We recently looked at replacing our old fridge. I purchase a watt meter that records how much power a device uses over time. I recorded 30 days of power for our fridge. I also looked at the projected energy use by similar sized new models. Ours used slightly more than the new ones, but with the price of new ones it would have taken over 10 years to break even. So unless ours dies, it will stay in our kitchen.
Lee Schierer
USNA '71
Go Navy!
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Depending on family size 1 fridge is plenty for 2-4 people(food will go bad if you have 2 refrigerators worth) If you do a lot of storing of food in the freezer the addition of a chest freezer should be the way to go. I think the second fridge is nice for parties but otherwise it is pretty wasteful to power.
We are ready to ditch our second fridge. we recently replaced our Main fridge with a split top 2 drawer fridge the middle section is kept at 33 degrees we get a couple extra days out of meat without freezing it.
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Kenmore (really a Whirlpool) bought in October 1983 when I bought my house....21 cu.ft.
I live alone (no roommates) so it's only moi who uses it.
I worked until 2106 so that meant the fridge never got opened a lot, maybe "used" less than 6 hours per day, more on the weekends of course.
Still in use, altho I have a small chest freezer too, about 20 years old.
Fridge compressor cycles about every 15-20 minutes, thermostat still works, still maintains the right temp, not quite 32F in the lower areas maybe 34 on the upper areas.
Made in USA.
"What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing.
It also depends on what sort of person you are.”
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In a rental house we moved the old refrigerator out in the garage that we have set up as a game room and put a new one in the kitchen. The electric bill went up enough to notice with two instead of one running.
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Our house is unusual, more like a compound. We have added a 'granny flat' addition for when we need it, then our daughter and two kids moved in 15 years ago, and she lives and works there. We then added another 'cottage' as a guest room, which was occupied by a grand daughter while she saved up for her own home, which she now has, and we also remodeled and added on to the house over the last 16 years. So, it is now a three BR house with two additional separate living areas.
Three generations of adults live here (five people), plus two kids (so far) of generation four are here daytime 3-4 days a week. We feed them and are home schooling the 5 year old, along with his grandma (another daughter) who does it two days a week.
Back to the subject. We have three double door refrigerators, Kitchen, Patio room (from daughters previous home), and shop porch (our old one). We also have two apartment size fridges in the two granny flats. The two older double doors are about 25 years old and still working fine, but the one out on the porch is getting rusty on the doors. It is strictly sodas, and we keep it loaded.
We are considering adding a freezer to the mix, but not decided yet. We use them all, and if any dies it will definitely be replaced.
We are fortunate in that we live where solar is viable, and we produce more than we use, so the old fridges are great for us. Same thing for the cars, as we have two BEV's and one plug in in the garage. The solar has paid for itself after 5-6 years.
Last edited by Rick Potter; 02-14-2024 at 3:01 PM.
Rick Potter
DIY journeyman,
FWW wannabe.
AKA Village Idiot.
Contributor
I would suggest staying with a Whirlpool, Maytag or Kitchenaid. (All Whirlpool brands.) I have talked with just so many people who bought other brands and had problems; especially with LG. When I had my Maytag dryer repaired recently, the technician said the same thing. Stick with Whirlpool brands. Anything else will fail and it's hard to get parts.
[OP]
Contributor
I bought an LG washer and dryer from Bestbuy. I put a 5 year warranty on it when we purchased…
We will only buy a Whirlpool refrigerator. Nothing fancy, just a side by side. We are going to have to pay extra for white..
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When I replaced our old fridge I replaced the outlet with a surge protected outlet. No room for a surge power bar back there. All modern fridges have some computer power to fry.
Bill D
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When our mini split was installed 2 years ago, installation of a whole house surge proctor was required to validate the warranty. It's a good idea these days with all the circuit boards in everything.Originally Posted by Bill Dufour
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Samsung too has its problems.
People have said they are extremely noisy and most seem to have some kind of problem(s) in the first year.
Oh yes, forgot to mention about my 1983 Kenmore/Whirlpool.... no service calls (so far)... I do keep the coils clean.
My dad (the engineer) had warned me about ice makers and water dispensers... my model had options for those, and I "opted out"
Last edited by Patty Hann; 02-14-2024 at 10:03 PM.
"What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing.
It also depends on what sort of person you are.”
