The Devil Sells Whirlpool (Appliance gripes and advice)

I scoured and scoured but could not find an appliance thread. I just had my fridge shit the bed with $200 worth of groceries in it. Fantastic. Tech seems to think it's The compressor. They want $1800 to fix it which is basically the entire cost of a replacement. But reading reviews all refrigerators now I guess are garbage? There are some that top the list of shit, but finding one with no complaints has been difficult. Anybody with more than 5 years on their fridge? Missus likes the French door bottom freezer type. Anyway, do I fix the thing or trash it?

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Fridges were built 4lyf in my day. 15 or so thus far. Zero maintenance.

$1,800 sounds crazy high for repair. Seek second opinion(s).

there are a couple of appliance threads,

IME the simple traditional fridge with top freezer/ bottom fridge are the most reliable

i just bought a simple fridge cheap on FB for my basement suite, in fact everything down there has shit the bed,

stove/ washer/dryer/ fridge/ range hood, i'm finding cheap replacements used on FB which probably won't work for you

I just had a DW on warranty shit the bed so bad bosch could not fix it so mechanicaly replaced it ,

the new DW lasted < a week so i got a ticket open with Bosch on it now

Bill the tech who got to know pretty well from 5 DW service calls tells me post covid the parts suck

whirlpool is probably one of the good ones, I think samsung is the devil's own but you can google all that

I like French door top Fridge, bottom slide out freezer. Here the kicker: middle flex drawer. So there are three compartments. That separate slide out middle drawer keeps you from having to open both French doors to get in the deli meat, yogurt, and cheese drawer. I wish the drawer on mine had more temperature settings than it does: it is missing 33°F. It has a freezer setting, a couple fridge settings, and even a wine setting.

But I bought an LG. With all the extra warranties I could find. So I'll still be buying a new fridge again but hopefully not for 5 years.

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Originally Posted by Huskier

I scoured and scoured but could not find an appliance thread. I just had my fridge shit the bed with $200 worth of groceries in it. Fantastic. Tech seems to think it's The compressor. They want $1800 to fix it which is basically the entire cost of a replacement. But reading reviews all refrigerators now I guess are garbage? There are some that top the list of shit, but finding one with no complaints has been difficult. Anybody with more than 5 years on their fridge? Missus likes the French door bottom freezer type. Anyway, do I fix the thing or trash it?

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we're on 17 years with our current top and bottom subzero
lots of orthogonal data, as my buddy oftpiste will attest.

we've had 3 of them 12 years on the first one, sold the place, 17 on this one and 12 years on another, no problems yet.

My appliance repair guy said they all break. His advice was:

GE, Whirlpool, Frigidaire seem to be the easiest for him to get parts for. He said avoid Samsung & LG at all costs.

Buy from a local appliance store over a box store.

Don’t buy extended warranties.

But there’s exceptions of course.

Earlier this year I spent a few months dealing with a shitty Samsung stove I bought from Home Despot. Samsung’s repair tech was worthless. It took a letter to the state AG consumer protection office to get Home Despot to give me my money back.

Consumer Reports likes LG and GE. They do say that LG French doors tend to have more compressor problems, and top freezer models in general are the most reliable. We have two LG's--a French door (4 years) and a single door bottom freezer (5). No problems so far. Both are precovid manufacture.

19 yo top freezer Whirlpool is on it's last legs. For the past couple years I've had to keep a fresh dishrag on the back of the top frig shelf to catch dripping water. Freezer floor also gets ice buildup that I chip outta there about once a month. No water connection to the frig so this is all coming from the unit.
33" wide replacement is $700 before tax & delivery so not too terrible. I was just about to order before the Reno fire started last weekend and closed the highway.

We have a 13 year old Kitchenaid French door. No ice/water in the door.

No issues at all yet.

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Originally Posted by powpig

19 yo top freezer Whirlpool is on it's last legs. For the past couple years I've had to keep a fresh dishrag on the back of the top frig shelf to catch dripping water. Freezer floor also gets ice buildup that I chip outta there about once a month. No water connection to the frig so this is all coming from the unit.
33" wide replacement is $700 before tax & delivery so not too terrible. I was just about to order before the Reno fire started last weekend and closed the highway.

