As a followup, it looks like specsmanship is the only thing that's changed re: refrigerators since I bought my now defunct Samsung RSG257AARS in 2010 vs. a similar model bought today. I happened to spot a Samsung RS22HDHPNSR on the showroom floor last week at Lowe's and it is physically identical (externally) in every detail except model number; remarkable since the model which died on me was made over 11 years ago. Not only is the yearly energy now quoted as 646 kwH (vs. 560kwH on the 2010 label), its capacity is now advertised at 22.3 cu. ft. (vs. the previously quoted 25.1 cu. ft.-- there are no differences in the internal cavity or shelving between the two models).
Have been waiting on a replacement for 3 weeks now; purchased through Costco. No charge for haulaway; Costco provide 2 years of (likely fruitless) warranty through the manufacturer, a fairly cheap 5 year plan through Square Trade, and allow returning it with 90 days at no cost whatsoever. Was surprised to learn that most of the big box store's policies only allow you to reject the product on day of delivery if damaged; their remedy even for items that are found DOA or fail 10 minutes after the truck leaves is tough luck, it's yours... use your warranty.
I just took delivery of a counter depth French door Bosch 800 series today. I actually found it when looking for a Thermador (Thermador is owned by Bosch). It’s the exact same fridge as the Thermador minus like two whistles involving interior lighting and handles on the outside. The nice thing I like about it is it has dual compressors, so you’re not using a single compressor for both compartments. Has Bosch Home Connect capability for temp and door open alarms as well as controlling the ice maker and interior lighting. Since I have the water line hooked up to my Reverse Osmosis filtration I’d like to see if Bosch can send me a bypass plug on the water filter so I don’t have to keep replacing that every 6 months.
Quick online research says IKEA makes their appliances in partnership with Whirlpool , and some of their large appliances come with a five-year warranty. What caught my eye is that they have some smaller (used to be standard size), less 'featured' models --just plain ol' refrigerators with an icemaker.
Whatever you do, never buy a Hitachi fridge/freezer. They are utter junk. I had endless trouble.with them, including a replacement unit, until eventually they gave me all my money back, and monetary compensation, and finally took the scrap away.
I have to eat a little crow on saying with Maytag/Whirlpool from this post in 2020 when I said I've never had a problem. Up until then I haven't.
My 2020 Maytag fridge front panel quit 3 months after the one year warranty. It has been nothing but a nightmare to get it fixed. Maytag was gracious enough to setup a service call with an area appliance store that is Maytag Certified Service . I contacted the appliance service manager to discuss the issue. He said it wasn't worth his time. Cost of distance, time, what Maytag pays and the facetime hours online with Maytag support was not worth it. Of course, if I would have bought it from them, different story on service he round about said..Pretty sad. The $2100.00 fridge runs as far as keeping things cold and making ice. Just no display, water and ice dispense.
I have service plus through my gas service and they have replaced all the circuit boards with no luck. I think it is a wiring problem. Those I'm sure are buried to the point of having to pull everything all apart.
Sadly enough with how things are made today, I will be purchasing an extended warranty with the manufacturer.
There seems to be nowhere to hide when it comes to refrigerator issues, with thru-the-door icemakers/dispensers on French door models the most problematic. From the research I did a few months ago I found interesting info on Yale Appliance's website; they have 3 locations in metro Boston and do a huge service business (100K service calls in the last 3 years, over 30K of them in 2020).
They keep their own statistics (to weed out unreliable brands) and share results regularly on their blog. Their data for French door counter depth models shows the low-spec (not Cafe or Profile) GE brand to be most reliable with 12% needing service in 1 year. Bosch, Fisher & Paykel, Beko and the hated (virtually impossible to obtain service) Samsung brand (at 20.9%) make up the top 5 most reliable with KitchenAid, Cafe and GE Profile right behind. LG (at 27.8) and JennAir (36.7%) were worse; overall average was about 21%.
One takeaway from that website is that outright cooling failures are not the cause of most service calls; if your refrigerator fails it will most likely be the icemaker/dispenser and not the cooling system . Of course that runs counter to my 2010 Samsung experience; my icemaker ran fine long after the refrigerator side stopped cooling completely (although I managed to keep it going for 11 years). Another insight: extended warranty companies (with no service departments) seem to be willing to pay for repairs because it is unlikely that you be able to find someone to actually do them.
