Having dealt with fridge issues for over 20 years, I have found that modern fridges have issues when you stress it, like going from an empty fridge to a ton of warm cans, or not running the A/C in a humid summer. Turning it off for a while, melted the frost buildup, and emptying the tray in the back would usually fix everything. Also keeping it full with cold liquids helps.
Expensive fridges are dying, leading to fraud claims
81–90 of 191 posts
Re: Expensive fridges are dying, leading to fraud claims
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
What are some of the brands that you’ve seen that have those implemented-to-a-higher-standard features? I’m in the market for a new set of everything and would appreciate the insight.
Miele, it also is "expensive". On the long term is the cheaper option.
Our previous vacuum cleaner was a Miele. It died after 20 years of use. The near identical new model still works perfectly after 5+ years. Those things are amazing.
Re: Expensive fridges are dying, leading to fraud claims
#83Don't buy korean (LG and Samsung). Personally I only buy Bosch whenever I can.
That's too bad, because the software and apps for them are far and above anything non-Korean. Not too important for a refrigerator, but it's important on ovens and microwaves. One tiny example: my brand-new JennAir wall-oven has remote start through it's phone app. Guess what? You have to enable "remote start" on the oven itself before the app works. Every single time! You can't just enable remote start on the oven o…
> Not too important for a refrigerator, but it's important on ovens and microwaves.
It's a huge red flag to me if a fridge, oven, microwave, etc., involves software/apps at all (at least, outside of some microcontroller programming that is never exposed). It's almost certainly a sign that the appliance is junk.
Re: Expensive fridges are dying, leading to fraud claims
#84I recently bought a house with what I can only describe as some "zany" appliances. For example: - An impeller-based washer that doesn't cover clothes in water, even with the "deep water" setting, and soil level all the way up. It frequently doesn't submerge half the stuff during the pre-soak. It's a $1,000 washer and I routinely pour water into it from the sink. - A fridge with a giant ice maker in the refrigerator,…
Does the fridge have a variable speed compressor? If so, that type is meant to run the compressor more than old-tech binary on/off compressors. Running 90% of the time might be normal if it's variable speed. I can go into more detail if you want. But to be clear I'm not making any claims on how long it will last.
Don’t compressors generally dislike being cycled on-off (too frequently/quickly?)
I was under an impression that they should ideally run continuously if you want them to last long (and operate efficiently.) Meanwhile on-off cycling was just the only way they could maintain a temperature setpoint before somebody had a bright idea of combining them with an inverter.
Re: Expensive fridges are dying, leading to fraud claims
#85Don't get me started on toasters.
Nobody seems to make a good toaster at all anymore.
Re: Expensive fridges are dying, leading to fraud claims
#86Don't buy korean (LG and Samsung). Personally I only buy Bosch whenever I can.
That's too bad, because the software and apps for them are far and above anything non-Korean. Not too important for a refrigerator, but it's important on ovens and microwaves. One tiny example: my brand-new JennAir wall-oven has remote start through it's phone app. Guess what? You have to enable "remote start" on the oven itself before the app works. Every single time! You can't just enable remote start on the oven o…
It's hard to cook when you're not in the kitchen, so it's not surprising that an excellent oven like JennAir skimps on what is at best a marginally useful marketing ploy.
Re: Expensive fridges are dying, leading to fraud claims
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
https://www.mieleusa.com/e/refrigerators-and-freezers-102212... has few bells and whistles but is a superpremium brand. I bought some of their stuff used and while expensive it has very high quality materials...
Note: Miele just rebrands Liebherr fridges. At least in Europe, guess the US is no different.
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Re: Expensive fridges are dying, leading to fraud claims
#88I recently bought a house with what I can only describe as some "zany" appliances. For example: - An impeller-based washer that doesn't cover clothes in water, even with the "deep water" setting, and soil level all the way up. It frequently doesn't submerge half the stuff during the pre-soak. It's a $1,000 washer and I routinely pour water into it from the sink. - A fridge with a giant ice maker in the refrigerator,…
> A fridge with a giant ice maker in the refrigerator, not in the freezer. We have one of these on our ancient fridge. In a way, it actually makes sense - a lot of the stresses of an ice maker are having all of the mechanics being forced to operate in freezing temperatures.
I'll ask the obvious question: isn't one of the main challenges of an ice maker getting the water to freeze? How does this happen in the refrigerator compartment, where the air temperature is above freezing?
Re: Expensive fridges are dying, leading to fraud claims
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
https://www.mieleusa.com/e/refrigerators-and-freezers-102212... has few bells and whistles but is a superpremium brand. I bought some of their stuff used and while expensive it has very high quality materials...
Note: Miele just rebrands Liebherr fridges. At least in Europe, guess the US is no different.
Liebherr fridges & freezers are known to be very good too, if only a slightly cheaper due to carrying a less fancy trademark.
Re: Expensive fridges are dying, leading to fraud claims
#90I recently bought a house with what I can only describe as some "zany" appliances. For example: - An impeller-based washer that doesn't cover clothes in water, even with the "deep water" setting, and soil level all the way up. It frequently doesn't submerge half the stuff during the pre-soak. It's a $1,000 washer and I routinely pour water into it from the sink. - A fridge with a giant ice maker in the refrigerator,…
The wash machine thing is because water-saving requirements, and the easiest way to do it is the "dumb" way. Speed Queens still have a "soak the damn stuff" feature, but it's almost hidden.
I think the fridge thing is because they discovered that a compressor that runs all the time lets them get a smaller one, and since it doesn't start/stop as much, it lasts longer, so it can be weaker. The ice maker is probably actually doing the work of keeping the fridge cold.
It's crap, in my experience, once it starts not working perfectly. As long as it's working, it's ok.