Refer rant

[ronin]

So went over to my MIL to see why her fridge isn't freezing. Suspected a defrost problem from the symptoms over the phone. Sure enough the evaporator is covered in a bunch of ice. No big deal, right?

Pull the kick plate looking for the defrost timer, figure I'd advance it manually to defrost, clamp my ammeter over the wire feeding the heater and see if we have current flowing. No timer. OK. Maybe it's in the back. Pull the back cover, no timer. Finally, pull some access panel cover above the compressor compartment off and lo and behold it's the home of the mother board.

So, no $30 timer to replace (that probably would have lasted twice to three times as long as the 6-7 yrs this "mother" of a board did); instead we have a $200 part.

And another gripe, there is no wiring schematic on the box. You have to order a service manual to get a wiring diagram. Talk about setting up barriers to competition. Rat b@#$^ GE. Never liked 'em when I did appliance service. Still don't.

 

[VaCollector]

oooohhh.....I thought you said "reefer" rant....my bad,,,,


carry on.....NOTHING to see here.....

 

[Telly]

ronin, I don't think we have a choice anymore. Our new refrige has a controller, they all probably do now. It's the move from electrical to electronic. Furnaces, dish washers, clothes washers, refrigerators, I assume clothes dryers too.

Why, I hear tell that there are even some toilets that have a controller! (I'm not going there)

Our new refrig has a wiring diagram on the tech sheet underneath, for what it's worth... everything leads to the controller board.

 

[freebird5825]

Progress...NOT!

 

[Purron]

oooohhh.....I thought you said "reefer" rant....my bad,,,,


carry on.....NOTHING to see here.....

Thought maybe bunnies got into the stash...

 

[ronin]

Hey, isn't that THE cute fuzzy bunny and friend?

 

[bbbamI]

oooohhh.....I thought you said "reefer" rant....my bad,,,,


carry on.....NOTHING to see here.....

Yup....me too....

 

[BigNick]

I like electronics in my appliances, as long as it helps them do what I want (ie, not having my refrigerator order milk via the Internet just because it sees a gap, or whatever they do now).

It's easy to complain about the cost of the electronic bits when they go wrong, but in general, the use of electronics has enabled the cost of these things to go down, along with their energy consumption, and - of late - their reliability and performance (often in terms of decibels) to go up.

In 1966, my mother had a minor auto accident. With the compensation check she got, which was about two months' of my Dad's salary, they bought a dishwasher. Sure, it lasted for 12 years, but it stank, it sounded like a 747 taking off, it broke down regularly, and the powder which it used was best handled while wearing an NBC suit. Today's dishwashers last 6 years, but you can then throw them away because they cost no more than 50 hours at minimum wage, and they're silent while they're about it.

 

[travelover]

I agree that the chips don't seem to last and are overpriced when you replace them. I have a $800 front loading washer limping along right now because I am too cheap to pop a $100 for a new chip. What really frosts me is that I went to the trouble to buy a high quality surge protector to plug the washer into and the chip still died just out of warranty.

 

[ronin]

Perhaps this fridge can be programmed to have frozen margaritas ready when needed, but as far as I can tell, it just chills the air in the freezer and blows it to the fresh food side, like they have for decades.

 

[Walt34]

I ran into the same issue with our refrigerator, thought it was the defrost timer, couldn't find one, gave up and called GE. Guy comes out and plugs a laptop into it! I told him I used to do refrigeration and heating and knew my way around computers, so he said I'd save $80 in installation if I just ordered the motherboard and put it in myself, which I did. There were only about four or five plugs as I recall.

But the motherboard controls the fan speeds (they're all variable speed depending on load for energy efficiency) and it has three thermostats inside. And it is a lot quieter than the old refrigerator. When we put a load of stuff in it from a grocery run I can hear the fans spooling up.