Sunday, January 21, 2007

good grief


Marc and I heard a periodic clicking sound in the kitchen late Friday night, the kind of sound the oven makes when it's been on a long time and it is working to maintain the temperature. Since the oven wasn't on, we couldn't figure out where the sound was coming from. We were watching a movie, and even though it was a quiet sound, it was really bugging me.

Yesterday morning we discovered that the freezer was starting to defrost. I salvaged what I could and stored it in my neighbor's extra freezer, then called a guy in our neighborhood who has a repair business. When I described the symptoms to him, he said he didn't even need to come take a look, he knew that it needed a new compressor (and that he could install one on Monday).

Here's what that means: we can pay $400 or more to have a new compressor put in, or we can buy a new fridge. Now we can't remember exactly when we bought our current fridge, but it was no more than 5 years ago -- I'm no expert, but that seems like a pretty short life!

We seem to have bad luck with appliances. We have replaced every appliance in our home except for the stove (knock on wood), and that includes the water heater, furnace, and air conditioner. And now we are looking at buying a fridge again?! So frustrating.

So far the fridge is staying fairly cold, but this morning there was a puddle outside the freezer. All the ice from the icemaker was melting, so I had to pull the fridge out, empty out the remaining ice, and mop up the water everywhere. I'm sure the contents of the fridge won't be cold for much longer, so that means tomorrow we will have to either get this fixed or look for a new fridge. Good grief.

23 comments:

Jill said...

I know that's a major pain and not a happy thing for the finances, but if you end up getting a new fridge at least you can pick one that allows you to open the freezer door! How about one with the freezer on the bottom and a nice roomy fridge on top? That would be so awesome wouldn't it?

Jill said...

P.S. I love seeing all the stuff stuck to the outside of your fridge. All the pictures, cards, lists, checks etc. It's so happy.

Amy said...

Oh, that's a bummer. I feel your pain! I hate having to spend money on things that I shouldn't have to spend money on. A few months ago our ice maker stopped working. It was no big deal since we hardly use ice, but we still wanted to get it fixed. I finally called a repair service two weeks ago. He came in and said that the ice maker needed to be replaced. It cost nearly $300--and our fridge is only a year and a half old. He said it's common for that to happen. Common? It seems that there's a problem if an appliance commonly breaks after less than two years!

Amie said...

Oh, I am so sorry. I really hate things like that, money puts me into the worst of funks. I would rather have the new fridge but that does seem like something you shouldn't have to replace after single digit years and for sure not with only needing one hand's worth of fingers to count.

I will be back tomorrow to see a picture of what you decided!

PS - your freezer door doesn't open?

Amie said...

I'm back, numerous checks on your fridge looks like a good thing, maybe I will go write some bad ones to stick to mine!

michelle said...

Amie, it's a side-by-side fridge/freezer and the freezer opens, but there's a wall next to it that prevents it from opening completely. So you can't take the ice bin out or clean it thoroughly without pulling the whole fridge out several feet!

Liz said...

Dang! I wish you and I loved closer, because I've got an extra fridge (our fridge wouldn't fit in this house). Good luck with the search for a new one!

melanie said...

Yikes, you have me so frightened right now. Our fridge has been making this weird noise. I am home ALL the time so I hear it through out the day. Milo hardly ever hears it and so he chalks it up to be no big deal. He'll think no big deal when we have to buy a new one.

I'm crossing my fingers for you! Not a way I want to spend $ thats for sure!

amy gretchen said...

This has happened to us and it was a major pain. It was easy to fix and I only remember it being $100 or so, but it cost just as much to buy all the food again. Sorry and Good luck.

Tasha said...

Oy Vey! I HATE stuff like that.

I love seeing the front of your fridge, mine is covered!

Syd said...

So frustrating. This just happened to us in December. Our fridge is only 1.5 years old, and the fan in the back broke. We ended up needing a new motherboard (or something like that). When it first started we just noticed our freezer warming up, and so we put our food outside in a cooler, it was so cold that night that the ice never even melted. I remember our fridge growing up lasting like at least 15 + years. I guess they just don't make 'em like they used to. Sigh. Hope it gets taken care of fast and you have a good week anyway.

Jordan said...

Hooray for a new fridge opportunity! (or fridger, as my son calls it.) I'm with Jill, get one with a freezer on the bottom. Sorry for the kink in things! Hope your chicken tenders and peas have a home soon!

Doodle Bugs said...

My freezer went out too! I am waiting on the repairman.. it was supposed to be fixed Thursday. (it is sunday now) and he is now hopefully going to be here Tuesday! I feel your pain.. The worst part is living without ICE!! I am so lost!
Ps.. oh yeah ours is less than 5 years old too!!

Anonymous said...

Our outside freezer just quit working--such a bummer! I didn't realize it until all the meat inside was completely thawed for who knows how long. It pained me to put it all out for the garbage man. We haven't had it fixed yet, but I sure miss having the extra freezer space for stocking up space.

Anonymous said...

Oh no! This happened to us this summer. We were on vacation for 10 days, and we came back to a puddle on the floor in front of the fridge. The food was all very warm inside - it was a total loss. Our fridge was only 4 months old at the time, so luckily it was under warranty. But I am paranoid about it now. Good luck with your decision. My sister-in-law has the freezer on the bottom option, and loves it!

jenny said...

I am so sorry about your fickle fridge. That stinks. I like you have replaced EVERY appliance too. And it never comes at a good time.

Hope all goes well tomorrow :)

Elisa said...

ARGH! If it were me, I think I would go for a new fridge. If you do buy a new one I would check on Consumer Reports to find the best fridge for your money. I guess you have to make a decision fast huh?! It's hard to live without a fridge.

charlotte said...

That's such a frustrating thing to have happen. I hate it when things like that happen and they obviously can't wait. Good luck with the refridgerator shopping!

jenn said...

I hate owning a house sometimes! Why didn't I realize what a blessing it was to be able to call a land lord and say fix this now!

Good Luck!

Diana said...

Man that's too bad. I hope you have better luck with your next fridge. I hate fridge messes, glad you were able to catch it on time before there was too much of a disaster.

Anonymous said...

That stinks. Good luck with that decision. I say go for a new one.

Anonymous said...

Sad, sad, sad, very sad, way sad, SAD!

stefanie said...

That is a total bummer! You should get 10-15 years out of a fridge. Sorry about that - maybe you can get one of those really cool new ones with the freezer drawer and double doors on the top so you can put in big stuff like cakes and party trays!

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