Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Refrigerators, fix them / buy new ?

I guess that's my delima, there is just two of us, and we sure as hell don't need a Mcmansion style, boil your hotdogs for you kind of refrigerator. The simple ice maker is nice but I can fill the trays if need be.

"Frost free" fridges/freezers have two chronic problems- - - -failure of the fan that circulates the air through the box, and problems with the defrost timer and/or heater. Another problem is strictly mechanical- - - -the drain that routes the water from the defrost cycle to a pan under the unit clogs, and the freezer makes a solid block of ice. I just cleared a clogged drain on my 5 year old Whirlpool with the freezer on the bottom, and it appears to be working right now. It was forming an inch-thick block of ice at the bottom of the freezer and eventually keeping the freezer drawer from sealing.

Defrost timer and/or heater repair usually involves taking most, if not all of the interior panels out, so it's not a quick fix. Circulating fans are cheap, and usually easy to change. If you get into refrigerant recharging, changing a compressor, or refrigerant leaks from corrosion, scrap it!
Jerry

Buy new fudge, Refurbish old fridge into a smoker.

Go get a free one on Craigslist, they're out there.

Clean the sucker up and out and when you put stuff back in be mindful not to block vents. See if that fixes it.

Since yours sounds like a simple analog top-freezer deal, diagnosing and fixing it might be a good idea. If you hire a repairman, "Repairman gonna break it off in yo ass."

The simple top-freezer analog models last the longest. The ones that go into apartments & whatnot. Also, they are a lot cheaper. Dad used to work for a fridge builder, we got all top of the line side by sides every few years. Just not worth it. And the top-freezer deals are more space efficient such that a 18cuft top-freezer deal has as much space as a 22cuft side by side.

And I'll be danged if I ever buy a fridge with a screen. Eff that noise.

I fix mine myself. It’s usually the compressor. Clean your condenser yearly. That is usually the cause of compressor failure.

I had a side by side once, where the little ‘transfer fan’ in the top of the unit wasn’t pushing cold air over to the fridge side.

$50 diy repair

Just went threw this last week.Wife and I bought all new GE appliances 2.5 years ago fridge took a chit last week.GE states sorry no service man in your area.Called other shops they state we won't work on GE they were bought out by china about 3 years ago can,t get parts.Tore the POS apart cleaned everything no help.Ended up buying a new whirlpool.IMHO they are all JUNK now with a 1 year warranty.

I had a GE SxS that I repaired twice. About a 2007 model. The third time it went down I just replaced it.

Each time it was the defrost heater. Easy job, but obviously schit equipment. Three times in a couple years was enough for me.

I just worked on 3 I had here at the house, the compressors were not running on all three.

I started with a switch that plugs right into the compressor, It's a Start Relay & Capacitor.
Wiring just plugs into it, all three frig's I had used the same one.

Cost less that 10 bucks and they are really universal, one size fits all damn near. I bought 2 on Amazon.
Figured on a gamble it'd be worth it.
It was this part right here

Well that got the Whirlpool frig running but not the other two.

Next was a Frigidaire, It just wasn't getting a start signal. If it had been I'd have heard the new relay click, so I dug a little future and came up with a control board that was under the frig. I got it pulled out, again just plugs and a couple screws and I had it in my hand.

It was shorted, big black burnt spot right in the middle of the board.
Ran the numbers on it through Google and found it on Amazon as well.
It was around a hundred a bucks on Amazon but I found one on EBay for 33 bucks so I ordered it.

These parts orders come in fast, a couple days wait and they are in the mailbox.



Buy for 32.99 on EBay at this link.

That did it, The Frigidaire was running like a top!

The third frig seemed to have a compressor issue.
It appears to have run low on coolant and possibly burned up the motor that is sealed inside the compressor tank, it just hums when the start relay snaps closed.

It'd cost me better than a hundred to get a new compressor and then I'd have to have someone charge it with coolant so I quit there.

2 outta 3 ain't bad for $50 bucks and a couple hours of my inexperience time....I did have to view a handful of YouTube videos....

All three frig's are under 5 years old and of similar size. Just didn't want to toss them and buy new, I have a couple houses going on the market and wanted working appliances is them.

The world seems geared to getting us to toss things out and buy new, a good frig not long ago was under a grand, today it's doubled or more....

There are some online troubleshooting resources. I would look through what they say. A lot of the stuff is pretty easy to do with you tube videos available to show you how. We have a 15 year old Jenn air ( I think its a whirlpool or something) and I have done two repairs on it. Both took around 30 minutes and $50-75 in parts. And I think I threw parts at the problem, the trouble shooting guide said it could be three things so I bought all three parts and replaced them. If I had called a repair guy I would have been into it for half the price of a new fridge.


Same deal with our dryer, when it died an internet search showed me what was wrong and there was a you tube video to show me how to fix it. In the end it was faster and easier than waiting for a delivery guys 4 hour window to deliver a new unit. A bunch cheaper too.

Boxes with plastic inner panels make lousy smokers- - - - -the plastic melts and stinks. I'm building a smoker from steel plate and motorcycle chains and sprockets that will handle 5 pork butts at a time. My daughter runs a sandwich shop and they sell a LOT of pulled pork.
Jerry

I got a secondary fridge for cold drinks and overflow holiday cooking.

Upright full size, freezer on top, nice and black. Not avocado green. Lol

Got it at Lowe’s for about $480, 2 years ago.

Doesn't your utility company send out death squads to track down and kill people who have extra 'fridges and freezers?

Usually the problems I've had are the opposite, frost-free systems icing up. That has been spider nests up the damned drip tube both times and the solution has been to defrost, then hook up the air compressor to the outside end of the drip tube and blow the "barnacles" on through into the freezer, wipe them up, turn the power back on, and good for another 5-7 years.

If they are not cooling, it could be dust or something blocking air flow so the heat isn't carried away by the fan, otherwise it's probably a low coolant problem and .. well, if it is 10-15 years old, I'd replace it. check for "incentives" offered by your power company, etc ... could be they'll have programs that will lower the purchase price enough that the energy savings over the long haul will pay the cost of the new fridge.

Half a beef takes up most of a big upright freezer, with a little room to spare for ice cream, etc. A wireless electronic temp monitor with a loud alarm helps avoid disasters in case of a malfunction. Don't even have to open the door to check on the temp!
Jerry

We have TVA

btw, I have 3 fridges counting the one in my sunroom
And 4 freezers. (2 chests and 2 uprights)

Much different around here.

And don't get me started on the new digital Whirlpool front-loading washers and associated dryers.

I had a simple whirlpool top loader for nigh on 20 years. Two repairs kept it running until the tranny blew and I figured the body was rusting too much.

I have been through three dryers and two washers of the new front-load sort. Some of the old things can be fixed, and did so. But getting into the computer-controller bits is a nightmare and replacements are stupid expensive. Nowadays I buy used from guys who haul off the old one for parts if it is a computer issue. Got a Samsung front-load washer for $75 and whirlpool dryers for $200. Probably some parts from my old appliance in them.

If you have an old refrigerator that still cools but you just wanted to up grade, they work good for a cool smoker. I agree Im not crazy about hot smoking in plastic. That's "Big C Country" right there. But you can smoke sausage in them with cool smoke. Just put a small bucket in the bottom with a hot pad under it and use one of those electric charcoal lighters with wet chips in the bucket to generate smoke. Keep the fridge running to keep it cool and check it often to make sure it doesn't start a full blown fire. All you want is cool smoke. Works great if you want to smoke some sausage in warm weather. You don't want it hot for that. Just leave it for a couple days and it will smoke good and the meat won't spoil.