So far the Samsung (the devil I know) side-by-side I got in June is working fine with the exception of the SmartThings connectivity; it will not complete the registration to the SmartThings (fails with 15-200 app error code; I can see it get an address from my router but something fails in the ST cloud when it supposedly gets associated with my account). I've had a open problem with ST since July; support is responsive but laughably bad. Over and over I get asked to perform troubleshooting steps and provide app logs, I provide them, wait 7 days and get asked to perform the exact same troubleshooting steps/provide logs again.
I balked after the fourth iteration of this dance and was told 'logs expire after 7 days'. I finally shared them with a cloud drive link; a week later I was requested to 'provide updated logs' because the ST app had been updated. Googling the error code shows I'm not the only one with this issue; I'm convinced the problem will never be fixed. It would infuriate me but since I monitor the fridge with my own sensors on HE the added utility of the ST cloud is probably nil.
I just had a similar experience with another manufacturer. I bought an NXR range, which I loved at first... it has that commercial style thing going on. No computers at all. And reasonably priced compared to Wolf etc.
But... then mine developed a gas leak around 6 months in. I called the company for warranty service. They could not get one of their service partners to even come take a look at it. They don't even have their own techs, just a network of contractors who apparently choose which jobs they want to do!
"Just get someone to fix it and we'll pay for it," they said. So eventually I found someone to look at it, and the repair would have been $1000 ... on a $1500 range!
The idea that the manufacturer could be powerless to provide support... that was just bananas to me. But now I see it may not be that uncommon.
(I ended up getting a refund on the NXR and due to their inability to provide service, I won't buy another one no matter how much I liked it in the beginning.)
we have lg at home and this is the first one that has no issues especially with the ice maker..
we got an lg with all the features we like in fl. before we found out about the dreaded class action suit etc.. off course the compressor died only 2 years old.. what a pain.. it is a rental.. they had to come back twice and replace the compressor and coils and dryer.. (lots of solders)... but for the moment it is working.. Its a shame as we like the features of the fridge including actually being able to set the freezaer and fridge temps in degrees digitally.. the ice maker, and the extra partial front door to get only drinks , butter etc.
Gotta chime in here and say I've been happy with fisher paykel fridges. I have one that's been running great since 2008 in one house we recently solf, and another I purchased 2 years ago for our new place.
The best part is (for me anyway) is they haven't changed their models much in the last 10 years, So I'm hoping the 13+ year reliability will extend to this newer one I have that has been great so far.
I called Bosch and they have the bypass. $25 which includes tax and shipping. Should be here in 5-10 days. When the filter is due to be replaced in 6 months I’ll just throw it on then.
RE: Fisher Paykel's brand DCS (which they purchased in 2004) - Not so happy w/their electric double oven or six-burner gas cooktop.
Double oven takes almost an hour to get to 450, runs a very loud exhaust fan the entire time, and the display has failed on us three times (luckily there is an option for replacing w/out a service repairman)
Cooktop is very finicky about any liquids spilled/moisture, more than any other cooktop I've ever had. Burners will turn on but even slight moisture results in the burner ignition spark on all burners firing over and over even when the burners are lit. Have also had to replace the ignition units on two burners (again, doable at home w/parts ordered).
I purchased an LG last year. It generally works well and the company provides great support. As an example, it was a bit noisy a while back, so I contacted their support team, they sent a technician who tinkered with it a bit and now it is super quiet.
I randomly came across this comment today. Just wanted to mention that propane is used as a commercial/industrial refrigerant. The applications I know of use just a few ounces of propane - like 10 oz, so it is considered pretty safe.
Yes, I noticed that the quantity used is relatively small. I was skeptical that it would be as effective as the older refrigerants but I have to say that the freezer on the new Samsung has no problem getting cold. The sensor I placed in it routinely gets down to -8F (when supposedly set to zero; luckily the refrigerator side is better regulated and stays witin a degree or so of 38 when set to 39F; this model doesn't advertise dual evaporators like my older one did. I suspect it is more power efficient as well.
Waiting for our SubZero to fail so I can get an LG that makes the giant craft ice balls. LG Craft Ice Refrigerators | Round Ice for Craft Drinks Hmm, maybe the evening cocktail habit is getting bad. Unfortunately, or fortunately, that SubZero has been going for 20 years and there's a good chance it could outlast me.
