Are there any refrigerator companies that make a reliable fridge anymore ??

[Diggin It]

I saw this awhile ago and saved it.

The No. 1 most reliable appliance brand in America, according to Consumer Reports - MarketWatch

So that others don't have to go chasing a teaser link:

"“The stakes are high for major appliances,” he said. “These are really expensive products that you buy for your home. They’re things you have to have installed and they basically become a part of your home.”

Appliance brand ranking

Speed Queen
Miele
Ikea
LG
Thermador
Bosch
GE
Kenmore
Whirlpool
Maytag
Sub-Zero/Wolff
Frigidaire
Estate
Hotpoint
Roper
KitchenAid
Samsung
JennAir
Asko
Fisher & Paykel
Dacor
Electrolux
Viking "

 

[Alan W.]

When I built the house in 98 I got all GE appliances except for the stove which is a whirlpool.

Replaced dishwasher 1 year ago. It was still working I just wanted something quieter.

Washer started having issues about 3 years ago. Part prices made replacement more economical. New GE replacement has already needed a service call. Bad board.

Replaced fan on fridge 12 years ago. Its still going strong.

Everything else chugging right along. Buying new is a crapshoot these days.

 

[Dftodd]

same with me, forget GE and Whirlpool, they are NOT the companies they once were!..

Agreed, at least about their dishwashers. Replaced the fridge and dishwasher with whirlpool models. The dishwasher tanked in about 3 years. Got fed up and replaced it with a maytag. Which I realized later was made by whirlpool

Had one issue with the fridge. But realized that my wife had packed a bunch of stuff against the intake vents. Relocated the stuff and it worked great after that. Fridge is 10 years old now.

Had a whirlpool upright freezer. That one tanked after 5 years. Dropped it off at a repair shop twice. First time they didnt do anything and said nothing was wrong. Second time I took a bundle of flavor ice with me so they could actually see what the issue was. The sugar water wouldn't freeze, and ice cream came out as soft serve.

They couldn't figure out the issue so I ended up selling it on FB market place cheap to a guy looking for a beer fridge

 

[CobyRupert]

Fan was running murph.Did a few trouble shooting things to the fridge but nothing seemed to help.

Often cooling is done in freezer and air exchange from freezer cools fridge.
If so, are air passages open between freezer and fridge? Often they can clog with ice. Ice forms because water didn’t drain during auto defrost cycle and reforms as ice. Drain is often clogged because of little rubber “nipple” boot on drain has a slit that is too small and clogs. Fix with scissors. Drain goes to evaporator pan on top of compressor.
It’s usually a pain emptying everything and trying to figure out where everything is.

 

[Sigarms]

We have a Daiken Heat Pump that needed a new coil under warranty... it was **** to get authorization and out of service several months because the new coil had to come by boat from Asia... this was not old as it still had full warranty enforce...

I'm curious, was it was mini split or standard unitary product split (or package unit)? I ask because if it wasn't a mini split, the product is made in the United States (couple years ago Daikin moved the Goodman plant out of Huston and the coil line took the biggest hit, and Daikin was allowing third party coils to be used because they didn't have any for I'm guessing at least half a year). If it were a mini split, I've personally had that problem of a coil not being available for a older in warranty unit (indoor unit), but generally they will allow replacement of a complete new indoor unit if it gets to that point with no inventory. I can honestly say in over 25 years, don't think I've ever seen a Fujitsu or Mitsubishi with a outdoor coil leak, and Daikin per engineering and quality is up there as well IMO.

 

[TractorGuy]

All appliances are hit or miss and have been for years. When we built our house in 93 we went with Kennmore and moved our old Maytag washer and dryer in. It all lasted 10 years or so and we already had 10 on the washer and dryer so I figured all new stuff was in order. I bought all new Maytag branded appliances. Ironically the biggest POS in that purchase turned out to be the washing machine. How can you go wrong with a Maytag washing machine I asked. Turned out it was an Amana with the Maytag name on it. After that I started buying the cheapest model I could find as things failed knowing I might have to replace it soon out of warranty. Crazy enough the Maytag branded stove and dishwasher are still plugging along.

We have a Whirlpool side by side refrigerator that is a few years old and so far it maintains temps good. The in door ice dispenser will NOT dispense cubes without clogging. Whilpool had a tech come out 3 times and never solved the problem so we just leave it on crushed.

For a washer and dryer we settled on the bottom of the line Roper by Whirlpool. The first one of the washers failed soon out of warranty but the second has kept going for a few years now. When it dies I will pony up another $250-$300 whatever they are going for and replace with the same unless something cheaper is found.

 

[mikester]

I had a Stainless counter depth Frigidaire (expensive) that I bought in NH, and took to my Summer home in Nova Scotia.
It quit while still under warranty.
Called Frigidaire headquarters in Georgia, and the female Frigidaire representative there told me that it obviously quit because "Canada has different electricity".

Contacted Frigidaire in Canada, and they eventually (rural Canada) found a repair guy.
He replaced the modulating fan that transfers freezer air to the refrigerator side for cooling.
He came back twice more (twice again ordered new fan), and replaced the fan twice more.
The problem continued....many weeks spent waiting for parts....not cold enough on refrigerator side.

