I have a 2011 Samsung RSG257AARS fridge. The users' manual says nothing about cleaning condenser coils, which I know to be extremely important for any fridge. I opened the rear panel to discover the coils hidden deep behind the fan and compressor. (PICS: http://ift.tt/2jMY3dR) The coils weren't accessible at the front of the fridge either. Is this a sign that I should just leave them alone?
I guess what I am really asking is on most refrigerators, specifically the newer French door types, are the doors actually 36" wide, or is that the back of the fridge up to the doors? Will the doors still be able to open alright?
Hi all,
Moved into our house about 6 months ago, and we have a fairly new Kitchenaid fridge and the freezer is ineffective at best. It freezes some things but for example, ice cream won’t hard freeze and is a melty mush no matter what.
The fridge also doesn’t get as cold as it should, but we haven’t had major issues. I assume the two are linked. They are both set at max cool and get nowhere near the temps of our older garage fridge.
I bought a refrigerator brush and tried to clean the coils under the fridge - I got some but not all. I can’t reach the middle and it still seems fairly dusty. This seemed like it improved things for a minute but then went back to poor freezing.
Are condensers supposed to cycle on and off? Every so often I don’t hear anything when I open the fridge - is that normal?
Not sure where to go from here with trouble shooting. Thanks for any help!
Howdy y'all. I live in Florida where we get lots of severe weather. The trees in my town seem to have pretty shallow root systems, because every time there is any kind of storm, there are trees down everywhere. I thought about getting a whole home natural gas standby generator installed, but it's cost prohibitive at the moment.
I'm sitting here in the dark right now because of a measly storm that came through last night and knocked a tree onto the power lines that power my whole street. Between that and Hurricane Irma which could very easily end up heading my way, I'm looking at getting a portable generator that runs on gasoline and propane.
I've never had a generator before, so I'm not sure the best way to use them. Do you just buy and run a bunch of long extension cords all over your house? Or is there a way to plug it into the breaker box somehow so I can just turn a few breakers on and power the important stuff?
Things I'd like to be able to power include my natural gas tankless water heater (requires electricity to turn on), refrigerator, stove, and ceiling fans.
Thanks!
In your opinion would it be a good idea to get a freezerless (All-Refrigerator) Fridge and an Upright Freezer instead of a large traditional fridge.
Background: I'm moving into a house with a narrow kitchen and a smaller fridge would be idea. Instead of spending extra for a small counter depth traditional fridge, I'm thinking of getting an freezerless fridge with a separate upright freezer in the garage (close to the kitchen). We do not currently own a fridge or freezer.
We just purchased our first home a few weeks ago. I found out that the garage only has 1 outlet (if you don't count the one on the ceiling that the garage door opener is connected to.) and I'd like to add a few more. I've been doing my research and read that electrical code requires GFCI protected outlets. My question - Does that mean I need to connect regular outlets to a GFCI breaker, or a normal breaker but the outlets have to be GFCI outlets? I'd rather do normal outlets with a GFCI breaker as it would save me a fair bit of money.
As for what would be connected to the outlets: Maybe a few tools like A consumer level table saw, small drill press, and maybe a refrigerator sometime down the road. Most of my tools will be cordless and the outlets will mostly be used for charging/random things.
I'm wondering if any of you use an in line filter in back of the fridge for water filtering. I'm pretty sure the OEM filter is garbage and would like something that fits on the 1/4" water line that offers more effective filtration.
New homeowner here! We recently bought a house that is in pretty nice condition. We'd like to keep it that way, through consistent maintenance.
What are some of your favorite tips (especially cheap, simple things) we can all do to maintain a home, as well as appliances like refrigerators, sinks, etc.? What are things that you check regularly?
Recently my refrigerator's freezer died on us. We contacted Sears and had a tech look at it. Apparently the evaporator or condenser is leaking and because the compressor continued to run without freon, it's currently overheating as well. I believe him because it sounds in line with what I suspected.
The guy gave me an estimate cost of repairs $850 including parts and labor. Offered a Sear's appliance warranty option that would run $69.99 per month and drop the total repair cost to $425 includes replacement of compressor condenser coil and evaporator coil.
