Kenmore Elite Fridge - Fix Compressor or Replace Unit?

[SHEP]

My POS fridge made it a whopping 4 years before failing. What a joke. Should I replace the compressor or just replace the whole unit? The appliance guy that came over said it would cost the same but not sure if he's right.

What brands should I look at if I get it replaced? He said GE, Whirlpool, and Kitchenaide are better than the others.

Thanks,

SHEP

 

[SHEP]

Also, where is the best place to get a new one?

 

[4Waters]

They're all junk now, they don't make appliances like they did when I was a kid. When my mom's fridge, washer and dryer all took a shit they were all over 25 years old.

 

[hallett3]

Go with kitchen aid or whirlpool. Both made by the same company made in USA. All others built with China crap. That’s what a repair man told me dad. Also he said repairs were not worth it because of the cost. My dad has gone through 3 refrigerators in 5 years compared to my kitchen aid 12 years old and still going strong. Wasn’t cheap but it’s been a great refrigerator.

 

[HNL2LHC]

Ok here is our story. We bought the over priced Kenmore Elite Counter Depth unit for about $3,500+- in June of 2015. A week before Thanksgiving 2017 of our counter depth unit craps out. They are going to fix it under warranty the first part of the following year. Yes, they have so many units crapping that they cant get to ours for MONTHS!!!!!

So with no other choice we reluctantly buy another one at that time at least is was only about $1,800.00 and store the original one in our garage until it is fixed. It took three tries and months before it was fixed in th first quarter os 2018. After all the repairs and it was working for at least a couple of weeks we took it to one of our rental units for the remainder of it’s wonderful life.

SO......Fast forward to last Friday. I get a call from our property manager the refrigerator died AGAIN.

Come to find out most refrigerator units are crap these days. Moving forward I plan on buying the cheapest unit that looks half way decent so when it craps out I don’t have too much $$$$ in it.

Best of luck to you!!!!!

 

[Deja_Vu]

I would google the model number with the symptoms and see if it’s the circuit board.

I soldered in new capacitors on my 12 yo Maytag and it’s still humming along.

 

[Yellowboat]

They all suck, so buy as cheap as the misses will let you go and plan on replacing it in 5 years

 

[Pivot]

GE monogram built in is 15years old here. Only cleaned the coil so far. Once a year.
If it died I'm fucked, they are about 10k now and the cabinets are built for it

 

[mjc]

We ended up with an IKEA. They are made by whirlpool and are the same as the ones we saw at many places. The only real difference is they come with a 5 year warranty instead of 2 for the whirlpool.

 

[grumpy88]

I say fix it . I don't know what it takes for a compressor but I have fixed every appliance at my house last year . Thank God for you tube !

 

[shunter2005]

Had a 20+ year old Whirlpool and it was still working fine. Only had to replace the compressor about 7-8 yrs ago and was still working like a champ (now my garage fridge). Decided to replace it to be on the safe side. Looked and looked and decided on a GE Elite with none of that ice/water shit in the door. Also, no freakin' computer in the other door. No problems so far. The new icemakers in the door SUCK and break all the time.

 

[Flying_Lavey]

A friend of mine that is an appliance salesman (has been for over 20 years) told me the same thing as all are saying here.... They are all junk now for longevity. He did say that out of all the crap units, the LG's had performed overall the best for him ofl er the past few years. And it kinda makes since when you look at the compressors. LG uses a linear compressor (piston inside of a cylinder that is moved with electromagnets) versus a scroll like the others. Small scrolls are very efficient but they just don't seem to last as long when scaled down that small. The linear compressors will have much fewer moving parts to fail so should last longer.

The boards.... They are all made by the same companies so that doesn't really matter.

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[Flying_Lavey]

And btw, I would highly recommend pulling out your refrigerators and vacuuming out/blowing out the condenser coils at least every six months. A dirty coil is the fastest way to kill a compressor.

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[TPC]

Sometimes the compressor just shorts to ground, sometimes the compressor burns out:

If it's a compressor burn-out their will usually be a residual acidity wax coating then clogging the internal condenser tube passages that will eventually take out the next compressor in several different ways.