I finally found an old retired RCAF guy who also was listed as a Frigidaire tech.
He came out, but was so crippled up that he could not get down on the floor.

Frigidaire corporation will not allow a homeowner to talk with their tech advisors, but the old guy had a tech authorization number, so I was able to speak with the troubleshooting phone tech.
Over the phone, that tech and I were able to determine that the main power control board was bad.

By now the Summer season was over, I left Nova Scotia, and the warranty ran out.
During the Winter I bought a new main power control board on E-Bay, and the next Spring I installed it.

Refrigerator ran fine with the new main power control board, and I sold the house the following Summer.

The local rural Canada appliance store wanted 8 weeks, and $4,000 CAD (+15% tax) for a new counter depth SS refrigerator.

A total refrigerator fiasco!

BTW: If you have a dedicated freezer, either chest or upright, there is a relatively simple way to use it as a refrigerator, and be able to swap the use of it, between refrigerator and freezer as desired.
I used that very system as a backup.

I bought a 10 year warranty GE heat pump water heater that failed after 13 months use. Called GE and they told me sorry buddy warranty is only good for 1 year in Canada. I asked why does the GE appliance outlet that sells the unit advertise 10 year warranty?they said so sorry call a repairman.

That is the last GE appliance I will ever buy. I vote with my pocketbook.

Home appliances are now considered disposable and are built to last only 5-7 years. Gone are the days of having your fridge run reliably 20-30 years. Blame big businesses and their drive to lower costs by cheaping out and moving to the Global economy and outsourcing to 3rd world countries.

 

[Sigarms]

All appliances are hit or miss and have been for years. When we built our house in 93 we went with Kennmore and moved our old Maytag washer and dryer in. It all lasted 10 years or so and we already had 10 on the washer and dryer so I figured all new stuff was in order. I bought all new Maytag branded appliances. Ironically the biggest POS in that purchase turned out to be the washing machine. How can you go wrong with a Maytag washing machine I asked. Turned out it was an Amana with the Maytag name on it. After that I started buying the cheapest model I could find as things failed knowing I might have to replace it soon out of warranty. Crazy enough the Maytag branded stove and dishwasher are still plugging along.

We have a Whirlpool side by side refrigerator that is a few years old and so far it maintains temps good. The in door ice dispenser will NOT dispense cubes without clogging. Whilpool had a tech come out 3 times and never solved the problem so we just leave it on crushed.
.

The key question what I don't know the answer to is out of Maytag, Kenmore and Whirlpool per the brands you mentioned, is it actually the same company manufacturing the product or has the name just been sold to another business for them to produce?

I know for a fact that Goodman use to make Whirlpool HVAC units (and I know that has changed since) and also know for a fact that Nordyne sold Fridgeidaire (sp) products, but out of curiosity sake, I looked up Kenmore for HVAC...

Kenmore Central Air Conditioning, Installed | Kenmore

I'd bet my left nut that the unit in the picture is a Tempstar / Heil / Carrier unit.

I know one mini split manufacturer is coming out with a paid appliance name to give the product better brand name reconition in the market place as well.

I know with Whirlpool, at least on the HVAC side, the "name" is the product and the people who run and own the name "Whirlpool" on the HVAC will switch manufacturers who sell the product under the trade name Whirlpool. Makes me wonder if the appliance people just don't sub out all their product now to be made.

I do know that the Samsung front washer we got rid of was labled "Assemled in the United States" which suprised me.

What I don't know is if Whirlpool, Kenmore and all the other "appliance brand names" actually have been using the same manufacturing facility over all these years and if they actually own those facilities.

 

[s219]

I just don't trust any appliance brands anymore. I know I have complained about them in threads here before. Just not dependable.

Our 6 year old dishwasher (which I had to fix several times, probably spent $200 in parts up to then) broke one of the plastic parts that feeds water to sprayers and nozzles inside the tub. Without that part, water just dribbles out and back out the drain on the bottom, so nothing gets washed. The part was $250, for a molded plastic assembly, and that was a discounted internet price. I could see that other similar parts were getting brittle and would break soon, and did the math. Made more sense to me to buy a new one and start the clock over. The new one has stainless steel parts to distribute water, so at least that failure path is eliminated. I am sure something else will break instead.

Our fridge will stop making ice 3-4 times a year. I know where to check to diagnose it. Either the water line in the door froze because somebody made the entirely reasonable assumption that you could put a frozen food item on the shelves in the door, or the ice maker got out of whack when it tried to eject the ice cubes and just gave up. Both fixes are easy once you know how to take apart the freezer door, but it's clear to me the designs were not thoroughly tested. If you are going to run the water line in the door, it needs to be properly insulated so that frozen food on a shelf (the main reason for a freezer) can't cause it to freeze up! If you are going to design an ice cube ejector, it should be capable of ejecting ice cubes!

For the OP's problem, I think it's either a flap/damper that controls flow of cool air into the fridge side, the fan (if it has one), or some other control in that system. If the freezer works, that is a good sign. All the fridge does is to get metered cold air from the freezer to maintain its less-cold temperature. You just need to figure out why that cold air is not getting metered into the fridge. It's probably something dirt simple, if you can work your way around all the other stupid stuff first to diagnose it.

 

[ultrarunner]

Rooftop Package Unit marketed as direct replacement for Carrier.