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Ooh! I'm interested in this- what did he warn about? (specifically ice makers) Because when we replaced our fridge a few years ago, we couldn't find one without an ice maker. Truly could not care less about a water dispenser.My dad (the engineer) had warned me about ice makers and water dispensers... my model had options for those, and I "opted out"
We did have our plumber come out and hook up the ice maker and it's ok but at the same time I've been making ice in trays my entire life and I'm fine with that. If only it knew how to shut itself off when the bin was full!
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I have all Maytag in my kitchen (Whirlpool) and I don't think I would buy Whirlpool again. The oven has been a POS, can't count the number of times I fixed it. The dishwasher has been a bit better but the keypad/ display is always flashing. The fridge is always running. It's only broken once though. The over the range microwave has only had the lightbulb burn out. As for parts, good luck.
Anyone telling you that they are the brand to get because of parts availability they are mistaken. The oven's main heating element burnt up the first week. They sent out a repairman (under warranty) to confirm what I told him. He called back the next day and said it wasn't available. So I called Home Depot and said I was returning it. The HD lady said that was fine but asked if I would wait a day. She called back and said she talked with Whirlpool and they were removing one from a new oven so mine could be fixed. Both the control board (which is obsolete 4 years after I bought the oven) and the heater element have died. I have learned how to repair the control board to keep it working. There's a plastic clip for the folding tines inside the dishwasher's upper rack that broke a little over a year of using it. It's not even listed on the parts diagram. When I called Whirlpool asking for the part number the person told me there wasn't a clip in it. After about 10 years a relay on the fridge's compressor died. It was easy to get. But I decided to see what parts were no longer available. I would say half are no longer made for it at that time. They are a bit over 15 years old now and if something dies it's either try to find used parts on ebay or just replace them.
I'm not saying other brands are better. Just that I know that Whirlpool is not the brand it once was. I will say this. I will be buying a new fridge before they switch to heat pumps over freon. I think they are going to be even more problematic for some time.
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My Father's overall philosophy (that pertains to devices whether mechanical or electrical, or both) was "the more bells and whistles means more opportunity for something to fail, and the more expensive it will be to fix."
And he wasn't referring to someone else repairing it; he did most repairs himself. **
Parts, labor, parts AND labor....bells and whistles increase price of repair. But factor in a repairman its even more $$$.
So having said that... now about the fridge and ice-makers and water dispensers (especially ones in the door), those are bells and whistles, so he advised us (his kids) to do without them, don't get them.
If you can't avoid getting them, don't hook them up, don't connect them, whatever, because those will probably fail first.***
And you know what? It's true.
Consumer Reports tracks appliance reliability based in part on what customers report.
And it has consistently reported that the commonest /most frequently reported early failures for fridges within the first year is with the water/ice functions.
This was true even when the appliances were made domestically.
I subscribed to CR for almost 35 years (beginning in 1983) and always read the appliance reliability reports even when not in the market for any particular appliance.
Sure, you can repair it. But it depends on what your time and money are worth to you.
If money was particularly tight (not true at all these days) more often than not, the failure of these fridge options would be endured for months because the money was earmarked for something more pressing.
I say this knowing not a few friends (with families) have lived with the broken functions.
So you pay for it (new) and within a year you are without it anyway.
M take was, and still is, I don't need it; I never had it while growing up, I don't need it now.
And when I bought mine the price was a lot lower than the identical model with the options because the bare bones ones were not in high demand.
Again, for folks for whom money is no object, or they have the skills/tools to do repairs, or have a family member that does it gratis, go for it and God bless you.
Life is choices.
**My dad was EE in Aerospace. He worked a lot of overtime. He didn't want to spend his "home time" fixing stuff if it could be avoided.
He wanted "to spend that time with family".
So he was ruthless in eliminating non-essentials from needing maintenance by not getting the non-essentials in the first place.
(His call on what was essential and what wasn't ... I did note some inconsistencies
***Sorry Dave... I can't help you with specific failures... I've never had/connected the options so I've never had a failure, (and neither did my Dad).
Last edited by Patty Hann; 02-15-2024 at 2:35 AM.
"What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing.
It also depends on what sort of person you are.”
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Patty, I would suspect that ice makers are the number one failure point for refrigerators with the filtered water dispensers close behind. They are mechanisms that have moving parts that move frequently due to their function. While I would not be without them, they are pretty much the reason why an extended service contract is very attractive on this particular appliance...the cost of the contract is the same and sometimes lower than the cost of replacing the ice maker.
--
The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...
[OP]
Contributor
The salesman told me that Whirlpool refrigerator with tye ice make in the door have been having problems, but not the ones with the traditional ice maker that is in the top
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