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We're dealing with that same thing in our kenmore. According to the sticker on it the thing is almost 30 years old though, so I can't really complain.

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20yo Frigidaire here. Top freezer model. Pull it from the wall, take off the back panel, and clean out the fan and cooling rack a couple times a year. Dust really builds up fast. Also, had to blow out the freezer drain tube a couple of times as it can also get plugged with debris at the back of the freezer. When the water sits under the bottom drawer crispers, you know the drain tube needs attention. It pops and farts sometimes when the compressor runs, but keeps on ticking. So far it has outlasted the Frigidaire stove and DW. But we’ll see if it lasts longer than the 35yo kenmore washer and drier.

Seems the simpler, the better. The cheapest, most bare bones models you'll find seems to be the most reliable, regardless of brand. The ones at the big box stores with screens built-in, twenty ice makers, etc. are just asking for trouble. My 6 year old Samsung is still working but hasn't been without a bit of drama early on that I fixed, and I've completely given up on the upper ice maker. It's not broken. Ice just clumps together into one giant solid block. A known issue since it sits inside the warmer fridge and that's what ice will do in those conditions. So I just shut it off.

I DIY all my repairs which has helped a ton. Appliance repair is a complete rip-off these days IMO. Look up your model on YouTube and see what you can find! Either way, avoid Samsung. They're built to fail. Particularly their circuit/control boards. Not ok considering their VERY premium pricing. Might as well buy a fancy Euro brand for what those clowns want. House came with a matching new fancy shmancy Samsung dishwasher that previous owner spent like $2K on. Didn't even last 2 years and the control board alone cost more than an entire dishwasher replacement. Was a POS when it worked anyway. Never did its job as good as a cheapy Kenmore.

Whirlpool can suck a bag of dicks (is that still a thing?)

Yeah - have had issues with WP fridge, Microwave and Range (electric) - but as said above - The Ms liked the features/looks of each, but for the next go around we will avoid WP like the plague. A shame cuz they are sharp looking and had all the bells whistles to meet expectations of Ms P-Dawg at the time... (re-did kitchen in 2015)

Bosch Dish Washer circa 2007 = no issues.

In the process of replacing our 17 year old Frigidaire set. Dishwasher racks are all rusted out and I’m sick of patching spots. Lots of tines gone. Fridge has had a couple of issues over the years. Every place we talked with said 17 was really good and any current model will last 10 years at best. We went with Bosch. So far they have done the dishwasher and the tech said he installs a lot of Bosch and rarely has to go back for repairs. The dishwasher is definitely a major improvement in sound, efficiency, capacity, and cleanliness. Looking forward to the induction cooktop, not looking forward to rerouting the electrical through adjacent cabinets. Just happy everything will fit in existing spots with limited modifications that I can do.

The annoying thing is internet research on brand reliability is kind of worthless. The "top" brands come across meaning about as much as JD Power awards (which always go to Dodge/Ram - HA!), and almost everything you see shows Whirlpool as being the most reliable. Clearly not true anecdotally here and from people I've talked to. Saw one piece saying how Samsungs were built for longevity and durability. WTF? That fluff was obviously bought and paid for.

While I believe Bosch is great for dishwashers, OP is asking about fridges in which case I don't know. I will be going to my local appliance supply depot today to see if I can score a new convection fan for my oven. Yes, Samsung. Because of course. It's sounds like it's grinding marbles or something. Anyway, I'll ask the guys there for the inside scoop of what they're seeing with newer models' reliability. They usually know what's up.

They've also FINALLY issued a recall for the asinine knobs that like to turn on your range without having to push them in. Like the dog will nose them and it turns them on. Accidentally brush them when walking by. Burner goes on full blast. For years, those dicks were acting like nothing was wrong despite the countless consumer complaints, myself included. When it was still under warranty, I called them and their customer service wasn't willing to do anything about it. Guess they'll be sending me some lame knob locks and covers now. Still think they should be offering full knob assemblies. Cheap bastards.
https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2024/Sa...to-Fire-Hazard
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...s-killed-pets/

Moral of the story? Avoid Samsung.

FWIW the drawers and racks all seem to break before the guts give out.

