Timely topic!
Bought our refrigerator less than 4 years ago; compressor went out Wednesday. Whirlpool.
Sales folks at 3 stores say not to expect much more than 10 years out of a modern unit because of what was said early in the posts--compressors are smaller to save energy; smaller compressors have to work harder.
Bought a refrigerator in '78, had one service call in 30 years. When it had a problem 4 years ago, we foolishly believed all that energy saving nonsense that said the energy savings would cover the cost of a new unit and replaced it with the Whirlpool unit that lasted 4 years. I don't understand how you can save much energy when you have to discard an old unit with a good chassis and good insulation after just a few years and cause a new unit to be manufactured, shipped to a warehouse, then to a distributor, then to a home. Then there was the energy spent shopping all day yesterday for a new unit, plus the cost of the repair guy coming out to say the unit would cost almost as much to fix as we paid for it. When you consider all the costs in the system, the energy savings are probably infinitesimally small.
I won't buy another Whirlpool unit. Bought a Samsung last night; almost bought an LG because they have a 7 year parts warranty on the compressor and a 10 year warranty on the sealed systems, which says to me the fact that failures will cost them is an incentive to build a decent unit.
If you feel the same way about Whirlpool as I do (they used to be OK, but apparently they have gone way downhill--they are the cheapie units when you price shop), note that Whirlpool bought and ruined Maytag and also owns Kitchenaid. They used to build for Sear's Kenmore, but LG now builds Kenmores--at least their refrigerators. But also note that just because LG builds them, doesn't mean they are the same. The manufacturer and retailer get together and go over a list of features and parts, so Kenmore may select a better or worse compressor than LG uses in their brand models. So the LG & Kenmore may look alike when side by side, but internals may be different. And that may be the reason Kenmore only has a 1 year warranty while LG has a 1 year overall, 7 year compressor and 10 year sealed systems warranty. Or it may be that Kenmore's warranty is based on hoped for sales of extended warranties, which is where retailers really make their money.
Our GE freezer, which we bought in the early '90s is still going strong--knock on wood!
:confused2::laughing:
