Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with fridge

Come take my fridge, Toronto government employees!

You Should See the Other Guy — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 07:37:25 -0800

A short while ago I saw an ad on Toronto subways, probably put up by the city, about a program where they come into your apartment and remove an unwanted fridge. I visited the site for it but didn't bookmark it and now I can't find it and have an extra fridge in my living room. It is not this site, but was one where you fill in a form and submit and they set up an appt to come by. Anyone know the site?

Fridge Broke, Food Soggy

wsp — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 19:06:15 -0800

My landlord finally replaced my tiny old fridge today. Yay! However, the new fridge isn't doing it's job. AT ALL. Help me save my food! The maintenance people for my building came by this morning to replace my ancient fridge. After they had left, I put all my food back in the fridge and left for work, assuming the fridge would cool down to a reasonable temperature by the time I came home. I was wrong.

When I came home from work, I opened the freezer to get something for dinner. I found it strangely warm, but I always kept my old fridge turned way low and so I chalked this up to "high efficiency" refrigeration. When I noticed that the ice cube trays were full of water, I pulled out the thermometers. Two different thermometers measured 13C (!) - that's 55F. In the FREEZER.

It gets better, though. The instructions I got with the fridge (and found online) do not match the controls! The freezer control is a slider between the endpoints "Strong" and "Weak". I have it set all the way to "Strong". I have the fridge temperature control all the way at "Colder" (vs. "Cold"). I'm scared to turn them all the way the other way and completely ruin all my food.

The compressor runs, though quietly. The fan runs. The light is very dim, though it does say "15W max".

My question: is there anything I can do to fix this? The fridge is brand new. Is there some step in the setting-up process that the maintenance people might have missed? Is this normal for new fridges? If the conclusion here is that it's broken, I'll call the landlord. It will take them a few days to get here, though, so I'd like to see if there's something I could do before all my food goes bad. Thanks!

(Oh, and it's a GE GTR12.)

Can you fix my fridge?

lholladay — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:53:19 -0800

Got home from work, found my fridge is not working. Any troubleshooting I can do while waiting for the landlord? I'm not great with appliances, but I have checked the outlet, and it works fine. So the problem is internal to the fridge. Are there any basic troubleshooting things I can try? I know this is the landlord's responsibility, but who knows when they'll get to it. I realize I should go ahead and move food to a neighbor's place, and I'm working on that. So I'm looking mainly for things I can check/try to get the thing running again.

One note: Before this happened, the fridge had been regularly leaking water onto the floor for a few months. I'm not sure if that's at all related to the current problem.

Need recommendations for kitchen appliances

gfroese — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 16:19:22 -0800

Need a full new suite of kitchen appliances, would like some recommendations. Got some prices on some Electrolux models today that looked great, but some quick research on the web doesn't leave me so confident. Is this a case of the squeaky wheel complaining online and they're actually a solid product? Or should I be worried. I'm looking for all stainless steel appliances: fridge with ice-maker, slide-in stove, dishwasher, and range-hood microwave. Specifically I'm looking for a large fridge and electric stove I'm in Canada if that makes a difference.

how to mount plexiglas on stainless steel fridge?

kenliu — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 12:23:56 -0800

I have a stainless steel fridge and a toddler who is learning to walk. I want to mount a sheet of plexiglas over the bottom portion of the door to prevent it from getting dented. I would like this to look decent and be non-permanent so I can remove it when we eventually move. Any ideas on how I could do this? All I can think of is using some kind of tape, but I think that would sag after a while. Bonus for suggestions on how to also stick stuff to the plexiglas so that I can post up my kid's artwork (the stainless steel is non-magnetic).

Icemaker repair question.

odinsdream — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 06:55:15 -0800

I can't repair our icemaker because nothing seems to be wrong with it, with the glaring exception that it does not make any ice. Until recently our icemaker would make shards of ice-chips and fling them across the freezer, but it has stopped doing even that now. It doesn't appear to fill or move at all.

