it should not cost more than about $300 + the cost of parts, have you looked the cost of an evaporator?, what is your Model #.

 

You may want to get other estimates.

 

I have a 12 YO WP-Woods all ref that is on its 3 evaporator but my Brother Jeff has repaired it and the evaporator is only around a hundred dollar part.

 

John L.

 

[henene4]

Don't know what size you are looking at there.

But yeah, fridge alone units are either obscenely expensive cause high end or some weird unknown brand.

Repairing refrigerators is kind of a pointless adventure in my experience.
Especially once the actual refrigeration system gets involved.
Most service techs flat out aren't qualified to do such repairs and many manufacturers over here don't offer that kind of service.
Many parts are straight up not serviceable - my grandma had a build in Liebherr fridge that had a broken temp sensor after only 3 years that had to be scrapped since that sensor was foamed in with the insulation.

Several options that might come in cheaper that I see at my usual US appliance options overview site (applianceconnection.com):

Even if you aren't looking or needing a fridge freezer combo, getting a cheap top freezer model and not using the freezer might work.
Then you could just resell it in a year or two once the market has restabilised.

There appear to be a few fridge only options in an acceptable price range from some weird brands.
Their designs all appear to be similar and probably quality wise not much different to other lower end brands.
Again getting something there, reselling it in a few years and getting something actually good might be cheaper.

Final - admittedly most stupid - option I see are those compact fridges.
They can be had for under 200$.
Depending on the sizing of the location you might be abled to stack 2 or 3 of these on top of each other and come away cheaper than one full size fridge.
Since these don't use much power you could get away with running 3 of these off of one socket with an extension cord/splitter.

 

[petek]

FRU17G4JW20

John. This looks to be the fridge from a Cdn website. Keep in mind we're paying in Cdn $ which are usually 25% just on the exchange rate not incl probably higher markups.

I wandered the aisles of Lowes, Home Depot etc on Saturday and called a couple of indy's and no one had any in stock which in these times meaning they'd all have to be ordered and no times given.Could be weeks or months for this model. A basic top freezer fridge can be had for around $600-$700 cdn. but then we're stuck with a fridge we don't want.
So after mulling it over we've decided to bite the proverbial bullet and have him replace the system. He's coming this Wednesday afternoon

https://www.partselect.ca/Models/FRU17G4JW20/#Manuals

 

[rp2813]

Pete, I feel the same way about my 2009 KA side-by-side.  I don't think I'll find the same features that I use daily, and I don't think that today's refrigerators are made to last ten years -- if that, so while I hope my KA keeps running for a lot longer, I'm prepared to pay to repair it if that's an option down the road.

 

[combo52]

Hi Pete, The evaporator should be Pt# 297414901 retail $109  and most repair people will also replace the heat exchanger when replacing and evaporator on these refs Pt# 297217900 $78, then add in a filter dryer fittings etc and refrigerant you have another $25-35 in materials.

 

This repair should only take an hour to an hour and a half I would love to be able to charge their labor rates but given your situation repair may be the best option.

 

Sealed system repairs if done properly should last as long as the factory job did, My 33YO Kitchen-aid all refrigerator had a bad compressor in the first year and has never had a problem since.

 

John L.

 

[turbokinetic]

I want to 'second' what John L. said already. You need to keep looking for someone to do a proper repair on the sealed system. There are plenty of good technicians who are very capable of this repair, especially since new like-for-like parts are still available. This is a luxury most of us vintage repair guys don't have. The job will almost be too easy with new parts available. Letting the vacuum pump run after the repair will take longer than the rest of the whole job. 

As for throwing away fridges when any sealed system issues happen, that is a very sad state of affairs for wherever this is happening. Thankfully in many areas of the States, we haven't degenerated that far.  I hope for your sake that Canada has not reached that point. 

 

[petek]

John

John. I'm assuming he's also replacing the condensor which is $530cdn, the evap is $130. Does that sound right, without doing a dye test how would you know where the leak actually is, so you replace both parts?

 

[neptunebob]

How is Frigidaire not in trouble with the EPA over leaks?

It seems to me an advanced appliance company should be able to make a leakproof refrigeration system, they did so in the past, how many 50s refrigerators are still running with their original refrigerant?

 

[combo52]

Sealed System Repairs

Hi Pete, it would be very unlikely to have a condenser leak on this ref, never heard of replacing one just in case.

 

The condenser is steel tubing and a leak usually shows as an oil spot, good thing about a steel condenser is if there is a leak it is easy to repair.

 

John L.