Way OT, recommend a good refrigerator...

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SteveM
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Re: Way OT, recommend a good refrigerator...

Post by SteveM »

Greg_Lewis wrote: Sat Jun 27, 2020 10:04 pmThe main takeaway from our research is that these ice makers are inherently troublesome.
When our ice maker went, the replacement part was 100% reliable:
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Greg_Lewis
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Re: Way OT, recommend a good refrigerator...

Post by Greg_Lewis »

Well, boys and girls, since the thread has been resuscitated, here is the final chapter. The fridge had a total coronary a month ago on a 105 degree day. I naïvely thought I could get someone out there that day and be up and running by dinner time. Ha.

A phone consultation with a repair guy revealed that there were two circuit boards that were probably bad as well as the ice maker device and the ice dispensing unit in the door. Parts alone could run as much as $800 plus labor. So the decision was made to scrap it out. Of course, due to the virus, the factories had been shut down and there was nothing in stock anywhere. We put one on back order but it won’t be in until the middle of August.

In the meantime I ran out to the backshop and fired up the little fridge in the camper to save the most important stuff, but that would not work for the amount of food we keep for the three months we’d have to wait for a new unit. Not to mention the inconvenience of having to trot out there multiple times a day to fetch the butter or the milk.

So I jumped on Craigslist and found a small used unit for $200. The seller was able to get it into my truck with a lift table and I was able to get it down using my Horrible Fright motorcycle stand that I’d modified for a locomotive lift. I did manage to drop the whole thing on its face getting it off the stand, but no serious damage resulted. While the fridge worked it took us two hours to clean up all the spills, mold, and gunk all over the inside from the slobs that had owned it. We parked it in the dining room as I didn’t want to risk hauling the old fridge out over our hardwood floors by myself.

It really bugs me that almost everything made these days includes some sort of electronic element that dies and kills off the entire unit. And, of course, the boards are either not available or outrageously expensive. And, of course, what’s wrong with the board is some little capacitor that cost the manufacturer three tenths of a cent but which you will never find and couldn’t replace if you could.

So my ego was saved but my temper was not and at some point we’ll be back to whatever level of normalcy we had before.
Greg Lewis, Prop.
Eyeball Engineering — Home of the dull toolbit.
Our motto: "That looks about right."
Celebrating 35 years of turning perfectly good metal into bits of useless scrap.
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NP317
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Re: Way OT, recommend a good refrigerator...

Post by NP317 »

Tough issue to live through. So goes our weird times now.
I used to do circuit-board-level electronic repairs of medical electronics acute cardiac care devices.
Much care was taken to ensure I used quality traceable electronics components, and correct anti-static protection. Human lives were at stake.

I can't even get the documentation now to do that level of repairs on a stupid household appliance!
Although I did keep our first toaster operating for 35 years, before tolerances loosened beyond repair.
Yes, it's a Scrap Out world now. An unfortunate and frustrating development for those of us who CAN repair things!
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liveaboard
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Re: Way OT, recommend a good refrigerator...

Post by liveaboard »

Sometimes you can strip out the electronics.
I did that for a whiz-bang air-conditioner I have on my boat. The electronic control box failed just after the company did.
I rewired the compressor, fan, and pump to a switch, thermostat, and relay.
Now it's incredibly dumb, real stone age machine.
And of course, it works just fine.
jacobwood99
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Re: Way OT, recommend a good refrigerator...

Post by jacobwood99 »

There are plenty of options available but I'm using the Frigidaire Gallery 7 series refrigerator for 7 years. Totally satisfied with the performance but I don't like ice cubes from my refrigerator. It makes hard and cloudy ice cubes which my wife definitely doesn't like in her drink. Recently she ordered countertop ice (it's also by Frigidaire- https://icemakinghub.com/frigidaire-efi ... er-review/ from Amazon and I'm loving the ice cube quality. You can also go for additional small ice makers for ice cubes.
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Harold_V
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Re: Way OT, recommend a good refrigerator...

Post by Harold_V »

jacobwood99 wrote: Thu Oct 07, 2021 12:41 am You can also go for additional small ice makers for ice cubes.
Yep! I've owned one for more than 44 years. I'm on the second one, as the first one died after about 40 years of service. Both were built by Whirlpool, with the quality of the first one by far exceeding that of the second one. The first one wasn't very pretty, but it sure was built to last.