I've gone through this troubleshooting guide. We have a "modular" unit which is almost identical to the photos in that guide. Every component passes the tests with the exception of the water inlet valve which I cannot find on the back of our fridge.

Is the water inlet valve inside the fridge wall? If so, is this a user-serviceable part? It looks like I'd have to disassemble a large section of the back of the fridge if I wanted to get to anything in there. I would prefer to avoid doing this.

Is there any reason to think that even though the icemaker passed all the diagnostic tests that it could still be malfunctioning? I'm hesitant to buy a new icemaker if the problem is really external to it.

My fridge freezer defrosted over the weekend, will my insurance cover this?

Sevenupcan — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 03:36:51 -0800

I've come home to a defrosted fridge freezer and all my food has defrosted. Can I claim this on my home insurance? I went away for the weekend to see family and found all the food in my fridge freezer has defrosted. I'm a little worried that my electricit company may have cut my electric over the weekend because of a mix up and think this may be the cause. Otherwise my fridge is acting up and defrosted itself over the weekend.

Is there anyway to tell if my electric was cut? Is there a way I check to see if my fridge is working alright? Some of the food I fine, but a lot of it is no good now that it's been defrosted for a couple of days. Is there a way I can claim this on my insurance?

Thanks for your time and help.

Will I blow more money on a repairperson or by screwing things up myself?

Shepherd — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 03:30:57 -0800

When is it worth trying to fix your own appliances (an Amana ARB1917 bottom-freezer fridge in my case)? I've fixed a few little things around the house before -- replaced the thermal fuse on a coffee roaster, the gaskets etc. on an espresso machine, the headshell on a record player -- but I've never done any Appliance Repair per se. I can't read those funky diagrams with the squiggly lines, etc.

My Amana bottom-freezer fridge is dying, though, and I THINK I might know what the problem is after a lot of time doing research on various parts and repair sites: the back wall is frosting over and the fridge is not cooling, which by most indications means the defrost timer needs replacing. We're on our third "defrost" -- a 30-hour turn-off of the fridge last time -- and the problem keeps recurring faster and faster and faster.

Here's the thing: I'm 75% sure that's what's wrong, thanks to identical symptoms being posted, and solutions being prescribed, on various Internet forums. But I'm not 100% sure. It might be the defrost heater, it might be the thermostat control.

And these parts are -- for a broke guy trying to make ends meet with his new wife -- expensive. $60 for the defrost timer (I'm in Canada), $30 or so for the heater, plus shipping, etc.

So the spectre of getting something wrong, either in breaking the fridge even worse by mucking around, or just screwing up the part, or not having the right problem identified in the first place, makes me think the probable $100+ or so for a repairperson to come and know what exactly to do might be a worthwhile investment.

Then again, that's another $100+ I don't have.

So I'm really quite torn, and I'm hoping somebody with more DIY and appliance repair expertise than me will be able to offer some advice: how likely is it that a modestly skilled newbie will be able to open, disassemble, and reassemble a fridge without incident?

Is it worth trying to fix myself, given the expense of the parts, or should I just bite the bullet and pay a repairman?

How no more sideways beer foam?

chococat — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 15:54:28 -0800

Is there a trick to having my bottle of beer NOT foam over when I open it? The reality of our fridge is that I have to stack the bottles of beer on their sides on the bottom shelf. It doesn't happen every time but it seems like one out of every 6 bottles or so will foam over when I open it; unnoticeably at first, then the rush of foam splattering onto the floor when I'm about two-thirds of the way from the kitchen to the couch. I know the solution is to store the bottles upright but the size and layout of our fridge prevents this.
I don't care so much about the physics of this problem, more I'd just like to know if there's a quick solution to avoid the foam and still have my beer in a timely manner, like "run it under the tap for 3 seconds before you open it" or "toss a small bean into the bottle immediately after opening."

smudgeproof stainless steel fridge?

netsirk — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 20:13:01 -0800

We're looking for a refrigerator that meets the following criteria: counter depth, french door (sometimes called bottom freezer), no external ice or water dispenser, but with internal ice & water and - here's the tricky one - a fingerprintless/smudgeproof stainless steel finish. Bonus points if stainless steel finish is authentic (as opposed to a grey satin color) and if the fridge is magnetic. Preferably under $2500.

