OT: warning GE fridges do not work

[rbmgf7]

I just wanted to chime in on GE appliances in general: they're garbage.

I took over my fathers home about 6 years ago. He had mismatched appliances with a new GE stove and older everything else.

I went ahead an got the rest of the matching appliances (GE Slate). It's not top nor bottom of the line. All are "assembled in USA" but definitely do not hold up to the old GE reputation.

So far, the stove is the only decent thing. My fridge has quirks. I did research on my fridge model and pulled up tons of negative reviews and thank goodness (knock on wood), I haven't had any problems that people mention. Some people mention the inside plastics cracking. The circulation fan shroud in the freezer or fan itself has moved to the point they strike each other at some point. You'll suddenly hear the sounds of a fan hitting plastic every once in a while. Compressor is the loudest I've ever heard in any fridge. The water filter usage is obviously on a timer. I barely use the water line for water or ice yet after a couple months the fridge says I have to change it.

OTR microwave is OK. There's some weird sensor that's flipping out whenever I use the beverage heat function. Some sort of water vapor or steam sensor. It'll shut off mid cycle and alarm for 10 seconds so I just use the quick heat function instead that likely bypasses the use of that sensor.

Dishwasher is straight garbage. Had to replace $300 worth of electronic boards in a dishwasher that was only $600 to begin with. Now it needs a new $150 pump. I believe it's the circulation pump. Shrieks when it runs then dishes come out barely clean (would barely clean even when new). I had a cheap Fridgidaire dishwasher that would run circles around this GE one. Before I replaced the electronic boards in the dishwasher, whatever cycle I selected for a finite amount of time, I'd come back and the cycle time was 10-30 minutes longer than what I selected.

I'd like to eventually get a new washer and dryer and have Speed Queen in my sights.

 

[camscan]

I can say from experience, that a warm PBR leaves a unique taste in the mouth....

What is a PBR?

 

[Bill D]

Our Bosch dishwasher is so quiet it has a light so you know it is running.
The Ge fridge is loud! can hear it throughout the 1,800 square foot house. HAas a fancy display that shows no usful information. No temperature readout. If pushed it shows temp settings, not readings. You have to push to get filter status 100-0 % left. Since it does not know the temperature I do not think it has temperature alarm.
Bill D

 

[DDoug]

Our Bosch dishwasher is so quiet it has a light so you know it is running.
The Ge fridge is loud! can hear it throughout the 1,800 square foot house. HAas a fancy display that shows no usful information. No temperature readout. If pushed it shows temp settings, not readings. You have to push to get filter status 100-0 % left. Since it does not know the temperature I do not think it has temperature alarm.
Bill D

So why did you buy it in the first place ????

 

[Bill D]

Why did we buy it. Our old fridge died. I never knew to search to see if the filter was chipped or not. Silly me I assumed the display would display information. It was in stock≥. Others would be 2-6 month wait.
Bill D

 

[moldcore]

Why did we buy it. Our old fridge died. I never knew to search to see if the filter was chipped or not. Silly me I assumed the display would display information. It was in stock≥. Others would be 2-6 month wait.
Bill D

We had the same situation with our GE about a year ago. Compressor died after 8 years so we went looking for a new one. We were told it would be a 2-4 month wait so we purchased an LG that they could get in 2 months if we were lucky. In the mean time we purchased a small fridge from Lowe's that they had in stock to get us by. Just before the 2 months was up the compressor for the GE showed up. We had GE service fix the old one for $800 and then sold it after the LG arrived for $400 more than the repair cost.

 

[triumph406]

What is a PBR?

Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. Last resort beer when you can't get Bud or Coors. Made cool again by young consumers who like style over substance

 

[camscan]

And the favourite drink of my Southern mates....Oh they have no taste....

You have no mates and if you did then they would have no taste.

 

[JoeE.]

My predicament: My house is probably 100 years old, guessing 1920 construction. The Hotpoint electric cook stove I have is an early 1950's era, and sets in the middle of the kitchen, kinda of attached to the west wall with a short built-in shelf. I'd say my parents purchased it new when they first got married and they put it in this house.



Anyhow, one of the stovetop elements burnt out. I thought to myself.. "Hell, I'm rich, I'll just go buy a new stove and replace this antique. I don't cook much, so don't need anything with bells and whistles, so a bottom of the line electric stove will suit me just fine.

Well, my stove is around 44 inches long. There is no modern stove made (that isn't a commercial kitchen range costing thousands and thousands of dollars, and burns gas) that the appliance store here could get that would fit my existing stoves footprint. They had 2 big catalogs full of kitchen stoves. The longest residential type stove they showed in either catalog was 40" long, if I remember correctly. That wouldn't work for me. Not going to remodel my kitchen just to put in a new stove.