Bens Appliances and Junk on YouTube. He disassembles the stuff he reviews to see how it is made and what repair might be like long-term.

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Originally Posted by Mazderati

Bens Appliances and Junk on YouTube. He disassembles the stuff he reviews to see how it is made and what repair might be like long-term.

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Good channel! Hadn't seen that one before. Thanks for the rec! Looks like he has one on fridges:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKJgYVhZ6-w

The depressing part is he polled 200 technicians and the consensus on which brand is best?... "They are all trash." :(
He agreed with what I said above tho! "Avoid more features." I know, I know. Captain Obvious to the rescue.

I have a paragraph in my contract that talks about appliances pretty much says I don't deal withthem I don't pay for them if I do any warrenty work or deal with anything other than providing electric and gas and water to the required location I'm done
everything after that is hourly

appliances suck cock all around

the higher end appliances are pretty good

the problem is just like cars they made them very complicated and with all the sensors and the computer they like to shit the bed or tell themselves they are done working

LG and samsung both suck cock
online reviews are total junk now since most of them are created by the corporation
it's easy for the companies to sell you a shit product then make it very difficult for you to get any warrenty work done that is their game plan ever read the legal shit they spew in the owners manual LOL

bought an LG washer and dryer fuck that shit
need a new fridge and dishwasher went shopping yesterday found a dishwasher and asked the guy to wheel it out from the warehouse and I'll load it he said it takes about a half hour I said I don't have time and left

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Originally Posted by pepperdawg

Whirlpool can suck a bag of dicks (is that still a thing?)

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It's still a thing if you're an A-Basin skier...

Going through a bit of appliance hell here also. Frigidaire refrigerator (French doors top, slide out freezer bottom, ice maker only inside the freezer) has a mind of its own. Refrigerator stays a pretty constant temperature but the freezer fluctuates almost 30* (F). I know it warms up a bit during the way-too-frequent defrost cycles but it will go from -1* to 29* when it cycles. Local appliance store we bought it from 8 years ago is ghosting us. I even went in there and told them I wasn't leaving until they scheduled a service call. They said they were still waiting on a part and would call me when it comes in. That was a month ago...

Frigidaire dishwasher - also bought 8 years ago - went completely dead. Luckily, that was a "turn off the breaker for 30 minutes and restart" fix.

Edgestar kegerator - also bought 8 years ago - had a complete power control board failure. Before that failed, it wouldn't hold the temperature under 45* which makes for lousy beer. The PCB and the sensor package would have cost me more than $350 to fix an 8-year-old Chinese POS. Just ordered a new commercial refrigerator cabinet for the kegerator.

ETA: the Whirlpool beer fridge in my basement is 20 years old and works like a charm. No digital temperature, no ice maker.

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Originally Posted by Doremite

Fridges were built 4lyf in my day. 15 or so thus far. Zero maintenance.

$1,800 sounds crazy high for repair. Seek second opinion(s).

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Agree. It’s typically more like $500 from what I’ve heard.

Edit: here’s what Angie’s list says: https://www.angi.com/articles/how-mu...essor-cost.htm

I was pretty happy to get rid of our POS Samsung dishwasher.

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Originally Posted by Touring_Sedan

I was pretty happy to get rid of our POS Samsung dishwasher.

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Haha. Same.

The lack of reliability seems to be the price we all pay for efficiency requirements.

Which, in all honesty, are significant. I inherited a fridge from my grandmother that has been running since the 60s. That thing is bomb proof. I'd literally hide behind the door of it if the ruskies ever send a bomb over. Keeps my beer at a steady 34 degrees come hell or high water, and has been doing so for 60 years without a hiccup.

That said, it costs literally 25 bucks a month in electricity, so when you look at it that way you are paying out the ass either way.

From the little I’ve read, it’s not related to the efficiency requirements. Appliance designers putting in all kinds of bullshit features (WiFi enabled etc) is part of the problem obviously. But there’s intense pressure to keep manufacturing and shipping costs down, with easy repairability falling low on the list of priorities. So washing machine drums are lightweight but eventually fracture on the drive end. Fridges have barely adequate compressors, microwaves have inexpensive magnetrons that stop working after 5 yrs. Plastic everywhere possible.