Refrigerator longevity

[eytonxav]

Our LG counter depth refrig, purchased in 2013, recently failed and we lost most of our food, as it crept up on us with the ice maker going first, then the freezer and finally the refrigerator compartment. Had to wait 5 days till the factory LG repairman got to us. The unit carries a 10 year parts warranty on the compressor and sure enough it was the compressor that was bad. The reason I went with the factory technician is they usually carry the most common parts on their truck, so he was able to repair it in about 2.5 hours and seemed very thorough in checking out the entire system. I asked him how long should these units actually last and he said typically 8 years, and said I should get about that after the repair. I must be old school and out of touch as I always thought refrigerators should last more like 15-20 years, although I have heard reports about LG linear compressors failing prematurely and in some cases even after a couple of years. Believe LG got hit with a class action lawsuit over these failures.

What do you have and what type of longevity are you seeing from your refrigerator?

 

[Car-Guy]

I have two side by side GE ref/freezer combs.. (mid price range models)... One is a ~12 year old and the other is about 8... Ice makers failed in both within the first two years... (Ice trays are a cheap and easy fix )... Other than that, both seem to be still going strong...

 

[finnski1]

We bought an LG with the linear compressor about 3 or 4 years ago. So far so good but we'll see.

 

[Another Reader]

These days, 10 years for a fridge is long lived. Samsung and LG are uniformly bad. Eight years would be a long life and the component failure rate in the early years is high. Many US brands are actually made in Mexico now. Whirlpool is mediocre. My 11 year old GE side by side has a very noisy motor and has for five years, I expect it to fail any time. No experience with Frigidaire.

I have my father's Whirlpool washer from 1998 installed here now. I will nurse that one along until it can no longer be repaired. It gets the laundry clean.

 

[RetiredHappy]

First home, we bought Whirlpool side by side. I sold that home 16 years later and it worked like the first day.

Next home, Kitchenaid built-in that came with the model home, would have cost $13k brand new, failed after 3 years. Circuit board failure and fortunately replaceable. Sold that home after 9 years.

Previous home, we bought GE Cafe, IMHO best fridge on the planet. Not a peep of an issue. Kept meat and produce super cold and saved a ton of money from having to throw out spoiled food. Sold that home after 7 years and very sad to part with that fridge.

Current home, Sub zero, 22 years old, original from when home was built. The ice and water dispenser module was not working when we bought the home. It is such an old model that the manufacturer no longer carries the parts. Fortunately a local repair happened to have that part because he bought wrongly for a different model. $750 later, the dispenser is working again. This old sub zero fridge is fine, nothing to write home about. We will get a GE Cafe when it craps out.

 

[ncbill]

These days, 10 years for a fridge is long lived. Samsung and LG are uniformly bad. Eight years would be a long life and the component failure rate in the early years is high. Many US brands are actually made in Mexico now. Whirlpool is mediocre. My 11 year old GE side by side has a very noisy motor and has for five years, I expect it to fail any time. No experience with Frigidaire.

I have my father's Whirlpool washer from 1998 installed here now. I will nurse that one along until it can no longer be repaired. It gets the laundry clean.

yep, absolutely avoid those brands for fridges...though I'm happy with my LG HE washer & dryer (bought 2010)

will keep my 25-year-old Kenmore (Whirlpool) side-by-side with through-the-door ice/water dispenser until it dies.

I'm fortunate in that it was one of the first re-designed models with the extra insulation.

never a problem with the icemaker...had to replace the water inlet valve once.

 

[Telly]

- GE that was in a house we bought long ago (later 1970s), I had to replace both the evaporator and condenser fan motors. Then we moved and left it there As-Is as written up in contract.
- Kenmore made by Whirlpool top-freeezer with ice maker. Running for 21 years until I remodeled kitchen and gave it away. Only problem was in later year an intermittent little trickle of water down the inside back of refrig compartment. I troubleshot it down to a pin-hole leak in the galvanized steel evaporator drip pan. Ordered up a new one, was cheap, installed it, fixed.
- Whirlpool Gold side-by-side with ice and water through the door. Zero problems, now 11 years old.
All of these have been big refrigerators, no small or medium capacity.

I will not touch any LG or Samsung major appliance. Don't care who or what magazine thinks it's the greatest ever. Uh-uh, not goin' there. If I had to buy another refrigerator, I would go Whirlpool once again. I realize that everything is being cheapened across manufacturers. Whirlpool parts availability is super, if/when I need them. Where others may be impressed by wizz-bang features like internet access, etc etc. in cars and appliances, I am not. I see future problems. I'm the guy who opens hoods in auto shows and looks around. I'm a dinosaur.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

I think 10 years is about right these days for most appliances. We have a 48" GE stove that was installed when the house was built in 2006/2007 and I loathe the day when it fails as a replacement of the same size will NOT be a cheap endeavor.

