Should we get a new garage fridge?

[Ronstar]

Our garage fridge is our former kitchen fridge. 30 year old Whirlpool. It's now making a very loud squealing sound intermittently. I took it apart and I think the problem is the evaporator fan motor. Looks like an easy fix. New fan motor is $95 plus tax and shipping.

DW wants get a new fridge. I can get a cheap new Maytag at Menards for around $900.

What would the esteemed members of this board do? Part of me wants to roll the dice, get the new part and see if that cures the problem. But part of me says it's a 30 year old fridge - just get a new one. I could just drive my truck to Menards tomorrow and get the new one with a 2 year warranty, take it home, plug it in and be done with it.

 

[euro]

Our garage fridge is our former kitchen fridge. 30 year old Whirlpool. It's now making a very loud squealing sound intermittently. I took it apart and I think the problem is the evaporator fan motor. Looks like an easy fix. New fan motor is $95 plus tax and shipping.

DW wants get a new fridge. I can get a cheap new Maytag at Menards for around $900.

What would the esteemed members of this board do? Part of me wants to roll the dice, get the new part and see if that cures the problem. But part of me says it's a 30 year old fridge - just get a new one. I could just drive my truck to Menards tomorrow and get the new one with a 2 year warranty, take it home, plug it in and be done with it.

Personally, I would go for the new fridge. $100 bucks is too much for a 30 year old appliance plus,, if you misdiagnosed it, it could be a major hassle to return the part.

 

[Car-Guy]

30 years.... It has done its job and it's time to go. May it RIP.

 

[jazz4cash]

DW wants get a new fridge. I can get a cheap new Maytag at Menards for around $900.
.

Is it this one?

https://www.menards.com/main/applia...p-1485933756061-c-1496238287886.htm?exp=false

We bought the exact same one for ~$600 from Home Depot around 2015. It lasted 3-4 yrs and quit cooling. I called a highly rated neighborhood appliance guy. He asked me 2 questions ( Is the fan running? Is the coil warm) which I answered and he said it was shot. It had a 10 yr warranty on the compressor but that was not the problem. Might be worth considering extended warranty.

If it is just the fan motor you could test it with a small desk fan to see if it cools adequately. I would look on ebay for a used fan if you decide to replace.

 

[isisdave]

Look on Craigslist or similar site, or FB marketplace. There's probably someone who wants to sell their working kitchen fridge for peanuts.

 

[Texas Proud]

Do you really need one?


I have a freezer in my garage but now that the kids are gone we do not use it as much... I am thinking about slowly getting rid of the stuff inside and powering it down...


As for your question, new...

 

[aaronc879]

Our garage fridge is our former kitchen fridge. 30 year old Whirlpool. It's now making a very loud squealing sound intermittently. I took it apart and I think the problem is the evaporator fan motor. Looks like an easy fix. New fan motor is $95 plus tax and shipping.

DW wants get a new fridge. I can get a cheap new Maytag at Menards for around $900.

What would the esteemed members of this board do? Part of me wants to roll the dice, get the new part and see if that cures the problem. But part of me says it's a 30 year old fridge - just get a new one. I could just drive my truck to Menards tomorrow and get the new one with a 2 year warranty, take it home, plug it in and be done with it.

If $900 is nothing to you then spend the money and get a new one.

 

[COcheesehead]

Make sure they are rated for garage temps. Some do not have the insulation for extreme temps in both directions. I had a wine fridge and it was not recommended to be used in temps below 50 or above 80.

 

[38Chevy454]

For a garage frig, I would get a scratch and dent markdown cheap new frig.

Sell the old one as a working frig, yours is probably good for many more years. Possibly a new evap fan, ot maybe it just needs removed and some lubrication.

 

[Car-Guy]

For a garage frig, I would get a scratch and dent markdown cheap new frig.

Now that's a good idea, if you can find one without too much trouble.

 

[badatmath]

Make sure they are rated for garage temps. Some do not have the insulation for extreme temps in both directions. I had a wine fridge and it was not recommended to be used in temps below 50 or above 80.

+1

 

[MC Rider]

For a garage frig, I would get a scratch and dent markdown cheap new frig........

We got a $200 delivered simple lightly used dented door black Fridgidaire for the back porch when the fancy pants LG in the kitchen died. Still working on replacing the LG with the home warranty Co. Imho the warranty is not worth the trouble. At least not around here.



LG. Life's Good. Until it's not.

 

[Jerry1]

Isn’t the process to get a new in house fridge and relegate the kitchen fridge to the garage?

If you don’t want to do that, I’d probably look for a good deal on marketplace/Craigslist. Maybe a local appliance store (repair shop) that sells used appliances.

 

[lucky penny]

The specs for the Maytag mentioned in #4 above say it's intended for use where there's a minimum temp of 55 degrees. Is that an issue for your garage?