Some service guys are really hep to finding the collection points in the tubes where the wax worked it way too and clean it out. They cut the tube and replace that section or clean it out. It's tiny and tedious and time consuming. Unlikely the service guys today are that ambitious nor have any idea how you locate the problem.

I learned from an old Slurpie Indian tech that came from a country where you don't throw any appliance away. A clever SOB always had a fix for the most difficult problems.

Old classic Imperial Series Frigidaires are family heirlooms or a essential part of someone kitchen they absofuckinlutely won't part with and the old service methods are the only thing that saves them unless you can bootleg in newer parts and even that can be tricky.

Newer Fridges' that puke you replace.
Buy at COSTCO and get the no hassle replacement warranty for a few bucks.
If it runs 5 years it'll go 20.
Just like marriage.

 

[Meaney77]

Not sure where you are located but their is an appliance parts store in Thousand Oaks and the guy who owns/runs the place is a god when it comes to appliances and repairing them. You can call him with your model and serial number and he should be able to tell you over the phone the parts you need, cost and how to.

Even if you're not close, might be worthwhile to call and get some feedback, this guy is a wealth of knowledge and could probably point you in the right direction for sourcing parts if you decide to fix it on your own.

I have gone in there on several occasions and Fred (the owner) has always been super helpful.

https://miracle-appliance-parts.business.site/

 

[SoCalDave]

I would google the model number with the symptoms and see if it’s the circuit board.

I soldered in new capacitors on my 12 yo Maytag and it’s still humming along.

Yep my 48" Kitchen aid took a shit a few months ago and I narrowed it down the the main board. Sent it to Circuit Board Medics and for $99 I was back up and running within a week.

 

[SHEP]

Appreciate all the feedback.

Thanks!

 

[robby dmax]

Not sure where you are located but their is an appliance parts store in Thousand Oaks and the guy who owns/runs the place is a god when it comes to appliances and repairing them. You can call him with your model and serial number and he should be able to tell you over the phone the parts you need, cost and how to.

Even if you're not close, might be worthwhile to call and get some feedback, this guy is a wealth of knowledge and could probably point you in the right direction for sourcing parts if you decide to fix it on your own.

I have gone in there on several occasions and Fred (the owner) has always been super helpful.

https://miracle-appliance-parts.business.site/

Fred is definitely very knowledgeable on appliances.
Been there many times myself

 

[Deckin Around]

I say fix it . I don't know what it takes for a compressor but I have fixed every appliance at my house last year . Thank God for you tube !

This. I fixed our washer for under thirty bucks when the repairman wanted 400

 

[grumpy88]

This. I fixed our washer for under thirty bucks when the repairman wanted 400

Yup . Thieves . GE guy wanted like 500 to replace my ice maker . 100 dollars and 5 minutes I replaced it my self .

 

[WildHorses24]

Yup . Thieves . GE guy wanted like 500 to replace my ice maker . 100 dollars and 5 minutes I replaced it my self .

Look up Repairclinic.com next time, they have better videos, help diagnose and sell the OE parts cheap. I have LG front load washer/dryer that’s 14 yr old and still going. I don’t know that I’ve paid over $60 in parts and taken more than a couple hours to fix.


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[Racey]

I have a GE Monogram and it is the biggest piece of garbage, the compressor and condenser ventilation is so piss poor i had to put a 9" desk fan behind the condenser coil and let it blow 24/7 out the front of the unit to stop it from rod knocking itself to death. The compressor would run at 160+ degrees before i put that extra fan in. It's fine now but you shouldn't have to do that on fridge that retails for $9k.... It's absurd.

 

[JDKRXW]

He did say that out of all the crap units, the LG's had performed overall the best for him ofl er the past few years. And it kinda makes since when you look at the compressors. LG uses a linear compressor (piston inside of a cylinder that is moved with electromagnets) versus a scroll like the others. Small scrolls are very efficient but they just don't seem to last as long when scaled down that small. The linear compressors will have much fewer moving parts to fail so should last longer.
k

I'm looking at fridges right now, and I have heard this too.

