Repair or Replace 2005 Maytag refrigerator?

[DonM]

I know that there are a few appliance repair experts out there:

I have a tenant with a 2005 Refrigerator that is not very cold- although she says the freezer is OK.

My question is- Is it even worth the cost of having someone come out and look at it?

If it costs $50 just to look I may go for it, but if it costs $150 even if they apply it to the repair, do you think it's worth it?

In general do the symptons sound like any easy cheap fix?

(I'm in the process of estimating the replacement cost- but I think it may only be $600 or less.)

thanks
don

 

[timeos2]

Border line call

I know that there are a few appliance repair experts out there:

I have a tenant with a 2005 Refrigerator that is not very cold- although she says the freezer is OK.

My question is- Is it even worth the cost of having someone come out and look at it?

If it costs $50 just to look I may go for it, but if it costs $150 even if they apply it to the repair, do you think it's worth it?

In general do the symptons sound like any easy cheap fix?

(I'm in the process of estimating the replacement cost- but I think it may only be $600 or less.)

thanks
don

That's fairly new - usually they have a year compressor warranty should that be the issue you may be close on coverage. If the estimate to repair gets near $300-350. and you really can get new for under $600 go new. Much over 45% of new is money thrown away on repair.

 

[camachinist]

I'd just buy a rental-quality replacement or pick up a good used one for 25 bucks. Energy efficiency is the tenant's problem.

In my rentals which have applicances (free standing, like a refer or stove), I offer them at no charge and without warranty. In our area, landlords aren't required to supply such appliances. If they break, tenant's problem.

 

[timeos2]

Go once to fix or multile times? Time is money too

I'd just buy a rental-quality replacement or pick up a good used one for 25 bucks. Energy efficiency is the tenant's problem.

In my rentals which have applicances (free standing, like a refer or stove), I offer them at no charge and without warranty. In our area, landlords aren't required to supply such appliances. If they break, tenant's problem.

In our area you must keep whatever is supplied in working rder. So you can offer no or limited appliances and only need to keep those you supply operational. But if I'm responsible then I'd like to ut it in place once and then get 7-10 years of trouble free (unless tenants damage it which we will recover) service. Just saves a bunch of trouble calls or repeat purchases of inexpensive, but often unreliable products.

 

[K&PFitz]

Have you checked it to see if maybe it's just dirty? Air vents at the bottom should be cleaned, and any coils or other cooling element. Tenants aren't very good at caring for appliances.

 

[camachinist]

Refer at the oldest rental is 22 years old. The refer in my residence is 15 years old. IME, the older stuff holds up better. I've given away perfectly functional refers before that were easily 20+ years old. They do use more electricity. I'm 51 and have never had a refer fail in service ever. Of course, the last time I bought one new was at least 15 years ago.

I've noticed prospective tenants in our area often move into homes from apartments where appliances are supplied and they don't have appliances, so having the home set up with them makes it more attractive than one which doesn't, as well as more affordable. I cherry pick used ones, generally for 25-50 bucks, install them and 'sell' them to the tenant for a dollar as an addendum to the rental agreement. They become the tenant's personal property and can be removed at the end of the lease, generally 1-2 years. If they do remove them, and I encourage it, I merely rinse and repeat. It's one marketing tool specific to my locale which seems to work. The tenant doesn't have to buy and install appliances, I can control the installation, and any repairs are the tenant's responsibility. The tenant has the option to refuse the appliances in the unit and provide their own; not a problem, I just pull them and store them in the shop for the next tenant or property, perhaps chilling some beer for rehab stress reduction. If my ancient refer at the house goes out, viola, backup

 

[lgreenspan]

I worked in appliance service for several years. My suggestions would be to check for good air flow. Are the coils clean and fans running. Also look for a heavy frost build up in the back of the freezer area. If there a frost build up you probably are having a automatic defrost problem.

 

[Fern Modena]

I was going to say if its not something easy to buy used as well. But since Pat already said that, I'll just have to agree.

There are many good major appliances that the owner just wanted to "update" to the latest and greatest. Where I used to live in California, there were a couple of used appliance stores. I bought several things for my step children there, and they all worked well. Heck, when I was younger, I even bought used TV's from an independent television store. They cost me like, $100. and lasted for ten years or so.

Fern

 

[Elan]

If the freezer is working properly, it seems like the problem might be due to a fan being bad or airflow from the freezer to fridge being otherwise impaired (ice?). I would think this would be relatively easy to diagnose and relatively cheap to fix, if either is the case. Just guessing here, BTW.

 

[dougp26364]

I know that there are a few appliance repair experts out there:

I have a tenant with a 2005 Refrigerator that is not very cold- although she says the freezer is OK.

My question is- Is it even worth the cost of having someone come out and look at it?

If it costs $50 just to look I may go for it, but if it costs $150 even if they apply it to the repair, do you think it's worth it?

In general do the symptons sound like any easy cheap fix?

(I'm in the process of estimating the replacement cost- but I think it may only be $600 or less.)

thanks
don

We have a Whirlpool refrigerator that had it's condensor go out one week before the warrenty expired. Needless to say, I had it replaced since it was under warrenty.

While the guy was replacing it I quized him on the durrablity of newer refrigerators. What he said surprised me. He told me that in order to qualify for the energy star rating, they were underpowering them, which in turn caused them to work harder and burn out faster.

So I asked him if I needed to plan on buying an new fridge in the next 5 or 6 years and he told me no, he was replacing the condensor with the one that SHOULD HAVE been put in the fridge in the first place.

Now I've probably just jinxed myself as it's now almost 7 years since the repair but, the fridge hasn't given me any trouble since that time and, according to the repairman, should last as long as the "use to" before the energy star ratings.

I might be tempted to talk to a repairman about this and see what they think. Sure it might cost you several hundered dollars for the reapair but, if buying a new fridge means replacing it every 5 or 6 years vs putting in parts that will last 15 or 20 years, I'd be considering repairing rather than replacing.

 

[DonM]

Thanks for all the help.

I decided to at least pay $100 for a diagnosis.

thanks
don

 

[DonM]

The problem is the fan motor- now we have to wait for the part.

Thanks all

don