This GE model is the only real contender I have found so far... Surely there are other options out there!

Can you help? Searching the interweb for details has proved surprisingly fruitless and frustrating so far.

Thanks!

How long would a simple homemade dipping sauce made of soy sauce, olive oil, sesame oil and a whack of fresh garlic last in the fridge?

gwenlister — Mon, 04 May 2009 12:03:03 -0800

How long would a simple homemade dipping sauce made of soy sauce, olive oil, sesame oil and a whack of fresh garlic last in the fridge? I ask because I made a massive batch of potstickers over the weekend and froze them. I expect to be unable to resist their deliciousness and eat them all over the next 2-3 weeks. I like to eat them with the dipping sauce I make, but I don't want to have to remake it every time, especially since it gets better the longer it sits. And because I am lazy.

So how long would a little jar of soy sauce, olive oil, sesame oil, and sliced/crushed fresh garlic stay edible?

Head for the holidays

Cat Pie Hurts — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 20:56:48 -0800

How long could one expect a human head to stay "fresh" in a typical hotel mini-fridge? I have a highly active imagination and I'm in a somewhat sketchy hotel in the middle of Pennsylvania. I'm also loopy after 10 hours of driving. My eyes wandered to the mini-fridge and I convinced myself that there was a human head in there. Since the maid didn't do a terribly good job cleaning the room, it's not too far a stretch to assume that they didn't check the fridge. I eventually got myself to open the fridge, and of course, there was no head. This had me thinking: if someone WERE to put a freshly removed human head, how long would it "keep" in a functioning mini-fridge?

Note: I have no intention of acquiring a human head and putting it in a fridge, not have I ever done this before. I am just curious (and it may be leading into a creepy story idea).

Do all London fridges stink?

almostwitty — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 07:14:00 -0800

I've searched supermarkets all over West London for something that'll de-stink my fridge. Bicarbonate of soda, branded products, I just can't seem to find it any more. Do you know where I can find some bicarbonate of soda or a similar fridge de-stinking product?

Should I drink it?

gwenlister — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 15:35:30 -0800

How long would a pitcher of iced tea made from store bought juice crystals last (ie. Nestea) in the fridge? I made a jug of iced tea from juice crystals about 2 weeks ago and it has been sitting in the fridge (uncovered, if that matters) ever since. Is it safe to drink? My google-fu has failed me. :(

Disgusting Office Fridge Filter

roundrock — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 20:18:07 -0800

What is the best system for keeping an office fridge in a break room free of funky, old food and food theft? What does your office do? So, I just started an internship at a federal agency in DC. There are two small office fridges that people shove their food into...and forget it. Seriously, when I opened the fridge I was confronted with some strange ice-mold being that might have attacked me had I not closed the door.

I want to implement a system so that people are more responsible for their food. I know I'm an intern, so I plan on pitching it to my supervisor and having her be the voice of my reason.

Thanks!

My fridge is busted!

clarahamster — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 07:03:02 -0800

Do you have any recommendations for fridge repair in Seattle? My refrigerator started making a buzzing noise off and on in the last week. Last night when came home, it was buzzing every few minutes and never going into a cooling cycle. From some Googling, it sounds like the problem is probably the compressor relay. The fridge is a few years old, and past the warranty at this point. Can anyone here recommend who to call in the Seattle area (near downtown) to come take a look at it?

Marble run - marble = ?

Talia Devane — Sat, 24 May 2008 13:23:51 -0800

We ate at Sonic last night and got a cool kids toy that consisted of marble run type pieces with magnetic backs for fridge use. However, instead of a marble, it had a wheel that rides the rails. My son has a birthday at the end of June and I would like to get a large set of these. I can only find the type with marbles, no good in my house. Where can I find the wheel type fridge roller coaster that will keep a 6 and 2 year old busy for hours?