 

[H2O]

Results in the following chart are gathered from Consumer Reports’ 2018 Spring Survey of 35,978 French-door refrigerators, owned by members who purchased a new unit between 2008 and 2018.

Our predicted brand reliability ratings are based on a statistical model that estimates problem rates within the first 5 years of ownership, for French-door refrigerators that are not covered by an extended warranty or service contract. Higher ratings are indicative of better reliability. Brands receiving a red or orange rating cannot be recommended by CR at this time.

Our owner satisfaction ratings are based on the proportion of members who are extremely likely to recommend their French-door refrigerator brand to friends and family.

 

[H2O]

Results in the following chart are gathered from Consumer Reports’ 2018 Spring Survey of 17,437 side-by-side refrigerators, owned by members who purchased a new unit between 2008 and 2018.

Our predicted brand reliability ratings are based on a statistical model that estimates problem rates within the first 5 years of ownership, for side-by-side refrigerators that are not covered by an extended warranty or service contract. Higher ratings are indicative of better reliability. Brands receiving a red or orange rating cannot be recommended by CR at this time.

Our owner satisfaction ratings are based on the proportion of members who are extremely likely to recommend their side-by-side refrigerator brand to friends and family.

 

[scouter]

We went through this just last month with one of our Kenmore Elite Refrigerators. We had been on vacation for about 2 weeks, and the week after we got back, our garage fridge (a bottom freezer with top side by sides) quit working. It's about 4 years old too. Called up Sears, and it was still under warranty (until the end of the month), so we scheduled a repair man to come out. He diagnosed that the compressor had gone, and luckily he had the correct one on his truck. An hour and a half later, we were back up and running. BTW, he told us that even though it says "Kenmore Elite" on the outside, it is really made by LG......

 

[H2O]

I'm shopping too, and was initially staying away from LG based on comments from my local repairman, but just started checking out LG after reading this thread.

Leaning towards purchasing from Costco, since they offer a 2 year warranty, known for the their customer service, and offer another 3 years extended warranty is $99. But read a lot of customer reviews that stated their LG compressors were failing at the 2 to 3 year mark. Also taking months to weeks to get service on their LG (guess it depends on your location)

For example:

1 out of 5 stars· 2 years ago
Bad End to a happy purchase
We bought this fridge Aug 2015. Loved it! Oct 2017 it started to warm up. Ice cream stared getting soft, etc... November - no ice at all. Called a repair service. Warentee was over, he told us to throw it away. No use fixing it. We are the 6th fridge he looked at that was just 2 years old that had a bad compressor and coolant leak. Apparently, LG sells the same compressor that you fix so it gives you two years before it breaks again. Saw the same thing on YouTube so it must be common. The fix is about $500 for labor- even if the parts are covered. Buy a GE side by side - better reputation. The repairman did.

Also found out there is are several class action suits against LG on their compressors:

I don't have a dog in this fight...just trying to get a simple fridge that will keep my food cold and not break for a few years, but doesn't appear there is any brand you can depend on.

I guess you just take your pick, get the extended warranty, and hope you are one of of the lucky ones.

 

[Pivot]

I have a GE Monogram and it is the biggest piece of garbage, the compressor and condenser ventilation is so piss poor i had to put a 9" desk fan behind the condenser coil and let it blow 24/7 out the front of the unit to stop it from rod knocking itself to death. The compressor would run at 160+ degrees before i put that extra fan in. It's fine now but you shouldn't have to do that on fridge that retails for $9k.... It's absurd.

Have the coil cleaned. Unplug entire unit. Let it completely get room temp. Plug back in. Do this once a year

 

[Racey]

Have the coil cleaned. Unplug entire unit. Let it completely get room temp. Plug back in. Do this once a year

Been through all of this, it's not the problem. It's just a very poor design. The condenser fan doesn't move enough air to keep the compressor cool enough for anything warmer than 70 degrees.