Refrigerator Repair Story

[DasTex]

It's really pretty easy these days to replace the parts yourself.

Plenty of youtube videos that walk you though it.

 

[DanteEXT]

Never buy a Samsung appliance. I have had to repair 2 dryers, a washing machine, and my fridge has multiple issues. Never again.

Just had a house inspected for possible purchase. Has a Samsung fridge, and the inspection report noted that ice makers in Samsungs frequently fail.

I've looked at many homes lately and noticed a lot of Samsung washers and dryers.

 

[Sydla]

We are in the process of a kitchen remodel and I have spent some time talking to appliance stores, etc.

It's been almost universal from them that I should stay away from Samsung, especially their fridges.

We are going with Thermador or GE Cafe/Monogram.

 

[Sydla]

Just had a house inspected for possible purchase. Has a Samsung fridge, and the inspection report noted that ice makers in Samsungs frequently fail.

I've looked at many homes lately and noticed a lot of Samsung washers and dryers.

Their washers and dryers aren't terrible. Not the best or most reliable but their kitchen products seem to have way more issues.

 

[Denim Chicken]

We are in the process of a kitchen remodel and I have spent some time talking to appliance stores, etc.

It's been almost universal from them that I should stay away from Samsung, especially their fridges.

We are going with Thermador or GE Cafe/Monogram.

LG sees to have the highest customer satisfaction ratings.

 

[CyberB0b]

I usually YouTube repairs on simple appliances like this. If I can’t fix it by shot gunning a few hundred in parts, I just give up and buy new.

 

[Sydla]

LG sees to have the highest customer satisfaction ratings.

I've seen that but bizarrely, LG didn't get very good comments from the appliance guys either. One guy said he was a preferred LG store (as well as for the LG Signature line) and they get a nice kick back on LG products and he couldn't recommend their kitchen stuff. We have their washer and dryer and they've been great.

 

[Denim Chicken]

I've seen that but bizarrely, LG didn't get very good comments from the appliance guys either. One guy said he was a preferred LG store (as well as for the LG Signature line) and they get a nice kick back on LG products and he couldn't recommend their kitchen stuff. We have their washer and dryer and they've been great.

Once I replace my fridge (and I'm getting very close) I think I'll go LG.

They have a model that makes 6.5 lbs of ice a day. I like ice.

 

[Runwildboys]

It's really pretty easy these days to replace the parts yourself.

Plenty of youtube videos that walk you though it.

IF you know what part to replace.

 

[Runwildboys]

We are in the process of a kitchen remodel and I have spent some time talking to appliance stores, etc.

It's been almost universal from them that I should stay away from Samsung, especially their fridges.

We are going with Thermador or GE Cafe/Monogram.

GE's are usually good quality.

 

[Sydla]

GE's are usually good quality.

We leaning towards either the Cafe models or spending a bit more for Monogram. We briefly looked at mixing and matching like going with Wolf stove, etc but some of the delivery times were crazy and wouldnt' work with our timeline. KitchenAid was another we looked at and the one appliances store said he had customers waiting 9-10 months for some of their appliance orders. He said Wolf could run 12 months or more. GEs stuff, depending on what you ordered, some were running only a month or two for delivery.

Now this was a few months ago so maybe supply chains have picked up a bit for some of these others.

 

[Runwildboys]

We leaning towards either the Cafe models or spending a bit more for Monogram. We briefly looked at mixing and matching like going with Wolf stove, etc but some of the delivery times were crazy and wouldnt' work with our timeline. KitchenAid was another we looked at and the one appliances store said he had customers waiting 9-10 months for some of their appliance orders. He said Wolf could run 12 months or more. GEs stuff, depending on what you ordered, some were running only a month or two for delivery.

Now this was a few months ago so maybe supply chains have picked up a bit for some of these others.

Good luck, I hope they have what you want!

 

[Creeper]

Just had a house inspected for possible purchase. Has a Samsung fridge, and the inspection report noted that ice makers in Samsungs frequently fail.

I've looked at many homes lately and noticed a lot of Samsung washers and dryers.

I have ready this too. My ice maker works fine - so far.

 

[Creeper]

It's really pretty easy these days to replace the parts yourself.

Plenty of youtube videos that walk you though it.

I agree, it is easier than one might expect. Parts are still more expensive than they should be.

 

[Creeper]

IF you know what part to replace.

You can find schematics at appliance parts websites that will identify the correct parts and part numbers for your model appliance. But, you must find the part that has failed. If more than one part fails, which was the case in my fridge, it can be difficult to figure out.

However, it is still wise to do some research online before calling a repair guy. Almost every problem you can imagine has already been debugged by someone, and a video to make the repair is almost always available too.