My fridge is failing to cool my food.

fishfucker — Sat, 17 May 2008 12:17:53 -0800

The side-by-side fridge in our rental (a GE tfx22zrs, tfx22jrs) has been failing to keep the refrigerator side cool (freezer side works fine). I think I have traced this down to some kind of lightbulb short -- the bulb heats up so much, so fast, I presume it is keeping the food from getting cool; possible fuse problem? Do fridges have user-serviceable fuses? Or is this a compressor problem and the lightbulb a red herring? So the lightbulb DOES go off when the door closes, but when I put one in, it cooks up fast enough to be too hot to touch in under a minute. Even a CFL gets hot in there in under a minute, which I've never seen before. The lightbulb supposed to be max 60 watts, and I'm using the correct wattage for the incandescent. Unsure what the CFL is, but it's got to be under 60. Here's what else I know:

1. Freezer side works mostly fine

2. ice-maker on freezer side does not work. whatever is under the icemaking contraption thingy after you pull out the plastic ice tray is cold enough to burn your finger.

3. I unplugged and plugged back (into diff socket, but same circuit, presumedly) the fridge. Socket is presumedly properly grounded (it's not on some sort of two-prong adapter, and this building's electrical was probably done in the mid-nineties). I flipped the breaker on and off for the fridge, I believe it is on its own circuit. Fridge has plenty of clearance around the back, but there is some (black) discoloring on the wall near the bottom of the fridge from either an exhaust fan or the compressor.

4. Again, lightbulb DEFINITELY goes off when the fridge door closes. It's a regular socket. I've tried a CFL and an incandescent in there. They both get crazy hot.

5. The freezer lightbulb does not seem to have any problems. It's warm-ish but not hot.

6. I've got the (thermostat?) dial cranked on the fridge side to 9 (the highest), and the compressor is definitely running. There is a second thermostat for our freezer and I have been playing around with the settings on each of them to see if there's some kind of crazy voodoo sweet spot where my fridge will get close with no luck.

7. The compressor in the fridge side shuts off when you turn it all the way to the off position. Does not shut off anywhere before the actual OFF right now, but keep in mind my fridge is pretty warm at the moment. Our electrical usage here seems abnormally high -- we used 120% more electricity than when we were heating our warehouse in the midst of winter with space heaters), but that could be because we have a dishwasher and washer/dryer (electric) here. Also I think we are using our hot water heater more.

8. When we first moved in (2 months ago), the fridge side was cold enough to ice over stuff near the back, so I turned it down. Started noticing it wasn't getting cold enough about two-three weeks ago.

Whew -- thanks for reading all that! I'm pretty sure I'm going to let my landlord know about this and ask him to fix it, but if it's something as simple as swapping out a fuse I'd rather do it myself (and have cold beer by tonight) than deal with scheduling, etc.

"Tell your landlord to fix it" is not what I'm looking for here -- I'm looking to exhaust most all simple DIY remedies before picking up the phone. I'm aware of the many home repair sites on the web, and I've looked through their forums, thanks -- I'm really hoping to find some specific anecdotal experience with this situation.

So, seen this before? Anything I can do? Bonus question: I have the bulb out right now to prove my theory about it causing the food to warm, but if that is going to cause a dangerous situation due to moisture building up on the light socket, well, I don't want to do it.

Quietest fridge?

kilikina73 — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 11:22:02 -0800

Our family room is right next to our kitchen, and our very old and noisy refrigerator is *right* next to our couch. Watching TV is turning into a volume-control nightmare. What is the quietest (North American) botton-freezer refrigerator I can spend my tax refund on?

Can't stop thinking about fridges and winter...

advicepig — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 08:07:11 -0800

I can't stop thinking about fridges and winter. Would it save much energy to freeze gallon containers of water outdoors and put those in the fridge now and then? It's Minnesota winter over here and I want to make the most of it ;)

Sandalwood cheese? Bleargh.

aubilenon — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 18:37:05 -0800

How do I remove the smell of aromatic oils from my fridge? Baking soda & activated carbon don't cut it. Three years ago, my roommate stowed some aromatherapy oils in a compartment in the door of the fridge. The compartment has a rubber gasket and is sort-of airtight. Evidently a couple of them (tea tree and sandalwood) leaked. About a year later I noticed my cheese & butter had started getting gross. We cleaned the fridge a few times, but mostly I just started sealing stuff very carefully AND still having to throw out the first few slices of cheese.