The refrigerator is a 13 year old, french door bottom freezer Kenmore Elite(manufactured in 2004), and it's been good to us. Personally buying a new refrigerator the roughly the same size would be $1600 newer model equivalent $2600.
Personally, I'm highly inclined to accept the warranty plan and repair costs for the refrigerator. I'm considering contacting them later to tune up my air handler and furnace under the same warranty plan. Central A/C system currently runs but hasn't had a tune up in 2 or 3 years.
Anyways, my questions are, do you guys think that was the right decision to take the appliance warranty plan and get the fridge repaired? Has anyone here had experience with the Sear's Home Appliance Warranty plan? What are your experiences with them and their techs?
Hey guys, our electricity turned off for a few hours the other day and ever since it came back on then the control panel doesn't light up or work. (Which means the water and ice dispenser aren't working either) The fridge is still cooling and freezing luckily and the light inside is working.
I've tried resetting the switches in our electrical box. Both for the fridge and the kitchen GFCI. I've looked online and have tried getting it out of 'demo mode' but that doesn't do anything either. I'm stumped ! I guess the only thing to do is to unplug it which is a huge pain in the ass because it's pretty snug in between the pantry and the cabinets/counters. Should I even bother doing that if resetting the switches haven't worked ?
Has anyone else had this problem?
I don't understand why I got a bill for my property tax when I paid it into escrow at closing. I contacted my realtor and he said not to worry about it and ignore it and I haven't heard from my mortgage guy yet.
Side question: I haven't been able to figure this out in the 3 months I've been in the house, does a refrigerator that has an ice and water dispenser have it's own shut off valve like a toilet water line or a sink? It's not making ice or dispensing water, I'm not sure if it's broken or just shut off and I can't find it
So I unplugged my fairly old fridge (2mo old to me) when I went on vacation last week. When I returned I plugged it back in, then turned on the lights - the fridge shorted the circuit and tripping the GFI on my outlet.
Anybody have any advice on how to proceed/potentially fix the fridge?
Since it's been sitting for a while in, potentially hot weather, should I clean/replace the water lines and the lines for the icemaker?
I'm installing some Ikea under cabinet lighting in my kitchen. Two above and two below and the ambiance is lovely. The only electrical outlet that's out of site for this application happens to be behind the refrigerator and it happens to be a single outlet. I'm considering using a multiple outlet surge protector to give me the outlet capacity I need.
Are there any reason I should not do this? I've read articles that say it's good to put your refrigerator on a surge suppressor and I've read articles that say it's a bad idea. Can anyone speak to this subject?
We have a samsung fridge and late night I keep hearing a fan switching on. Not sure why. Any suggestions?
I tried googling the problem, but couldn't find my problem. I have a GFI in my kitchen. It's the same circuit as my refrigerator. About a year about the GFI made a loud buzzing noise and then POPPED. A little smoke came out and I couldn't reset the GFI. I did not have to reset the breaker. My father in law is an electrician and he replaced the outlet with a brand new GFI outlet. After a quick inspection of the outlet box, he determined that it was most likely caused by a faulty part in the GFI.
Today, the same thing happened. A loud buzzing for close to 10 seconds and a POP. Then some smoke and, for the lack of a better description, an electric burning smell. Again, the circuit did not need to be reset. I pulled the GFI out and there is no moisture. Does anyone happen to know why the same GFI outlet is failing?
Hey there,
Potential first time home buyer. We are looking at buying a house in NE Ohio. We put in an offer, seller accepted and the ball is rolling. Everything from our home inspection report came back fine, just the normal wear-and-tear and some cosmetic issues.
The only problem I do see is the house was built in 2002 and everything in it is still original.
Roof, High Efficiency Furnace, Water Heater, Sub-pump, The seller did buy us the “One year Home Warranty” on the house through HSA Home Warranty. The other good thing is the home appliances like the Washer, Dry, Stove, Microwave, Refrigerator are all 2 years old.
My wife and I plan on eventually having kids here and hopefully staying in this house for 20+ years (we’re 27 now).
