Why can't we just spend the day at the pool?
Last year my favorite refrigerator ever died. We consulted three repair companies, all highly regarded, and the conclusion was the same: "the mother board is toast and they are no longer available..." so we started shopping for a new refrigerator. Any refrigerator that was really good and desirable (Braun, Miele, etc.) was out of reach because of supply issues. No availability. Who can wait six to nine months to replace a fridge?
We bought a stainless steel, GE, french door refrigerator from Lowe's. It was in stock and deliverable within a week. The first delivery did not go well. The installers damaged my front door frame and the fridge and even cut the water line into the bargain. Back it went. The second delivery was carefully supervised by B. and went much better. The machine was installed in mid-November and worked reasonably well; until a couple of weeks ago. At that point I started to notice that the very top shelves of the refrigerator were not getting cold enough. As time went on the top half of the refrigerator space wasn't cooling down to the right temperatures. The freezer worked fine.
The problem got progressively worse and we called GE's customer service. They arranged for a third party repair company to handle the in-warranty repair. A tech named David was able to come last week. He diagnosed the problem as being a faulty temperature sensor in the refrigerator (not freezer) compartment. He ordered a part which was delivered to the house yesterday. David came back today to install the part.
The part has been installed and now I am waiting to see if the top section (the refrigerator compartment) is going to cool down. The refrigerator is running but I'm not feeling anything cold yet. When he was leaving David suggested that it might take up to 24 hours to cool down. I asked him what we should do if this wasn't the issue. He told me that I'd have to start all over again with GE. If I had to contact GE again they would get in touch with the repair company and then that company would send David out again to take another stab at diagnosing the issue.
I'm not particularly happy. Well, to be honest I am not happy at all. I had a vision of the repair not working and me taking an axe to the refrigerator, destroying it completely, boxing up all the parts and shipping the whole mess back to GE while videotaping every step of the destruction to put on Instagram Reels and on TikTok. Maybe even creating a channel on YouTube to show off the video and broadcast a warning for prospective refrigerator shoppers.
But, of course, I'll wait patiently until tomorrow and see what happens. If it doesn't work then I'll prepare myself for another week or so of refrigerator deprivation and the dramatic third visit of the GE warranty repair person. Before I stick a piece of C4 in the fridge and blow it up....
I have a call into my attorney to see about the "lemon laws" and if they apply to appliances... Next time I'll wait for the brand and model I really want and just eat every meal out until it arrives. But that will leave me less money for camera acquisitions. I guess modern life really is a series of compromises.
Shrugs shoulders. Now heading to the gym.
an engineer in kenya or somewhere designed an intermediate technoly fridge which works well, it's 2 clay pots, one fits in the other, with sand inbetween, the food goes in the inner pot with a damp towel on top (of the pot opening, not the food), then the sand is wetted
ReplyDeletewhen the water evaporates it pulls heat out of the whole thing, these can apparently keep meat fresh for days, some items for weeks I think
Adam, where do you plug it in?
ReplyDeletehaha, the sun must help with evaporation, they're used by market traders and the like, I suppose there must be optimal conditions for these, like would full sun still allow them to keep cool or spoil the food, on the other hand no evaporation and things might fester, I had wondered if they could be scaled up to building size to act as AC
ReplyDeleteBetter not use glazed pots ...
ReplyDeleteMy experience for what it's worth -Maytag fridge (20 yrs young) failed 2 days before Xmas. Called repair guy- he put a booster unit to last only 2-3 mths. Right after 2 mth period sudden death. Ordered Whirlpool immediately from reputable appliance store and had it delivered and installed within 24 hrs. All is well since. Until 2043?
ReplyDeleteYay! Our new GE refrigerator just got delivered and installed! On the 4th try!
ReplyDeleteNow the gnashing of teeth as we try to fit all our groceries into too small shelves! Wow!
Of course, now there's ice cubes on demand . . .
Way back in the early days of CD players I bought a Philips model that started smearing my CDs with oil. I brought it in for warranty repairs 3 times, it still smeared oil. I couriered it to the CEO Canada. A few days later a guy dropped by and gave me a replacement unit, same model. After a while, it started smearing oil. I brought it in for warranty repairs 3 times but the problem remained. I couriered this one to the CEO as well. I said in my letter, I don't care what you do, I'm buying a Sony CD player on my way home from the courier office. About a week later I got a full refund.
ReplyDeleteThe guy at the courier company remembered me, we had a good laugh.
I think it might cost you a lot of money to courier a fridge though.
I have the earlier version of your new GE ( if it’s a Profile). Ours gave out a few weeks ago, but it’s around 10 years old. Fortunately the repair guy had a generic replacement part (starter device) because most of the oem parts are out of stock. He said it won’t last as long, but I’m happy it’s working.
ReplyDeleteHe told me the custom in-built models are actually easier to work on because you can slide the guts out on top.
Adam -
ReplyDeleteWhole building AC relying on evaporative cooling has been around linger than I've been alive, and that's a long long time. They are called evaporative coolers or in colloquial terms "swamp coolers." These work great in areas that have low relative humidity. Logically if the relative humidity isn't low, not much evaaporation takes place. When I was a child in Kansas, we had window-mounted swamp coolers that were amazingly effective - on dry days. The extreme examples are the flooded-roof designs common in desert climates where the solar heat gains from the roof are more than offset by the evaporative cooling. Cool stuff. Large building central HVAC units typically cool air to below the dew point and moisture condenses on the cooling coils. This is essentially the opposite of evaporative cooling and requires lots and lots of electricity to generate and distribute the chilled water to do the cooling.
