Frigidaire French door fridge/freezer. Nice looking unit that came with the house. It has horrible design flaws though. Frigidaire literally invented the first self-contained fridge in the 1920s so I don’t understand why they’re so bad at building them.
One of the known design issues is that (at least on older models) there’s insufficient insulation between the ice maker and the rear of the fridge. This eventually results in condensation and ice forming on the back of the fridge. A web search for “Frigidaire ice on back” and “Frigidaire rust on back” will find plenty of people reporting the same thing.
The annoying thing is that the lines for the water dispenser and icemaker run right across this part, and they end up frozen inside the ice.
First time I noticed this was when the water dispenser stopped working a few months after we bought the house. Pulled the fridge out and the water lines were frozen, and it had made a mess of the wall (the drywall where the ice was was all broken - I guess drywall doesn’t like ice being pressed against it all the time).
I tried insulating it with some Styrofoam, but that was no match for the ice - the ice started forming on top of the Styrofoam instead. Now I’ve re-routed all the water lines so as to avoid the spot that freezes. I’ll get a new fridge eventually. Waiting for a good sale. For now, I’m wondering if I should spray foam it, or if the ice will also defeat that and form on top of the spray foam…
People started encountering this issue maybe 10 years ago. Frigidaire used to offer a “sweat kit” (some sort of fancy insulation) to fix it, but they no longer offer it. I also don’t think they ever fixed this issue under warranty for anyone.
Brands like Frigidaire, Kenmore, and Whirlpool generally don’t manufacture anything anymore. They pay other companies to make the appliances and then slap their name on them. And you can guarantee they go with the lowest bidder.
I’ll read the Consumer Reports reviews and see what the comments say. Their rankings can give you an idea of the models to avoid at least. Even in the same brand, one model can be wildly different from another model simply due to who the real manufacturer was, or just the parts used.
Sometimes the reviews are detailed and thorough, but sometimes they only list the basics. Usually for the appliances they go in depth in my experience.
Frigidaire French door fridge/freezer. Nice looking unit that came with the house. It has horrible design flaws though. Frigidaire literally invented the first self-contained fridge in the 1920s so I don’t understand why they’re so bad at building them.
One of the known design issues is that (at least on older models) there’s insufficient insulation between the ice maker and the rear of the fridge. This eventually results in condensation and ice forming on the back of the fridge. A web search for “Frigidaire ice on back” and “Frigidaire rust on back” will find plenty of people reporting the same thing.
The annoying thing is that the lines for the water dispenser and icemaker run right across this part, and they end up frozen inside the ice.
First time I noticed this was when the water dispenser stopped working a few months after we bought the house. Pulled the fridge out and the water lines were frozen, and it had made a mess of the wall (the drywall where the ice was was all broken - I guess drywall doesn’t like ice being pressed against it all the time).
I tried insulating it with some Styrofoam, but that was no match for the ice - the ice started forming on top of the Styrofoam instead. Now I’ve re-routed all the water lines so as to avoid the spot that freezes. I’ll get a new fridge eventually. Waiting for a good sale. For now, I’m wondering if I should spray foam it, or if the ice will also defeat that and form on top of the spray foam…
People started encountering this issue maybe 10 years ago. Frigidaire used to offer a “sweat kit” (some sort of fancy insulation) to fix it, but they no longer offer it. I also don’t think they ever fixed this issue under warranty for anyone.
Brands like Frigidaire, Kenmore, and Whirlpool generally don’t manufacture anything anymore. They pay other companies to make the appliances and then slap their name on them. And you can guarantee they go with the lowest bidder.
I avoid all those brands now.
They were all made at the amana factory about 20 years ago.
Do you have any suggestions for fridge brands? A coworker suggested Jennair but they’re quite expensive.
I’ll read the Consumer Reports reviews and see what the comments say. Their rankings can give you an idea of the models to avoid at least. Even in the same brand, one model can be wildly different from another model simply due to who the real manufacturer was, or just the parts used.
Sometimes the reviews are detailed and thorough, but sometimes they only list the basics. Usually for the appliances they go in depth in my experience.
Liebherr, not cheap but theyre built like tanks and lasts forever while having a warraty way surpassing most other.