On Jun 18, 4:46*pm, "Stormin Mormon"
wrote:
Sorry to hear. I repair refrigerators, and some other
appliances. Usually, Whirlpool are easy to repair, and the
parts are reasonably priced. Sounds like they made a mess of
this one.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
*www.lds.org
.

"Art Todesco" wrote in message

...
Rant on ......

I got a new Whirlpool side by side fridge 2 years ago. *So,
yesterday I was changing its horribly expensive water filter
for the
water and ice. *So I decided to check the condenser coils
for
cleaning. *To my amazement they were packed with dirt. *Now
comes
the good (actually bad) part. *While you can vacuum the
front-most
coil, where most to the dirt collects, all of the remaining
coils
are not cleanable. *Sure, you could tip the fridge on its
side and
get it from the bottom. *The coils are zig-zagged starting
in front,
going up at 45 degrees to the floor towards the rear. *As
you go
towards the rear the coils then go down at 45 degrees and so
on.
There are about 4 or so of these up and down coils. *The
front-most
coil blocks access to all the rear coils. *There's no room
to get
into the sides, only the bottom. *I looked at the manual and
it
says, "There is no need for routine condenser cleaning in
normal
home operating environments." * What? *I've never seen a
condenser,
even in the cleanest homes, that doesn't need periodic
cleaning.
Even my old built-in Kitchen Aid with the condenser on the
top,
needed cleaning. *How can they even claim Energy Star
Compliance?
I called they "Customer Experience" line. *I know why they
call it
that ... every time I have talked to them, it was literally
an
experience! *They were of NO HELP, as usual. *I talked to
the
supervisor. *She was of NO HELP. *I asked about how they can
claim
"Energy Star" compliance and she said "it is Energy Star
compliant",
litterally ignoring what I had said. *Luckily, I was able to
drag
the hose from the garage air compressor, up the stairs and
blow out
the coil .... everyone has an air compressor, right? *If the
house
had a particularly greasy environment, I'm sure the air
might not
clean the further back.

BTW, this isn't the only problem with this unit. *There are
many.
The most frustrating one is that frost builds up in the ice
maker.
You have to chisel the ice build up and that's if you can
remove the
ice bucket/grinder. *They replaced the entire door. *Still
does it.
* The authorized repair guy said that if this where a house
with 5
kids and no AC he might expect this. *He said that his
engineering
contact at WP told him, to tell the customer that it was the
customers' responsibility to keep the parts free of ice
build up.
He told me he wouldn't tell HIS customers that, although in
a round
about way, he did. *That's why he changed the entire door.

Sorry for venting.

I don't know that the way the Whirpool is built is so unusual.
I have a two year old Kitchenaid side by side and while I
can see the front of the coils, I also can't see any way
to clean anything but a small portion. Which is somewhat
understandable, since they have the coils underneath, not
in the back where they were out in the open. My complaint
is that they should then include a filter which is at the
front and accessible.

As for meeting Energy Star, that's easy to explain. There
is a series of govt tests that must be met and AFAIK,
they have nothing to do with the coils being accessible.
How much impact having some dirt accumulate on the
condenser over the years would make on efficiency is
anyone's guess.