My Dad's house (built in 1973) had two water heaters and they both lasted over 30 years. The over lasted almost 35 years. The range was still there when the house was sold in 2018. The original AC was replaced in 2016. So, I would say they certainly don't make them the way they used to.

 

[Aerides]

I must be old school and out of touch as I always thought refrigerators should last more like 15-20 years

If it was 20 years ago you'd be right...I have a bet with DH that our old unit (circa late 90s) that's still running in the garage, will outlive our replacement Kitchen GE upgraded unit from 2007.

 

[Out of Steam]

These days, 10 years for a fridge is long lived. Samsung and LG are uniformly bad.

My sister recently had a Samsung fridge fail after only 6 years. The technician recommended against replacing the compressor, saying that he has to repeatedly fix his mother's Samsung, and she was keeping it only because he could fix it for free.

She replaced it with a GE.

 

[Out of Steam]

There was a very basic Whirlpool refrigerator in our house when we moved in, plain black with icemaker inside the top freezer. The kind you can still buy for about $900.

My wife would like to sell it and buy a nicer one, but I keep telling her that this one (8 or so years old) will probably outlast whatever new one we would buy.

 

[Montecfo]

We have a Samsung counter depth refrigerator circa 2012. Ice maker repair 2 years ago (they paid), and a second repair for recurring ice buildup (we paid) about a year or so ago.

I share the opinion these are not well made but I suspect government changes in refrigerants and such have made them more costly to design and operate and less durable.

I do recall old school refrigerators going 20-25 years.

I feel this one could fail at any time.

 

[Qs Laptop]

I would expect a refrigerator to last 20 years, but that might be a fantasy nowadays. I've never known a refrigerator to fail before 20 years.

Bought current house in 1997. It came with a 5-7 year old Whirlpool top freezer model refrigerator. No issues whatsoever. Call it 22 years of service. Replaced it with a Whirlpool Gold french door model with bottom freezer in 2012 when kitchen was remodeled. Defrost drain tube would get plugged. This would lead to ice forming on the evaporator coils. With ice on coils, the freezer would not maintain proper temperature.

To fix it, I needed to remove ice maker, remove all food from freezer (put in large cooler) then manually defrost the freezer with hair dryers. About a one hour job. This was a once a year thing, probably related to family members accidentally leaving the fridge door cracked open. Apparently this drain tube clogging was a known issue as Whirlpool came out with a redesigned defrost drain tube. I installed that and haven't had a problem since.

 

[Ready]

Our Subzero is 21 years old and still going strong. The compressor leaked at one point but was still under a parts warranty so we had a technician come out to repair it. Since then it’s been rock solid.

 

[pacergal]

Had a Jennair since 2004, was still working well, but no water or ice dispenser, which DH wanted. So it was replaced in 2014 with an LG, no problems at all, so far.

 

[Jerry1]

I have an LG with the Linear Compressor and it went bad in about 5 years. I think it was just under 5 because it fell under the class action warranty and didn’t cost us anything to repair. I guess the technician should have known, but I thought they extended the warranty to a full ten years to include labor. I’d do some research if you haven’t already (call LG) and see if you can get a refund. Not sure how long the new compressor will last, but I’m happy with the refrigerator and will probably put one more compressor in it if it fails within the next 10 years.

When ours went bad, I looked at replacing it with a new unit and got sticker shock. These things are worth repairing especially if inventory doesn’t come back to normal (pre COVID) levels.

 

[mpeirce]

Sadly we bought a Frigidaire upright freezer (not a fridge, sorry). There weren't a lot to choose from with the slow decay of the US economy.

It’s awful. The fan unit gets clogged up with frost/ice. Everything inside melts. I've called Frigidaire twice so far. First time the service guy cleaned out the fan unit and made sure the door was aligned properly to seal.

A month later, it’s not working again. Got the same repair guy. He order some parts - they apparently have a “beef it up” kit that makes the inside fan unit work better. So basically, they are designed poorly and they have a workaround they will apply the SECOND time you call. Of course that took weeks to come in.

He wouldn’t really talk about the unit, but the vib I got was “sorry, but you bought a low quality freezer”.

Each time it failed we lost food. We don’t really trust it now, but are giving it one last try.

Does anyone have a new freezer that works well? (I’m glad your 25 year old unit is still running great, but I can’t buy that now).