When I had to replace my Maytag that gave out after 24 years, it took more than a week to replace it. That meant having to throw out most of the contents - ugh. I don't want that to ever happen again.

 

[Lucie]

Look on Craigslist or similar site, or FB marketplace. There's probably someone who wants to sell their working kitchen fridge for peanuts.

+1

 

[latexman]

On a trial basis, I’d see how it goes without a garage fridge. As you said, you can always go get one if you find you really need one.

 

[DrRoy]

A new one might save on electricity.

 

[ncbill]

Our garage fridge is our former kitchen fridge. 30 year old Whirlpool. It's now making a very loud squealing sound intermittently. I took it apart and I think the problem is the evaporator fan motor. Looks like an easy fix. New fan motor is $95 plus tax and shipping.

DW wants get a new fridge. I can get a cheap new Maytag at Menards for around $900.

What would the esteemed members of this board do? Part of me wants to roll the dice, get the new part and see if that cures the problem. But part of me says it's a 30 year old fridge - just get a new one. I could just drive my truck to Menards tomorrow and get the new one with a 2 year warranty, take it home, plug it in and be done with it.

Fix it but check eBay for the price of that part.

I think you'll find it is substantially cheaper off eBay than from an online appliance part website.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

I had an old garage fridge I bought from a coworker for twenty bucks (he remodeled his kitchen) and used it for ten years. My power company had an energy efficiency program where they would buy appliances of a certain age for fifty bucks. Worth checking to see if yours has a similar program.

Edit to add: Geez, reading that back I just realized how long that old refrigerator lasted. Good luck getting one to last that long today.

 

[misanman]

I've heard that low temps are a problem with refrigeration units. The refrigerator doesn't run much when the temps are low and the lubricant thickens up and doesn't do it's job leading to early failure. Of course, you've been using the old frig for many years so maybe that's not an issue for your situation. We have a garage frig but our garage is heated so not an issue for us.

 

[Aerides]

Isn’t the process to get a new in house fridge and relegate the kitchen fridge to the garage?

If you don’t want to do that, I’d probably look for a good deal on marketplace/Craigslist. Maybe a local appliance store (repair shop) that sells used appliances.

That's my plan. Though I expect our 30+ yo Garage fridge to outlast the newer one in the house at this point.

Either way, go super cheap on the replacement, or go with a garage rated one. Can get a decent basic FF at costco now for $550

 

[Ronstar]

Thanks everyone for the great advice. All replies have me thinking. Especially the garage temp issue. That could be a problem. Garage gets well below 55 in the winter.

I would love to go without a garage fridge. But DW says "Sometimes I use it and I want one". I can see maybe getting by without one, except during the holidays when she has it packed with holiday food, or when we get a meat stash from the cattle farmer - and that takes up only about half of the freezer in the fridge.

 

[Car-Guy]

When we bought our new house, with all new appliances, the refrigerator/freezer (RF) went out after about two years. Even though it was still was under warranty (I think) it can take up to 30 days to get any service out here. So I bought a new one and moved the old one out to the barn/garage. A few weeks later I did some troubleshooting on the original RF and found the blower fan had just fail. Ordered a new one on line and installed it myself. So having a second RF wasn't in our original plan, but it worked out that way. Been very useful too!

So I have no idea if the original RF was designed for use in a garage like environment (not temp/humidity controlled) but I doubt it. Anyway that was about 13 years ago and it's worked perfectly ever since. The annual temperature range around here is typically from the mid 20's to the very low 100's. However we've seen extremes of 0 to 120. The refrigerator side is always cold and has never has frozen up anything and the freeze side has always kept things frozen. Honestly, I never thought about a RF being designed for garage use, but I learn (or here about) something new here all the time.

Whatever, mine has worked just fine in the barn for 13 years now.

 

[freedomatlast]

Should be able to get the evaporator fan motor for $15 to $20.

You must be looking on Amazon if you see it priced at $100.

Post the model number and I'll find one much cheaper from sources I use all the time.

 

[jazz4cash]

Is it this one?

https://www.menards.com/main/applia...p-1485933756061-c-1496238287886.htm?exp=false

We bought the exact same one for ~$600 from Home Depot around 2015. It lasted 3-4 yrs and quit cooling. I called a highly rated neighborhood appliance guy. He asked me 2 questions ( Is the fan running? Is the coil warm) which I answered and he said it was shot. It had a 10 yr warranty on the compressor but that was not the problem. Might be worth considering extended warranty.

If it is just the fan motor you could test it with a small desk fan to see if it cools adequately*. I would look on ebay for a used fan if you decide to replace.

*Edit: I used this hack for a couple of weeks while waiting for a replacement fan for our 20 yr old main fridge.