19 Year Old GE Fridge

[Mr_Luke]

You are not likely to see huge power savings with a new model. Despite wild claims of superior efficiency, the Carnot cycle is what it is, and it takes energy to move the heat. Period, end of story. When the door is opened and/or new stuff placed in, the compressor must perform work.

You will see claims that new fridges consume 30% less energy. Maybe... New refrigerants are not more efficient or more effective than R12 or R22. The insulation will probably be better.

I used a Kill-a-Watt on my old fridge and was surprised at just how little power it consumed. The compressor draw was about 250W, (the very fast defrost cycle was about 600W) and about 1.5Kwh per day (20c per day)

I'd keep an older conventional fridge over many of today's offerings.

I agree. They're always trying to get you to buy a new unit with all kind of promises about how much you'll save in electricity. Nonsense. They're just another type of car salesman. I will look into getting a new door seal.

My old York heat pump still works. It's about 30 years old or more. I paid an HVAC guy to work on it for $325 last year because it wouldn't defrost, but it does now. A few other HVAC people only wanted to sell me a new unit. There ought to be a law against that kind of thing.

 

[Dave Hess]

I’ve had good luck with very basic GE appliances.

The more basic, the more reliable they are.

 

[FZ1]

It was here when I moved in on Dec 27, 2003 and has worked well all that time and never needed one repair. Lately I scraped some frost off the back wall of the freezer, and it has not formed new frost. Also, I've found a small puddle of water on the floor under it in front about 3 times in the last 2 weeks, and I could not tell where the water came from. I cleaned that up a few days ago and it's still dry under there. One of my cats might have spilled their water bowl, possibly, but maybe not.

Then I got looking at the expected life span of a fridge and they say I should get a new one if it's over 10 years old, but I have doubts about that.
It still seems to cool my food well. I clean the coils under it regularly with a brush made to do that, to help keep the unit from working overtime.

Does it sound like I should replace it yet? It's probably at least 19 years old.
If and when I do it will be a GE or a Frigidaire.

Once it's gone, it's gone, and newer ones likely will not last as long as this one.
I think I'm going to try to keep running it.

Check the water line and the ice maker.

 

[Mr_Luke]

I checked the door gasket and IMHO it's fine.
I may unplug it to let any ice melt in the system.
If I did so, how many hours should I leave it unplugged?
4 hours? 8 hours?

 

[Mr_Luke]

Check the water line and the ice maker.

It doesn't have a water line going to it.
If I want ice cubes I put a silicone muffin pan filled with water in the freezer.

 

[FZ1]

It doesn't have a water line going to it.
If I want ice cubes I put a silicone muffin pan filled with water in the freezer.

Smart. Less stuff to break.

 

[wag123]

They don't build them like they used to. My primary refrigerator is a 36 year old Whirlpool. The only thing that I had to replace was a defrost timer (and three of the cheap Chinese ice makers that wear out).
I did have a problem a few years ago that was similar to yours. Water froze in the drain tube that runs from the bottom of the back of the freezer behind the removable panel under the evaporator coil, the defrost water couldn't drain out and was running down the inside of the cabinet to the floor. From the Youtubes I watched, this is a common problem. To keep it from recurring, I took a 12" piece of solid 12 ga copper wire, put one end of it down the drain tube, and wrapped the other end around the defrost heating coil a couple of times. This prevents water from freezing in the drain tube and has prevented a recurrence of the problem.

 

[Jetronic]

You are not likely to see huge power savings with a new model. Despite wild claims of superior efficiency, the Carnot cycle is what it is, and it takes energy to move the heat. Period, end of story. When the door is opened and/or new stuff placed in, the compressor must perform work.

You will see claims that new fridges consume 30% less energy. Maybe... New refrigerants are not more efficient or more effective than R12 or R22. The insulation will probably be better.

I used a Kill-a-Watt on my old fridge and was surprised at just how little power it consumed. The compressor draw was about 250W, (the very fast defrost cycle was about 600W) and about 1.5Kwh per day (20c per day)

I'd keep an older conventional fridge over many of today's offerings.

very wise.

Even if a new fridge would run for 10c per day, and only cost $500 to buy (good luck on both accounts) it would take 5000 days or 13 years and 8 months to break even.

With more realistic numbers it's impossible to come out ahead. I'd only replace it if the current one has shown itself to be unreliable. It's why I changed our last one over 10 years ago and the current one has been faultless so far.

 

[Lubener]

I agree. They're always trying to get you to buy a new unit with all kind of promises about how much you'll save in electricity. Nonsense. They're just another type of car salesman. I will look into getting a new door seal.

My old York heat pump still works. It's about 30 years old or more. I paid an HVAC guy to work on it for $325 last year because it wouldn't defrost, but it does now. A few other HVAC people only wanted to sell me a new unit. There ought to be a law against that kind of thing.

The compressors are much smaller on the new units= energy savings. That's one reason they don't last as long as an older unit. Go compare the weight also between new and old, it's mostly compressor. Compare information on the labels, current draw is less on newer, it's not nonsense. I would still stick with the old because any energy savings will easily get offset by early replacement of a newer fridge.

 

[Mr_Luke]

My parents had a big old brown GE that was made in 1976 and I grew up with that refrigerator. It died in the early 2000s I think 2002. The refrigerator I have where I live now is about 15 years old and is a Whirlpool. I’ve replaced an evaporator fan, but besides that it’s running well.

I’d look for a basic top freezer refrigerator and avoid the fancy ones with giant Samsung tablets on them if you want it to last a long time.

I had problems with my old GE so I ended up buying a new 18 cu ft Frigidaire with the freezer on top.
Hopefully it will last 20 years.

 

[wpod]

They are working on refrigerators that have AI, cameras in the fridge that see what's in it and order food as it's getting low.
Until that time comes, you gotta settle for this:

You can watch porn while cooking.

 

[PandaBear]

You can watch porn while cooking.

It is cheaper to just buy an iPad.