Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with refridgerator

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.

What's the deal with turning a fridge sideways?

nickhb — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 06:18:36 -0800

What exactly is the deal with turning a mini-fridge sideways? I bought a mini-fridge with a separate freezer. I'm taking it up to school in a suburban, so it fits, but only on its side. Will the world explode if I put it on its side, or do I just have to wait a day before I plug it in?

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.

Why doesnt my fridge make use of the winter weather?

damn dirty ape — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 08:55:48 -0800

Why doesnt my fridge make use of the winter weather? Is there a reason why fridges arent built with the coils outdoors or with a tube going outdoors (like a dryer or portable AC unit)? Shouldnt it be possible to push the waste heat outdoors or somehow make use of the fact its 4 degrees out today? Or maybe the cold air just passes through the fridge between the insulation and the thin plastic inside wall.

My heater seems to be fighting my fridge which only costs me energy dollars. Or does it all somehow balance out? I imagine the energy running the compressor is significant. The only reason I can think of is that its a pain/costly to cut a hole into your kitchen wall.

On preview: The fridge could have some logic to close the tube on warm days.

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.

My freezer is too cold but can't turn the knob any lower

0217174 — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 02:18:32 -0800

My freezer is too cold but can't turn the knob any lower It's an old refriderator. Looks like some 70's Sears. The problem is the knob doesn't seem to travel the full distance from 1 to 5. It appears to only go down to 3. I'm not sure if it's stuck or what.

Is there anyway to bypass that thing? My electric bill seems high and I'm noticing ice forming in places it shouldn't.

Are landlords required to replace disgusting refridgerator for new tenants?

0217174 — Tue, 01 May 2007 20:37:43 -0800

Are landlords required to replace disgusting refridgerator for new tenants? I went into my apartment a few days ago and saw the refridgerator with the doors open, all moldy and disgusting.. with some old nailpolish in there.. made me think somebody died in that place but I don't even want to think about that..

When I moved in, I noticed they just cleaned it up. It smells like a mixture of mold and ajax..and looks pathetic. I'm paying a grand for this place. Are they required by law to replace that, or am I stuck with it?

Thanks.

Smelly Fridge, Smelly Fridge...

splatta — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 10:27:51 -0800

Our refridgerator stinks... why? This is a new refridgerator, the model is a Sunbeam Innovation, and it's stinky.

We're the first users of this unit, since January. I've gone through the whole thing smelling all the items individually (nothing smelled too bad), checking expiration dates, and throwing out anything questionable. It still smells! We have two of those fridge boxes of baking soda, and they're not helping. We don't eat or store a lot of meat, some cheese, but we eat it quick enough to prevent it from smelling up the fridge.

It seems like this particular refridgerator keeps smells in it or something, since one time we had blueberries in there for a few days, and they made everything smell, and even taste like blueberries, including the water.

Every time this thing is opened, a gross garbagy smell wafts through the first floor of the house. Does anyone have any experience with keeping a fridge fresh smelling?

Replace an old freezer?

jca — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 09:58:19 -0800

My father refuses to replace his 30-year-old chest freezer. He doesn't believe me when I tell him his 30-year-old 17.5 cubic feet chest style freezer is costing him a lot of money in electricity, bad for the environment, etc. He refuses under the mantra "it's still running", yet he complains about his power bill.

I'm trying to convince him to buy an Energy Star freezer to replace this rusty old ice box (which is what it is, since it doesn't get defrosted, and most of its space is devoted to ice around the interior walls). They don't use it for anything special -- just to store extra food -- and don't need one nearly that size.

Can anyone point to sites/links that will demonstrate reasons why he needs to replace this really old freezer? Clear, simple, and easy to understand sites and information is best, in this case. (For example, is this freezer his single biggest draw on power, as I suspect?)

What's in your fridge?

jacobw — Tue, 21 Feb 2006 11:10:26 -0800

What sorts of long-lasting food do you stock in your refridgerator? My fridge is completely empty. I used to have mustard, relish, and mayo, which generally last a long time, but there was never anything that I could truly eat right out of the fridge.

I'm looking for food that I can leave in there for a long time. Food that can be quickly heated for guests is always good too.

Unsealed fridge contributing to high electricity bill?

Jase_B — Sun, 29 Jan 2006 15:24:19 -0800

How much electricity is wasted from a fridge that isn't sealed properly? We got our second monthly elelectricity bill at this semi-furnished apartment and, once again, the electricity bill was enoumous, more than 10,000 yen (US$100) more than our last place which was the same size (very small Japanese apartment, just a bit bigger than studio size). The primary reason for the high electricity bill is because it's winter here, the apartment has no central heating (we're in Japan, no places have central heating), and there are two air conditioners that we use for heating the apartment. However, I'm beginning to wonder about the the refridgerator too. Both the top corner of the fridge door, and the top corner of the freezer door have seals which do not touch the actual metal part of the fridge, they're all "squished in". The fridge door is the worst. Down the vertical it's about 20cm of no touching, and horizontal is about 10cm of no touching. The freezer is about 5cm of no touching both ways. I highlighted the sealing problems to the landlord when we first moved in but he said it's no problem at all because "no cold air seems to be coming out", but I disagree. If you put your hand right up next to the crack you can feel it's cold.

Anyway, would this unsealed fridge contributing to the rediculous electricity bill at this new place or is it all to do with us using the air conditioning heaters too much?