Purpose built ice machines like those I've owned make crystal clear ice, free of odors and inclusions. Instead of freezing ice in a form, they typically flow water over a refrigerated platen, which slowly freezes, forming a sheet of ice. Inclusions are rejected and accumulate in the circulating water. When the ice is harvested, it is sent to a heated cutting grid which cuts small cubes (3/4" square) and the volume of water in use is discarded with fresh water introduced to start the next sheet of ice. The ice thickness on our current machine is approximately ½" thick and is not adjustable, unlike our older model.

Once you've used ice from these machines it's hard to go back to ice made in refrigerators. No little bits of white fuzzy stuff in the glass after ice melts and beautiful ice cubes free of taste and odors.

What better way to enjoy a scotch and water?

H
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Greg_Lewis
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Re: Way OT, recommend a good refrigerator...

Post by Greg_Lewis »

What a surprise to see this old thread resuscitated yet again. I can report that the replacement GE fridge, which has almost the same specs as the old one, is still working after a year on the job. (But now that the warranty has run out, we are holding our breath.) It arrived as promised and we got it installed without scuffing up the hardwood floor. It still annoys me to have scrapped out an otherwise working fridge solely because of a bad circuit board, but that's the way it is these days. If you're up with the technology news perhaps you've seen the stories about "right to repair" where folks are angry that so many small devices such as tablets and Bluetooth earbuds come with irreplaceable batteries and you have no recourse but to scrap them when the batteries no longer take a charge.
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Our motto: "That looks about right."
Celebrating 35 years of turning perfectly good metal into bits of useless scrap.
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Bill Shields
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Re: Way OT, recommend a good refrigerator...

Post by Bill Shields »

but....why put water in scotch?
Too many things going on to bother listing them.
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Harold_V
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Re: Way OT, recommend a good refrigerator...

Post by Harold_V »

Bill Shields wrote: Thu Oct 07, 2021 3:58 pm but....why put water in scotch?
I've dealt with stomach problems for ages. Straight whisky raises hell with me, so I drink it diluted. I enjoy the taste without paying too large a price. I also don't drink excessively, or too often. Rare for me to have more than one drink a week.

H
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Bill Shields
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Re: Way OT, recommend a good refrigerator...

Post by Bill Shields »

Old addage...how big is a drink?

My feeling about scotch is if it bothers you ..find a different brand :mrgreen:
Too many things going on to bother listing them.
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NP317
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Re: Way OT, recommend a good refrigerator...

Post by NP317 »

HaroldV said:
"What better way to enjoy a scotch and water?"

With Friends!

As for water in whiskey or Scotch, the manufacturers recommend adding water to bring out the flavors.
It also cuts the pain of alcohol, letting our taste buds detect more flavors. Especially with "cask-strength" brews.

Several of my friends and I have done taste tests with glasses containing measured amounts of Scotch or whiskey, and increasing water, all carefully measured.
It is true that water "opens" those strong drinks. The trick is to determine what ratios work best with which distilled products.

All very similar to determining the correct amount of water treatment in our locomotive boilers.
(Steam content.)
RussN
Last edited by NP317 on Fri Oct 08, 2021 12:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Harold_V
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Re: Way OT, recommend a good refrigerator...

Post by Harold_V »

Bill Shields wrote: Thu Oct 07, 2021 6:22 pm Old addage...how big is a drink?

My feeling about scotch is if it bothers you ..find a different brand :mrgreen:
You've missed the point.
It isn't scotch that bothers me, it's the stomach that once had a bleeding ulcer. I've never been the same since, and appear to be a carrier of the helicobacter pylori bacteria. I've taken the "cure" three times.

I tolerate any type of ethyl alcohol beverage---in moderation, although I rarely drink beer. Not nuts about bitter tastes, and the hops in beer ruins it as far as I'm concerned.

The notion that changing brands will make a difference is more in the mind of the individual than in the medical books. Doesn't matter what you drink---it's all ethanol. Unless one has a distinct dislike for a given flavor, it makes no difference.

H
edited to correct misstatement
Wise people talk because they have something to say. Fools talk because they have to say something.
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