Fix it or Replace it? A Refrigerator Conundrum

“You got to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em…” Kenny Rogers, The Gambler

They don’t make ’em like they used to, especially when it comes to applicances. I have not had any perticular good luck with LG refrigerators… they look nice and have some nice features, but they are prone to wear out, and the ice maker I was always fiddling with to get it to work. If you tried to use the water dispensor, you would get water spewing all over the floor instead of your glass, but these were things I could live with (put a sticker on the water dispensor that says “don’t use the water dispensor”).

But then I noticed the front of the fridge was hot. I did some searches to see root causes (AI was actually more helpful). It had me check the evaperator coil fan– said it needs to be vacuummed every year. Well, I’m guessing this fridge was about 15 or so years old, and I had never cleaned the back of the unit… and it was a mess. I unplugged it, removed the cover, and got after it to clean it… then I plugged it back in to see if the fan was working. It wasn’t.

What’s an old fridge worth?

I called an appliance repair place to see what they would charge me to replace the fan (I’d probably would have had them fix the water dispensor at the same time). Trip charge was just south of a hundred bucks (that applies to the service fee if they did the repair)– pretty standard. I told them what was wrong (90% sure it was just a seized fan) and had them give me a quote. They came back a little later that they could replace the fan for $450. That’s when the calculator in my head said, “Hey, you can get a newer used fridge for about that much.”

I took out the old fan housing (so I could find out which fan to order) which was a major pain (took about 1/2 an hour). Then I put a fan next to the evapertor coils as a temporary fix, plugged it back in, and started looking for a “new” fridge at my local Restore, and on Face-page marketplace and Craigslist. I’m not opposed to buying something new, but I like to look at other options first. I found this sweet stainless LG fridge (pictured above) just down the road for a smoking deal. It literally had no cosmetic issues whatsoever (I did ding up one of the doors transporting it, but that was my bad).

The old fridge replaces my even older beer fridge in the garage. 

Here’s my two take-aways:

1. The evaporator coils need to be cleaned every year to keep from dust/grime build up (that is what killed my fan).
2. Before you go paying a bunch of money to fix or replace something, do some research to see what your options are.