Finally a month ago, we figured it out was the oils. We took them out and sealed them in a proper container, and washed out the whole fridge.

But the compartment they used to be stored in still is super smelly. The smell is slowly taking hold in the rest of the fridge again. I think the oils may have soaked into the plastic or rubber some.

I can remove the shelf/compartment bit and clean it in any way possible: What should I do to get the smell out?

I have a Tub o' Carbon in there which doesn't seem to be sufficient.

A magic silver bullet for smelly fridge?

Rabarberofficer — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 13:01:48 -0800

Putting silver into the fridge - good idea or bad idea? I've recently become acutelly aware of some nasty smells in my fridge. When I was cleaning out the whole fridge, I found myself thinking: some of the modern fridges contain silver to reduce smell and growth of bacteria. So, hmmmm - can I harness the smellreducing power of the silver?

Would it be possible to put any silver-object in a fridge to reduce smell? Would the surface area have to be big? (How big - a chandeleire or a tray?) Would the silverware require special treatment (regular cleaning, perhaps)?

Are there any downsides to my smell-reducing fridge-plan? Am I poisoning myself and the lettuce?

Fixing a freezer.

topynate — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 17:22:40 -0800

I just broke my landlady's fridge-freezer. I was scraping ice out of the icy part, and I nicked the cooling device, letting out all the magic gas. Can I fix it? Can my engineer buddies fix it? The model is the LG GR-151SSF, a piece of crap by all accounts. The part I broke seems to be called the evaporative assembly - it looks like this and it costs £50 including for a new one, but I have a feeling that that will be less of a problem than replacing the coolant, which I have only a vague idea of how to do. Some guy on the internet said you can epoxy the line closed and hire the necessary bits to refill it from a mechanic's, is that true?

Looking for non-evil, normal fridge

faunafrailty — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 20:50:59 -0800

Online reviews of fridges are scaring me. Looking for suggestions for a solid, no-frills, long-lasting fridge... I'm looking to buy a new fridge. Typical size of 35-ish inches wide. Side-by-side with ice/water in the door. (I'm open to a bottom freezer model, but most of the mid-priced ones seem to not have ice/water in the door.) And price: Less than $1300. And energy star compliant please!

Online complaint sites have led me to believe that basically every brand is evil and will break immediately and offer no customer service. This includes Maytag, GE, Whirlpool and Frigidaire. Apparently buying at Sears is also a bad idea. Sites that do offer good reviews rarely have more than one person reviewing that model and it never says how long they've owned it for.

Are there any suggestions out there from folks who love their fridge, haven't had any breakdowns and have owned it for more than a few years? In in Orange County, CA, so any store suggestions are also appreciated. Thanks!

Why does my fridge create a pond inside ?

iamabot — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 20:16:07 -0800

Why does water constantly collect in our fridge? So here's the deal, we bought our home over a year ago, about 9 months in to it, 3 months ago, our fridge started producing about a cup of water a day that collects in the very bottom of the fridge (inside) under the crisper drawers and along the lower shelf. This often ices up. the Freezer is just fine, no excess moisture there, it's a frostless, so that's a good thing.

I've checked the seals around the doors, tweaked the temperature up and down to no avail. I'm at the point of pulling the sucker our and checking the condenser coils and rear of the fridge for obstructions.

The fridge and freezer cools just fine, it just makes quite a bit of water/etc and is getting to the point where it's ruining the food.

The moisture appears to be coming from the upper part of the fridge near the back where the cooled air enters the fridge cabin space. The Fridge is a Whirlpool ET21PKXWF00. Freezer on top, Fridge on the bottom. any hints/etc you guys have is much appreciated, I really don't want to replace the sucker as it is otherwise in good working order.