One day I noticed that the front of my side-by-side GE refrigerator -- the space between the fridge and freezer -- was fairly hot to the touch. At first, I just blew it off, thinking the freezer was going through a defrost cycle. It also seemed the fridge was running constantly, but I still didn't think to investigate.
Then one day I went to get something to eat out of the fridge, and I stepped in a puddle of water. I wiped it up, assuming one of the kids carelessly spilled water or ice. But the next time I went to the fridge, it happened again.
Then my wife tried to get a glass of water (from the in-door dispenser) and failed. She said that it sounded like the water was flowing, but the glass didn't fill up.
Thus, the detailed investigation began. I pulled out the fridge and removed the back cardboard cover. Right away, I noticed the cooling fan was not running. So I ordered a new $30 fan.
I also found the source of the spilled water. With the fan not blowing to cool the coils, the coils never really got cool, and the coils between the fridge and freezer made the front hot to the touch. The coils not getting cooled caused the fridge to run inefficiently. They were basically running all the time. The water line was resting on the coils, and with the compressor running all the time, the water line melted through.
When there was a demand for water through the door or the ice maker tried to make ice, the solenoid valve opened and released water on to the floor. I spliced a connector into the water line to make sure it did not contact the coils. I replaced the fan, and we were back in business.
A couple months later, the problem started again, so I investigated right away. I discovered that the fan was broken again. I decided to take a different approach. I bought an office desk fan, clipped it the back of the fridge, and now I leave it on full time. The fridge has been running great with the desk fan for a couple of years now.
This entry was submitted by Bill De Vries and edited by Rob Spiegel.
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Wow, Bill, ingenius fix, but I'm curious how you fit the fridge back in its place with a full-size office desk fan attached behind it. Any idea of why the fridge's own fan kept failing??
Actually the counterdepth fridge is no longer counterdepth. It sticks out from the wall a little to allow room for the desk fan. I'm more of a mechanical guy than electrical guy so I took the easier route of installing an external fan rather than figuring out why the fridge keeps burning out fan motors.
I applaud your mechanical touch, Bill, but I have to tell you, I would balk at paying top dollar for a counterdepth fridge only to have it stick out to accomodate an external fan. Runs counter-intuitive to my non-mechanical brain!
The counterdepth fridge will most likely be replaced with this years pending tax return. A real downside to the counterdepth fridge is that it doesn't have enough room for a week's worth of groceries. We have a family of 6, two of whom are teenage boys, both at 6'-2". Half of the food we buy gets kept in the garage fridge. The kitchen is plenty big enough for a regular size fridge, so extending out a few inches is really no problem.
Sounds like the solution is to go with a conventional-size fridge. I once owned an older home that was charming, but the kitchen was tiny and the fridge was an ancient tiny fridge that fit into a very small space -- not quite an icebox, but not much taller. I had to keep fixing it because there was nothing on the market that would fit the space. Luckily, my kids were small at the time.
A few years ago I replaced my aging fridge and was surprised to see how much the newer unit saved on my electrical bill. It was well worth the upgrade.
The fridge really isn't that old - 5 years. It survived the warranty period, so i guess it was a success for the manufacturer. It will probably be headed to Craigslist in a few weeks (I will, of course, give the new owner the desk fan).
Isn't it disappointing how expensive devices fail, just after warranty? As an electronics engineer, I am constantly faced with the battle between designing stout, long-lasting and robust designs, vs. the corporate marketing need for planned obsolescence and recurring revenue. I "get" it -- but I just don't like it.
But I suspect many appliance manufacturers today are taking it to a frustrating new level. For example, I have a garage Beer-Fridge that's nearly 30 years old and never had an issue. Meanwhile we're on the third Kitchen fridge in about 17 years.
Yeah planned obsolescence has got to be what it is. My "good" kitchen fridges have not lasted very long- 4th one in about 20 years. My garage "beer & deer" fridge is about 20 years old and still works fine as long as you know where to put different foods. Top shelf left side will freeze - don't put lettuce there, frosty beer on a hot summer day is quite nice. Anyway, the garage fridge holds the kitchen fridge overflow just fine. The ice maker in the garage fridge died, so I just removed it, insulated the hole in the door, and covered the hole with a plastic storage box lid - it almost looks like it was meant to be that way.
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