We have a GE in our basement that has been operating for 46 years.
I had one for 20 odd years. When it seemed to not be cooling so good it turned out to be the door seals needed replacing. It was a fairly simple do-it-yourself job.
My wife and I bought a new refridgerator when we got married in 1981. It is still working. As our family grew, we purchased a bigger model and put the original one in the garage for soda, beer, watermelons, etc. But it’s still keeping things cold.
We’re getting a new fridge delivered on Monday. The guy at Sears (who, to be honest, is in the business of selling new refrigerators) said that they days of 20-40 year refrigerators is over. 10-15 years is the expected lifespan. Clean the dog hair off the coils twice a year if you want it to last 15 years.
I had the frig in my old apartment for 18 years before the freezer stopped working. I didn’t care, cause I was moving into my new apartment.
Clean those coils and the drip tray.
It’s all fixed now. It was the defrost heater coil things not working. When they stopped, the cooler coil things got covered with ice and everything came to a screaching halt. The small dog underneath was not the cause of the problem.
Thanks everybody! The repair cost under $200, a new frig. would be way more than that. Sad part is it is all empty and I can see all the goo in there. Now I have to clean it all up and buy it all new food.
To what address do I send my invoice for consultative services?
Heh. Just jokin’.
I’ll second repairclinic.com. We fixed our dishwasher ourselves with a part from there. It has been running great ever since.
Also, we have a 33 year old Sears “Coldspot” freezer that we got from my parents a few years back. It has never needed a repair and it works just as great as it did when my parents bought it.
Refrigerator last between 5-10 years, depends on the brand and on the way it was maintained.
I’ve heard of refrigerators that even last more…
Here’s an article about it:
How long refrigerator last
And if the OP were still alive, he/she would probably appreciate your response. I see another RIP here, too. SMH
My parents bought a Norge refrigerator USED back in 1963 and that thing is still running and keeping things cold. They don’t make them like that anymore.
We figured it was probably from the 50s
Frig #1 we bought used back in 1977. It was about 25 or 30 years old at the time and one of those with the little ice box area for a freezer. Held a couple trays of ice and a couple bags of veggies. It was still operating in 1980 when we bought #2. The first got moved to a friends basement where it was used for several (maybe another 15?) years for beer and stuff. When it finally stopped working he junked it.
#3 was a couple years back. The second still worked but had issues freezer burning food and not maintaining temps. It could have been repaired but at the time there was a big rebate for dumping low efficiency stuff and getting new and we found a new at a really great price sooooo ---- we jumped and switched. I hope this current one maybe outlives us.
zombie or no
even though something decades old might run it might cost more to run then replacing it.
many utilities, governments and stores have recycling programs.
That’s amazing. My insurance raised the flood damage premium and also limited the coverage when my water heater passed 10 years. It was still heating well enough but started leaking after 15 years and I had to replace it (on Dec. 31; finding an installer for that day was no fun).
Cheap plastic parts on our fridges seem to break after a few years. Yes, they can be replaced, but parts cost a fortune. 3D printed parts? Maybe. Does there exist software that can scan a broken part and then allow you to repair it before printing?
I’m trying to make this calculation. My refrigerator is from 1980, working just fine, but I keep wondering about the payback period for energy savings from a more modern unit, knowing they now only last a few years. Will I save the $600 cost of a new one in electricity before the new one dies?
If a fridge these days lasts 10 years on average, that’s 120 months. 120 into $600 is $5 per month. That’s how much you’d need to save for the fridge to pay for itself in energy savings, ignoring the time value of money.
Given that 1980 was well before they started rating appliances for energy efficiency, and the manufacturers simply didn’t give a damn about any of that back then, my WAG would be you’d save that $5 and then some.
My wife and I are looking at the same question, only with a 1994-vintage fridge that had better-than-average energy ratings for its day. I expect that might be a closer call.
Used fridges, often just a couple years old are pretty easy to find on Kijiji or what ever your preferred website is for such things. People will swap out the fridge when buying a new home or renovating the kitchen. A five year old fridge for $300 is a pretty good option.
We get fridges (and all other appliances) at work all the time that have minor damage but are being replaced by insurance. Usually the only reason is food has spoiled inside them due to power shut off after fire or flood. They are disgusting to clean up, but once they are cleaned up and bleached they are usually fine. We usually have to clean them up for the adjusters final decision, so that gets done anyway. They cant be sold so most of us have an appliance or two at home rescued from the bin.
Refrigerator Retirement Savings Calculator
http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=refrig.calculator
for example
1990 19 cu ft frig at $0.11 / KWh electricity
costs $143 per year to run compared to $45 per year for a current model.
so in a few years it will have paid for itself.
plus the quiet, new ones are so much quieter.