The one problem you might have is the parts are not longer manufactured. I had that problem with my built in microwave (Bosch). Samsung is actually pretty good for parts.

 

[Rockport]

3 weeks ago my Samsung refrigerator, which I bought about 7 years ago, stopped cooling in the fridge compartment, the freezer continued to freeze at -2 degrees.

To make a long story short, I had a repair guy come in and he replaced the defrost heater in the fridge along with 2 other parts. It cost me $750! But A new fridge would have cost about $2000 with sales tax and all the other crap.

But the next morning after it was "repaired", my wife smelled something burning in the fridge. So I opened it up as I had seen him do and I saw the heating unit he installed was the wrong size and was fit outside the metal shield that surrounds the cooling coils and defrosting unit. The heater was literally melting and burning the plastic lining of the fridge compartment! I went on Amazon, (where else) and found the correct parts and ordered them for under $100.

The idiot who did the repair could have burned my house down while my wife and I were sleeping! I called the company back and told them I want a refund for the parts he installed that were the incorrect parts. They are lucky there was no fire.

I should have just bought a new fridge. These things are designed to fail after 5 or 6 years. The repair people just rip you off and have no clue what they are doing.

We renovated out kitchen and laundry room about 7 years ago. We purchased all new appliances including over/stove, a wall over microwave unit, fridge, washer dryer and dishwasher. Every one of these appliances has malfunctioned over the last 2 years, except the dishwasher which came free with the Thermador stove. Every appliance has been repaired and every repair cost at least $500. These are not cheap appliances. They are all quality brands. The moral of the story is, buy regular brands that are lower priced. The expensive ones break just as quickly and cost more to repair. In fact, don't repair them. Buy new ones and expect to replace them in 6 years.

All the upgraded “features “ tend to break easily. That and they use cheap parts sourced overseas. Corporate greed by big public companies force them to drive down costs to improve profits. Every quarter.

 

[Creeper]

All the upgraded “features “ tend to break easily. That and they use cheap parts sourced overseas. Corporate greed by big public companies force them to drive down costs to improve profits. Every quarter.

THIS! and also I really do believe it is planned obsolescence. Repair guys will tell you that the circuit boards in these appliances are both expensive and failure prone. But take an ordinary PC and the mean time to failure for the mainboard, assuming you are not overclocking it to the extreme, or some other external damage does not occur, is many years. If the circuit boards are designed correctly, for the right voltages, etc. there is no reason for them to fail, not since tubes were a thing. Of course electrical issue can occur off the circuit boards that would stress the circuit components and cause them to fail, but even that can be designed out of the circuitry if the manufacturers had the will to do so.

Its like light bulbs. No one really wants to design the perfect light bulb that lasts forever because it would kill the market for light bulbs.

 

[SlammedZero]

Reading through this thread as I own ALL Samsung products. Haha So far, so good in year 3 (Knocks on wood).

I can tell you, for the price and name brand, I am not any more impressed with my Samsung dishwasher vs my cheap dishwasher they installed when I bought the house (Estate brand). The cheaper one worked just as good, and honestly, I liked the layout inside it a lot better.

 

[triplets_93]

Around 2010, I used a refrigerator repair company I found through Craig's List that had "good" reviews.
I won't do that again.

The woman that came said the company was in her late husband's name, but the she was licensed.

The problem I had was that the refrigerator portion was not cooling properly, and the freezer was too cold.

Her solution was to replace the heating coil and the heating sensor. It took her 3 hours. She said she wasn't used to working on that model of Amana refrigerator. She said she was going to charge me the standard rate for the repair, and not for the longer time it took her to do it.

But that didn't fix the problem.

What I ended up doing to fix the problem was to order, from the internet, a new replacement circuit board for the refrigerator. I was willing to risk $50 to try that solution. The retail for the board was $150. I found a nice YoutTube video that showed me step by step how to take out the old board and install the new one.

And so, that solved the issue.

 

[Denim Chicken]

You can find schematics at appliance parts websites that will identify the correct parts and part numbers for your model appliance. But, you must find the part that has failed. If more than one part fails, which was the case in my fridge, it can be difficult to figure out.

However, it is still wise to do some research online before calling a repair guy. Almost every problem you can imagine has already been debugged by someone, and a video to make the repair is almost always available too.

The one problem you might have is the parts are not longer manufactured. I had that problem with my built in microwave (Bosch). Samsung is actually pretty good for parts.

Yes, I've repaired the rollers and heating element in 2 Samsung dryers. The Spider flange in a Samsung washing machine (that one was not very fun). I've tried to repair the drip line in the fridge which did not work (still leaking water, common problem). Now I have a suspected issue with the water inlet valve.

The thing is--yes, It's possible to repair these items, but it I shouldn't have to!!