So, I gave up on a new stove, and headed to Ace hardware to buy a new element, where 20 years ago I had purchased another replacement element.

"We don't carry replacement elements anymore", said the young girl employee. I turned around and came home and got on the internet...surely there'll be one there.


So, I went home and searched Hotpoint range elements and there were a lot of hits, but not all of them were correct for this stove. Too many years of product, and they didn't use the same elements on every stove.

Finally found one company/manufacturer that had the right diameter element with the right attachment method, and ordered it. Was only $30 with shipping. I was relieved.

It arrived and I went about replacing the old one. Well, the form and fit were waaay off...the element wouldn't lay down flat in the hole in the stovetop.... it just wasn't identical to the old one. The top of the chromalox element itself was not level/flat. Really a poor quality item.

I contacted company and said I'm returning the element because it is of poor quality, and would like a refund. Seller said "hell, just keep it... we'll refund your money, too." Great!!!!

Threw it in the trash and got on ebay.

Luckily, I found a N.O.S. Hotpoint/GE element. Still new in the brittle paper/cardboard wrapper. Got it for $30, too.

Within 30 minutes of receipt, I had it installed. So, I've managed to keep this 70 year old relic going for $30 and prevented a huge headache buying a new cookstove and remodeling the kitchen.

The other appliances I have (I'm a bachelor) are all analog controlled. No fancy, digital stuff here. I have had to replace the mechanical timer on both the washer and dryer in the past, and was lucky to find N.O.S. replacements on ebay at the time. Since I'm here by myself, I'm gentle with the stuff and make it last.

 

[rons]

The GE range temperature controls are not what an aspiring chef likes to use. From dull to red hot in a fraction of a degree of rotation.

 

[Joe Gwinn]

The GE range temperature controls are not what an aspiring chef likes to use. From dull to red hot in a fraction of a degree of rotation.

All electric ranges of that era have only two independent coils in the same element, with four power settings: Off, Low (low wattage coil on), Medium (high wattage coil on), and High (both coils on).

Modern electric ranges have one coil per element, plus a user-controlled solid-state electronic power controller (a glorified lamp dimmer). The modern controllers have at least ten discrete power levels (which are actually too few), and some have one hundred levels. The limit is often the control knob - potentiometers don't live all that long, and ten-pole switches are cheaper and last longer. (I cannot recommend makes and models though - I have a gas stove).

 

[Zeuserdoo]

What is a PBR?

Basically cat piss.

 

[FredC]

I have a 5 or 6 year old GE refrigerator. It has a light that comes on occasionally to remind you. Push the button and it resets and goes out. I bought some filters for it from Amazon to save a few bucks. The packaging even the print on the filter looked genuine. Water tasted like some kind of toxic chemical. Cut original GE filter open and the Amazon filter and it was a good fake, the box and the fit and finish looked perfect. Saw the glue inside the Amazon filter that I was tasting. I bought 3 from GE for about $150.00 and water tastes fine from the first glass.

Maybe the OP bought counterfeits by mistake like I did? Just looked at the counterfeit box and it says "America at work" next to a flag with "Proudly made in Eagan, Mn" underneath. If anyone wants to poison them selves I can sell them some real good looking filters as Amazon never replied to my claim that these were counterfeit.

Quoting myself which is kind of different.
Amazon just sent me instructions to throw away any of the filters in question. They acknowledged they were counterfeit. Yesterday they sent me an email saying they refunded in full the price I paid for the bad filters.
Funny it took them a year and a half to realize this. I had asked for my money back right away and told them besides being counterfeit the glue used to assemble them was probably poisonous.
I still wonder if the OP did not get counterfeit filters also.

 

[FredC]

I will take the bad filters to the appliance store that sold me the fridge. See if they think they are forgeries.
Bill D

I did not see this till now. The counterfeits that I got were so good I doubt that the dealer would have been able to tell. If the glue had not stunk so bad, I would have probably never guessed. Cutting it apart on the lathe or with a hacksaw was the only way to prove it. Otherwise they were just too perfect.

 

[Joe Gwinn]

I have a fridge made by Bosch (under one of their many brands) with an icemaker. Which we never used, and it kept jamming up because it kept trying to make more ice even when the bin was overflowing.

So, I disconnected the copper water feed tube and capped it (so a future owner can reconnect it if they so desire). The fridge complains and asks for a new filter every so often. Whatever the algorithm is, it cannot be measuring either water flow or use of ice. In any event, turning the fridge off then on clears the complaint, and life goes on.

Nor was the filter in the fridge ever needed, as the water to the fridge was already filtered.

 

[EmGo]

All electric ranges of that era have only two independent coils in the same element, with four power settings: Off, Low (low wattage coil on), Medium (high wattage coil on), and High (both coils on).

