9 year old fridge: repair or replace?

 I purchased a side-by-side Sears (Kemore?) fridge in March, 1998,
which has worked fine all this time (I think it cost about $1200 back
then). There is no problem with the insides of the fridge itself.

As most modern fridges do, this also has a waterline hookup for cold
water, and for ice box. Ice function is working fine. For the cold
water, for the past 4-5 months, there was a short delay between
pressing switch, and water coming through in the small spigot. This
delay got from a few seconds to about 1 minute. But once the water
started, it was working fine.

Now the water function is not working. The water connection is fine,
as ice is being made at the same rate as before. It seems something
simple, a mechanical, or electrical switch in the water component, is
not functioning. I am afraid to pull out the control box mounted
outside, as it is not clear if it is just push fit, or some plastic
clips in a tab, or what, so it might break if not pulled properly. If
I could see someone take it out once, I could do it (I have fixed many
things myself in the past, including a microwave, toaster, electrical
circuits around the home, etc.)

There is no other problem with the fridge (jn fact, not even any
scratches), but I figure a nine year old fridge is probably no more
than $300 worth, if that much. So, spending $100 to $200 on calling an
appliance repairman seems silly. But I feel awfully guilty throwing
away a perfectly functioning fridge.

What's average life expectancy of a fridge? What's a reasonable price
for an appliance repairman in the SF Bay area to fix this? Any
referrals would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

Bhoot Nath

  deja_bhoot2000@yahoo.com wrote:


Sounds like the valve itself was getting sticky and now is stuck closed.


Doesnt sound like an electrical switch problem with that delay effect,
that sounds much more like a sticking valve that initially took some
time to open and now doesnt open at all when its told to.


I doubt its the control box, much more likely to be the valve.


That isnt relevant to the cost of repairing it.


What matters on that is how likely it is that you will need
other callouts for other problems, not the value of the fridge.


And so you should.


Much longer than that.

 deja_bhoot2000@yahoo.com wrote:

A couple of ideas:

1) See if Sears has a repair book for refrigerators. I know they have them
   for washers and dryers - but then a refrig isn't exactly a user repairable
appliance.

2) Call Sears and ask them how much a service contract is for this refrig.
   It may be cheaper to buy a 1 year service contract than pay big bucks for a
major
   repair. I did this once when I couldn't fix a dryer; it kept failing after my
three or four
   fixes.  Turned  out to be the control board and the service contract cost
less than
   the repair would have.  The Sears rep recommend this route.

/dan

 wrote:


On a nine year old refrigerator?    They probably would laugh at you
and hang up.

 Ward Abbott wrote:


My mom's 30-year-old Sears refrigerator has been on contract for 10 years or
so, and it still works fine.  Around $100/year.  Supposedly when they can no
longer fix yours they give you a new one, but when her on-contract
dishwasher died she just got a $250 credit toward a new one -- she had
expected that "replacement" meant "they deliver and install a new one and
take the old one away and you don't even have to leave the house."  Not
quite, and she was pretty bitter.

Anybody who would throw away a refrigerator because its water faucet is too
slow has GOT to need more serious problems in his/her life.

--
Cheers,
Bev
---------------------------------
aibohphobia - fear of palindromes