I’m just wondering what the cost and timing would look like to replace these items throughout the years. Sort of like a time-line, of when we would need something replaced and how much it would cost typically.
We are just weighing our options, should we just walk now and not worry about replacing all this equipment over the next 10ish year, and look at newer houses. Or buy the house and know that in the future we’ll have to spend “X” amount on the house over the years.
Hi, /r/homeowners
My SO and I are under contract for our first home. We are very excited about it! The inspection is on Tuesday.
I have one main question, and then a more general question. The main question is the one that I suspect may be a Stupid Question. But I've been told, "there are no stupid questions...just stupid people." But I am going to ask anyway because I am that curious.
Is there anything you would recommend that I do (or anything you wish you would have done) during the inspection, assuming that you have an excellent home inspector and fully expect he will do a thorough inspection, AND, assuming that you are about 95% confident that there will be no major issues and the purchase is going to happen? (I already went through the property with a family member who is an experienced builder/contractor, and we didn't find anything worrying; so, if my expectation is that the inspection will go well and we will close on the property in about a month or two, is there anything that might be worth doing during the inspection to get a "head start?" For example, putting some pest or insect traps in the basement, putting a box of baking soda in the fridge, stuff like that?)
I am thinking this might be a stupid question because doing even these minor things to a house I do not own "yet" might be illegal, or ill-advised. On the other hand, the types of things I am thinking of, like ant traps or deodorizers are pretty benign and worst case scenario would simply benefit the current homeowners and the next buyer. The house is unoccupied, the previous owners passed away and one of their family members (who lives out of state) is now the executor, and is trying to get the property sold so they can move on with their lives. I've already been through the house twice and I did note that the refrigerator smelled pretty bad, and there was mineral (or some kind of) scale/stain in the toilet bowls, and there are some cobwebs in the basement (although I did not visibly see any insects and we are having an insect/pest/rodent specialist come to inspection).
On the one hand I think it is probably not a good idea to do anything to a house I do not own yet. On the other hand, a box of baking soda, and a few insect traps, and similar "minor" things seem like they couldn't hurt, and they would provide a little bit of a head start on improving things before we close and move in.
I am like 99% sure I WON'T be doing any of those things, because a part of me is uncomfortable with it. BUT, if there is consensus that there are small things that could be done during inspection that are actually "worth doing" in advance of closing like that, maybe I would be able to reach out to the seller and ask if she is OK with me doing those minor things as the inspection is being conducted. Having permission would seem to be the smartest and safest approach. But since this is my first home purchase, maybe asking the seller puts me at a disadvantage in negotiations... so maybe my entire line of thinking here is fundamentally flawed. Maybe reaching out to the seller in this way would imply "a level of interest/confidence" in myself that would hurt me later, after inspection, if we need to bring up problems or ask for money off or for repairs to be made.
Just for a little context, about 5 months ago we were under contract for our first home, but after inspection, the deal fell through because the sellers were being unreasonable (and lied about things until we had professionals come and prove the sellers wrong, at which point they back-peddled -- but made light of the serious issues we uncovered). This new seller we are dealing with seems MUCH more reasonable, and this time I went through the property first with my more experienced family member to see if any issues stood out before putting in an offer and scheduling an inspection, so I feel a good deal more prepared and hopeful this time around.
My more general question is simply to ask if there are any things I should look for, photograph, or otherwise do, during the inspection. (Our inspector is experienced and I do trust him, but that doesn't necessarily mean there aren't things I should be looking at, documenting, photographing, filming, or even simply making a point of asking the inspector as we go through... I want to really make the most of the experience, so if you have any suggestions I would appreciate it.)
Here are some examples I've though of: Installing an in-line water filter on your refrigerator, getting 1000 thread count sheets for your bed, getting a special smart led light bulb, buying a garage door insulation kit, spending a little extra money to get the InSinkErator that comes with sound-proofing material, stain-glass privacy film for your bedroom window, stuff like that.
I have a refrigerator with built in ice maker and water dispenser. We haven't used the water or ice maker function in over three years.
Would the water sitting in the line all this time leave those components gross and unsafe? Should we consider the water functions off-limits, or is there a cleaning process we can pursue?
