Let's talk fridge's.

[Wisconsin Beth]

Earlier in the year, I noticed a LARGE buildup of ice on the bottom of the freezer compartment of our side by side fridge in the kitchen. Eventually, I defrosted it and figured "problem solved" Within 72 hours, the ice buildup was back, almost to the point where I'd defrosted it. We've been ignoring it for a while and my Mom, bless her forever, came over this weekend while were gone and defrosted it for us. I'd asked her to.

We'd decided the problem was the hose for the ice maker/water dispenser and a few weeks ago we shut that off and emptied it. So we thought that if the freezer got defrosted, we'd be good.

Mom said my sister helped her and my sis stuck her head in the freezer and our water evaporator tray thing was completely full. Which is what they blamed for the ice buildup.

Which brings me to yesterday. There's ice building up on the bottom of the freezer again. Much smaller and slower than previously but it's there. I spent some time vacuuming out the back of the fridge and looking at it. it's a bunch of tubes and wires, with a fan and a bottle of some kind of freon/coolant in the back.

I can't figure out how to get to the water evaporator. The fridge is about 7-9 years old. We bought it cheap and used from a coworker of DH's when he moved and it didn't fit in the new house.

Anyone have any guesses on how much a housecall from a fridge person would cost and how expensive (and common) water evaporator problems are? We're thinking about just sucking it up and buying a new fridge, one with more veggie space and better temperature controls (this one's always kept things SUPER cold, even on the warmer settings.)

[swasat]

Does your fridge has auto defrost setting? My guess is that the timing of auto defrost feature is either off or the its busted. If its busted there is not much you can do except defrost is yourself every time build up occurs. Sometimes shutting off the fridge for a few hours and restarting it resets the defrost timer. Give that arty if you want to.

[Wisconsin Beth]

I'm not aware of an auto defrost feature on it.

[swasat]

Hmm. Sorry, I am not much help then

[thyme4change]

Expect to pay $75 - $100 just to get them to walk in the door.

If they are anything like the people I've had come to fix my appliances, they will not be able to figure out what is wrong, but still charge you.

One guy told me that it was an easy fix, and I should just do it myself. Come on - I've got two babies, a job, a house - if I wanted to fix it myself, I wouldn't have called you. Jerk.

[Deleted]

We paid about $160 to have a repair man come replace the water line to the automatic ice maker. Then a year later we paid $160 to have a repair man come replace the water line to the water dispenser. Pissed me off that they didn't do them both when they were out the first time.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Aug 7, 2012 11:10:29 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

Expect to pay $75 - $100 just to get them to walk in the door.

If they are anything like the people I've had come to fix my appliances, they will not be able to figure out what is wrong, but still charge you.

One guy told me that it was an easy fix, and I should just do it myself. Come on - I've got two babies, a job, a house - if I wanted to fix it myself, I wouldn't have called you. Jerk.

When I called for an appliance repair person to look at my washer, it cost me $50 for him to walk in the door and diagnose the problem. He said he could fix the leak for about $150 (which was the reason why I called him), but my bigger problem was that the bearings were shot and that repair was cost prohibitive.

All that I did was ask around at work and the same company kept popping up. My first few calls before I asked at work, the places wanted $100 just to come out and diagnose.

IMO, word of mouth works the best. At least get someone to come out and diagnose what's going on.

[Wisconsin Beth]

Ok, thanks everyone.

By the way, we have no intention of hooking the water back up to the fridge. We rarely used the water/ice parts anyway.

[saveinla]

It probably is the thermostat. It was on the top part of the fridge side (not the freezer). The repairman changed that and our issue with ice buildup was fixed. Cost me 55$, since I have the home warranty with Fidelity (flame away )

[kent]

Aug 7, 2012 11:13:26 GMT -5 ArchietheDragon said:

We paid about $160 to have a repair man come replace the water line to the automatic ice maker. Then a year later we paid $160 to have a repair man come replace the water line to the water dispenser. Pissed me off that they didn't do them both when they were out the first time.

You're kidding, right? $160 to replace a stupid supply line? Sorry Archie, nothing personal, it surprised me they would charge that much.

[Deleted]

Aug 7, 2012 12:03:31 GMT -5 kent said:

Aug 7, 2012 11:13:26 GMT -5 ArchietheDragon said:

We paid about $160 to have a repair man come replace the water line to the automatic ice maker. Then a year later we paid $160 to have a repair man come replace the water line to the water dispenser. Pissed me off that they didn't do them both when they were out the first time.

You're kidding, right? $160 to replace a stupid supply line? Sorry Archie, nothing personal, it surprised me they would charge that much.

yeah. I forget the breakdown exactly, but it was something like $100 to show up, $25 for the parts and $35 for the labor.

[Deleted]

Wis, I have the same problem with my side by side. Somewhere (not on the bottom of the bloody fridge) is a 'drain hole' for defrost water. That hole is clogged with ice, so the defrost water just goes to the bottom of the freezer, builds up and eventually water runs out of the freezer. It's not the supply line/ice maker at all. I will need to do a couple day defrost to get the drain tube free of ice. I tried pouring hot water into it & that didn't work. It's buried inside a bunch of fins and metal bits inside the freezer. I love the ice/water dispenser in the side by side, but otherwise I HATE this fridge. I will never go side by side again.

[Deleted]

I have been reading too many SF posts apparently...I keep reading this title as Let's talk frigid.

[zibazinski]

;D

[Wisconsin Beth]

Aug 8, 2012 0:03:59 GMT -5 @rockit said:

Wis, I have the same problem with my side by side. Somewhere (not on the bottom of the bloody fridge) is a 'drain hole' for defrost water. That hole is clogged with ice, so the defrost water just goes to the bottom of the freezer, builds up and eventually water runs out of the freezer. It's not the supply line/ice maker at all. I will need to do a couple day defrost to get the drain tube free of ice. I tried pouring hot water into it & that didn't work. It's buried inside a bunch of fins and metal bits inside the freezer. I love the ice/water dispenser in the side by side, but otherwise I HATE this fridge. I will never go side by side again.

Interesting. I wish we had a manual for the damn thing.

[Deleted]

Aug 8, 2012 8:34:10 GMT -5 Wisconsin Beth said:

Aug 8, 2012 0:03:59 GMT -5 @rockit said:

Wis, I have the same problem with my side by side. Somewhere (not on the bottom of the bloody fridge) is a 'drain hole' for defrost water. That hole is clogged with ice, so the defrost water just goes to the bottom of the freezer, builds up and eventually water runs out of the freezer. It's not the supply line/ice maker at all. I will need to do a couple day defrost to get the drain tube free of ice. I tried pouring hot water into it & that didn't work. It's buried inside a bunch of fins and metal bits inside the freezer. I love the ice/water dispenser in the side by side, but otherwise I HATE this fridge. I will never go side by side again.

Interesting. I wish we had a manual for the damn thing.

Google the make and model. The manual will be available for a free download.

[Wisconsin Beth]

Yeah, DH was going to do that but I think he forgot. I know I did last night. I was shoving the living room furniture around instead. You know, moving 1 pile of shit into a different/prettier pile of shit...