 

[swakyaby]

We have a 19 year old built-in GE Monogram side-by-side that has been going strong. Although last year, we called a repair man because we noticed the freezer temperature began fluctuating. He looked at our compressor and asked how often we clean the condenser coils. DH confessed he never has. The service man cleaned 19 years worth of dust off the coils, and the fridge/freezer has worked fine ever since. I think he recommended we vacuum the condenser coils every 6 months.

We bought a 2nd refrigerator 4 years ago to go in the garage, an LG side-by-side. The optional ice maker was not installed since it was a garage unit. It has worked fine so far, even during our summer heat waves, as our garage temperatures can get pretty warm.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Sadly we bought a Frigidaire upright freezer (not a fridge, sorry). There weren't a lot to choose from with the slow decay of the US economy.

It’s awful. The fan unit gets clogged up with frost/ice. Everything inside melts. I've called Frigidaire twice so far. First time the service guy cleaned out the fan unit and made sure the door was aligned properly to seal.

A month later, it’s not working again. Got the same repair guy. He order some parts - they apparently have a “beef it up” kit that makes the inside fan unit work better. So basically, they are designed poorly and they have a workaround they will apply the SECOND time you call. Of course that took weeks to come in.

He wouldn’t really talk about the unit, but the vib I got was “sorry, but you bought a low quality freezer”.

Each time it failed we lost food. We don’t really trust it now, but are giving it one last try.

Does anyone have a new freezer that works well? (I’m glad your 25 year old unit is still running great, but I can’t buy that now).

Hmm...I don't know. We purchased a Frigidaire upright in Oct of 2020 and it has worked flawlessly. I am actually amazed how it maintains the temperature within about 3 degrees. We bought it at Home Depot and it is inside, so there isn't an issue of heat/humidity one might deal with in a garage.

Here is the model we bought (still has good reviews): https://www.homedepot.com/p/Frigida...E-_-V1_M1_CA-_-Product_URL&ecc_ord=WG19897684

 

[mpeirce]

Hmm...I don't know. We purchased a Frigidaire upright in Oct of 2020 and it has worked flawlessly. I am actually amazed how it maintains the temperature within about 3 degrees. We bought it at Home Depot and it is inside, so there isn't an issue of heat/humidity one might deal with in a garage.

Here is the model we bought (still has good reviews): https://www.homedepot.com/p/Frigida...E-_-V1_M1_CA-_-Product_URL&ecc_ord=WG19897684

Yup, that’s the unit. From Home Depot.

It’s the “EvenTemp” assembly that seems to get clogged with frost.

 

[mpeirce]

Yup, that’s the unit. From Home Depot.

Actually, your link is to the 16 cuft unit, we got the 20 cuft unit. Very similar though.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Yup, that’s the unit. From Home Depot.

It’s the “EvenTemp” assembly that seems to get clogged with frost.

Interesting. I took a look at the verified purchase reviews (albeit quickly) and didn't see too much about your complaint. Perhaps it is a dud? Is it outside (garage)?

Edit: I searched for "frost" in the reviews (out of 10,000+) and 10 came up with issues of not melting the frost or there was an issue with food spoilage. Almost all of them seemed to show purchases in late 2020 so it could have been an issue with a particular component "lot" that is failing.

 

[H2ODude]

Our 6 yo linear LG counter depth died about a month ago. Because I could not find the receipt (HH Gregg sold it, and they went kaput so had no record access there). If I had the receipt it would have saved about $350 of the total cost to repair of almost $1,100. Excellent tech, showed me the small hole in evaporator and said very common. Had evaporator on AC unit that was 7 yo. Both techs said they make them so thin they are very subject to failure. And way too thin to try to repair (aluminum). This was the only refrigerator we've ever had a failure with, starting with antiques we got in college. Until now had just assumed they lasted forever And yeah, checked cost to replace and got a shock there. Plus I'm told appliances very short on supply.

 

[pb4uski]

We've had really good luck with refrigerators.

Current Kenmore (LG) is about 10 years old. We had a couple problems with it early on and had the compressor replaced and the left side door replaced so the icemaker would work shortly after the manufacturer's warranty expired. Luckily, I had paid for it with a Discover card that extended the manufacturer's warranty so I was able to et that paid with a $700 claim. No issues since then. I now always a cedit card that extends the manufacturer's warranty when buying major appliances.

Our other current fridge came with tplace when we bought it 16 years ago and is probably almost 30 years old and is still going strong.

We've been lucky and have never had to replace a refrigerator because it failed, but we have replaced at least one that I can think of because it was old and wouldn't go well with our remodeled kitchen.

 

[Mr. Tightwad]

I have a 14yo Kenmore that has never had an issue. It could use a good cleaning on the inside.