It only took me one failed refrigerator to appreciate the value of a back-up. I suppose some of the lessons from photography are portable. Of course as soon as you install a back-up refrigerator you will cease to have problems with your primary unit (or so it worked for me)
ReplyDeleteStuff that does no work and service that isn't.
ReplyDeleteRelative who is a professional photographer has a love/hate affair with Epson printers. One model he finally sent back in a box with this written on the outside: "take this printer and shove it up the A** of the CEO of Epson". Proof of delivery - and he never heard a word from them.
Canon works without all the paper feed problems of the Epsons - so he now has both. Service? Another matter entirely. He has the contracts for it but getting to his place in the mountains means snowmobile for nearly 20 miles and they don't want to do it.
As for refrigerators and freezers - he uses Servel Propane powered for both. Where he lives some folks are still using Propane models from the 50's. Some how they keep on working.
Good luck.
Well? Is it cold?
ReplyDeleteHow did the work out go?
Hi Roger. No love. Still not working. One more appointment tomorrow and if no joy then we'll start the process of returning it to GE. I don't need the aggravation.
ReplyDeleteMy lifestyle mentor told me to just toss the refrigerator and buy a new one. Says life is too short to dick around with stupid stuff. Sounds good to me.
Just checked in for an update. Doesn't sound good.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your mentor.
In the UK, consumer rights are very strong and the onus on replacing a failed appliance are on the retailer, not the manufacturer. Which exist for six years, irrespective of any restrictive manufaturer guarantees.
ReplyDeleteAnd commercial video: have you binned that aspect of your career? I found them very rewarding and informative.
interesting stuff John, I got thinking about those green walls, don't know if plants would give it more oomph, I suppose they'd still be drinking from the roots in humid weather
ReplyDeleteFor real axe action you need to get yourself a printer.
ReplyDeleteHi Patrick Dodds, the last Epson printer I owned got torched in a bonfire dedicated to destroying items which cost more to use than they did to buy. Epson makes nice scanners but their printers, at least five years ago, were a tool which Satan used to tortured hapless photographers.
ReplyDeleteSo, no one can get the quality of appliance they really want. Why isn't the free market filling the niche? What's wrong.
ReplyDeleteOn the topic of refrigerators, back in the mid-70s I bought a house for $20K. As an aside, included with the purchase was an old but usable sofa that I discovered held a bonus, it had been a depository for about a half-bag of dry dog food under the cushions and on the bottom lining (WHY??? I will never know). My dog back then seemed to enjoy eating that bonus dog food from a bowl, not the sofa.
ReplyDeleteThe house also came with a 1950s vintage frig that worked great for years. Then the night I returned home after taking my wife to the hospital for an emergency procedure, I found that the old frig had died (I think it was part of its plan). It was soon replaced by a GE that lasted for 20+ years, and it still worked when it was replaced because too many of the unreplaceable plastic shelves had cracked or broken. Things, once, were built to last.
As for printers, I have long had a <$200-wide-carriage Canon ix6820, which does a fine job printing photos for my wall or to hold, even with cheap third-party ink. I have often heard of the Epson printheads clogging, followed by @#$%^ rants, later followed by new heads or printers. I rarely have had a clogged print head even though I rarely print on that Canon. (Most of my printing is done using an equally old and cheap 3-function Canon laser printer.) Twice the ix6820 head has clogged after not using the printer for many months (maybe a year?). Both times I followed the directions on the YouTube videos: remove the clogged head from the printer, soak it in a bowl of water, rinse it under the tap until the water runs clear, repeat as needed, then a final rinse with distilled water, let dry overnight, replace the head and run fresh ink into it. After both clog-treatments, it prints like new, including six 4x6 photos done a couple of days ago. I may never need to buy an inkjet printer again and never an Epson.
european fridges are simpler, smaller and they don't have an ice water pipeline or whatever, less to go wrong, they chug away for decades
ReplyDeletehi all: our washing machine lasted 25 years! we finally replaced it with a less reliable 2020s machine, same with our 25 year old fridge! we got the extended warranty for both since everybody including the salesfolks said they are a lot less reliable and we'll be lucky to get 15 years! Probably less.
ReplyDeleteInkjet printers s*ck! we have the one of the ecotanks from epson and surprisingly it's the best inkjet printer i've ever had. Works great, doesn't waste ink!!! I am shocked that it has lasted 5 years without wasting ink or breaking down! Not sure they make a photo quality ecotank though!
Mike Markus wrote “… sofa that I discovered held a bonus, it had been a depository for about a half-bag of dry dog food under the cushions and on the bottom lining (WHY??? I will never know) … “ if the the food was on a bag I don’t know but if it was loose then it was a rodent store!
ReplyDeleteRichard, I thought about that too, but the loose bonus dog food depository included no rodent droppings or any other evidence of rodent cohabitation before or during my decade of living in that house. So, in my view, it's still an unsolved mystery. Sorry, but no pictures to share.
ReplyDeleteMike, fair point, especially with a big store. I have had mice come in from the garden steal dog food and store behind a gas fire nearby and then make another store behind books in a bookcase halfway back and so on until no doubt.they reached the conservatory door which is often open daytime. Industrious little beggars and they must have done it while my terriers were away as they are avid mousers.
ReplyDelete