My dad had a shorter description : "Electric stoves have two speeds -- off and burn".

At one point we bought an Amada refrigerator. Can't say how good it was because all it did for eleven years was make stuff cold. Maybe still running, I dunno. We moved.

 

[Joe Gwinn]

Yeah. In 1982, I bought a GE fridge for about US $400. It lasted 36 years (until 2018), with occasional repair. But it was not at all modern any more, and wife called it clear evidence of wife abuse. It didn't die exactly, it just became too worn and rusty. Although she did like to point out to her friends that keeping appliances for decades was far more environmentally correct than treating appliances as consumables.

The replacement is made by Bosch (under one of their many brands), and is fully modern (too many computers, likely fails a lot). We also have a small Frigidaire upright freezer (made in China) that has only a simple mechanical thermostat -- all it does is keep frozen things frozen, and nothing more.

 

[John Garner]

My Mom had an apartment around 1944 that had a small fridge under the counter. The compressor and condenser was outside, on the the roof maybe?
Bill D

Bill D --

In the mid 1960s I lived in a four-story San Francisco building that had "central refrigeration". Every apartment had a refrigerator compartment about the same size as a mid-size ice chest, all plumbed to a large reciprocating compressor and radiator in the basement.

The whole system was supplied by Fridgidaire, and if I'm remembering correctly, pre-dated General Motors ownership.

John

 

[thermite]

We bought a ge fridge less then one year ago. Had to replace the water filter today. I had already bought several. They have a computer chip and after the fridge thinks they have been used enough it shuts down the water to the faucet and icemaker. Problem is three of four brand new factory sealed, made by ge, filters could not be linked to the fridge.
Filters cost 25-50 dollars each So +-$200 to get one filter that works. I will ask ge to fix or refund the fridge. It is unde rthe one year warranty so I want it logged in as. a failure.
AFAIK No other maker has chips in their filters. Similar to printer ink tanks that shut down when they have printed enough pages.
BilL D

No one who pays attention HAS icemaker's in a shared-compressor fridge/freezer in the first dam' place.

Sub-Zero twigged me to WHY I should buy their twin-compressor unit, back in the '70's.

Fridge and Freezer compartment had NO shared AIR with the dual rig.

Go figure the ice cubes no longer tasted like the foods, odors, spills, and bacteria as are ever a challenge in the fridge side.

Cheap-ass that I am these days?

Just run a totally separate ice-maker and pull the built-in for more freezer space.
Better-yet, buy the box that doesn't even HAVE such, nor the dispenser and save even more space, money, and stuff to fail. Stand-alone icemakers are far the better performers, anyway.
Movable to where needed, even.

Put a big-ass standard filter - or more than one type - on the water SUPPLY line.

DONE with expensive messing about.

 

[cmccull166]

I just wanted to chime in on GE appliances in general: they're garbage.

I took over my fathers home about 6 years ago. He had mismatched appliances with a new GE stove and older everything else.

I went ahead an got the rest of the matching appliances (GE Slate). It's not top nor bottom of the line. All are "assembled in USA" but definitely do not hold up to the old GE reputation.

So far, the stove is the only decent thing. My fridge has quirks. I did research on my fridge model and pulled up tons of negative reviews and thank goodness (knock on wood), I haven't had any problems that people mention. Some people mention the inside plastics cracking. The circulation fan shroud in the freezer or fan itself has moved to the point they strike each other at some point. You'll suddenly hear the sounds of a fan hitting plastic every once in a while. Compressor is the loudest I've ever heard in any fridge. The water filter usage is obviously on a timer. I barely use the water line for water or ice yet after a couple months the fridge says I have to change it.

OTR microwave is OK. There's some weird sensor that's flipping out whenever I use the beverage heat function. Some sort of water vapor or steam sensor. It'll shut off mid cycle and alarm for 10 seconds so I just use the quick heat function instead that likely bypasses the use of that sensor.

Dishwasher is straight garbage. Had to replace $300 worth of electronic boards in a dishwasher that was only $600 to begin with. Now it needs a new $150 pump. I believe it's the circulation pump. Shrieks when it runs then dishes come out barely clean (would barely clean even when new). I had a cheap Fridgidaire dishwasher that would run circles around this GE one. Before I replaced the electronic boards in the dishwasher, whatever cycle I selected for a finite amount of time, I'd come back and the cycle time was 10-30 minutes longer than what I selected.

I'd like to eventually get a new washer and dryer and have Speed Queen in my sights.

I can vouch for speed queen washing machines
I bought one ten years ago ,still good ..I think they are more of a
commercial washer, mine is very heavy and back then it was made in the
USA ...IIRC