Anyone know anything about refrigerators? My 8-year-old RCA is on the blink. No matter how low I turn the temperature control, it freezes everything in the refrigerator, as well as the freezer (have you ever tried to thaw soy sauce?). I’m assuming the temp. control has gone haywire—so I unplugged the whole thing, as I do not like leaving the apt. with an electrical appliance that’s likely to start sending out sparks.
Is this repairable? Is it worthwhile for me to call a repairman, or cheaper just to buy a new fridge?
We have a 5-year old fridge that was doing the same thing. There is a drainage tube (in the back) that wasn’t draining into the tray underneath the fridge, which I guess got clogged. Once we thawed and mopped up everything, it was OK for a long time. It recently happened again, and I think my husband repositioned the draining tube so it won’t do it anymore. I think. Appliance repair can be very expensive. I think we paid $700 for our fridge, and it has no bells and whistles to speak of. No ice maker, no water in the door.
If you end up having to replace the fridge, you can at least take some consolation in the fact that new fridges are much more efficient than the fridges of ten years ago, so you’ll save quite a bit on electricity. The payback period depends, of course, on the electric rates in Your Fair City, but I’ve heard (no cite, alas) that it makes sense to replace a 10-year-old fridge even if it isn’t busted. So, if your 8-year-old fridge doesn’t respond to simple fixing, push it out the window!
eve, chances are it needs a new thermostat. I can explain fridge thermostats if you need but they tend to fail because they have a wire with refrigerant inside and if the refrigerant leaks, the thermostat fails. I have had a couple of refrigerators do that. If you are knowledgeable you could replace it yourself but I recommend having it done as it could be other things too.
I am hugely not knowledgeble. I think I’ll call the repairman. Do they come on Saturdays, I wonder? And do you have to pay them extra not to see their butt-crack?
Without knowing the model number, it’s hard to be precise, but a thermostat seems to run between 55 and 80 dollars. Dunno what the markup would be for the repair guy. I know that I’d be tempted to do it myself as it’s likely to be an “unscrew a few bolts, unplug the old, plug in the new” sort of repair.
Sailor – do refrigerator thermostats really have refrigerant inside them? It would sort of make sense because of the high coefficient of expansion, but I would have guessed that they’d just use a bimetal or solid state sensor.
One more question—if it is the thermostat, is it dangerous to leave the fridge running? I unplugged it, as I didn’t know what was wrong with it or what mayhem it might get up to while I was out.
Well, I going to do something unusual here and say “I don’t know.” If the problem is really the thermostat, my guess is that the worst thing it will do is freeze everything solid and run up your electric bill. But the compressor really isn’t meant to run for extended periods of time, so it’s conceivable that it could overheat. I consider this unlikely, though, because the number of house fires I’ve heard of that are attributed to overheating refrigerators equals 0.
I’d say plug it back in tonight and listen to it. If the compressor cycles after it reaches operating temperature, then you’re OK. If the compressor is running 100% of the time, then it’s a bit more iffy.
There are different kinds of refrigerator thermostats depending on the refrigerator type but many have a long wire which is actually a hollow tube filled with refrigerant (not that is refrigeartes anything but that it is freon or similar stuff). Not to get too technical but the wire is placed whereever you want to actually measure the temperature (often the evaporator coil). The pressure inside the wire is a function of the temperature and this acts on a diaphragm loacated at the place whith the wheel you move to set the temperature. These thermostats fail when the wire is corroded and loses the refrigerant.
Eve, if you have a timer you could have the refrigerator run 50% of the time.
I think it worked! I plugged it back in after 24 hours, and the temperature control seems to work now! Thanks, Kalhoun, you may have saved me from spending a lot of money to look at butt-cracks!
Well, it turned out to be a “bad sealed system,” which is not repairable ($65 to learn that), and now I am trying to find an appliance store that will deliver on a Saturday afternoon (in the pouring rain), and I have no cash to tip them, and I had to rip the railing out of the hallway so they can get it up here, and they’re all closed on Sundays and don’t deliver after 6:30 on weekdays . . . So it looks like it’s going to be take-out for the next week.