On 4/12/2013 8:02 AM, MICHELLE H. wrote:
Is it true that laying a refrigerator down on it's side ruins it
and/or voids any warranty? I read something about how when you lay it
on the side, that oil and coolant get up into the coils. Other people
say you CAN lay it on the side, as long as you leave it unplugged for
a few hours after getting home and standing it up.


Also, I am not talking about a full size fridge. We are thinking of
getting one of those small "college dorm" type of refrigerators to
put in our basement to keep some extra water bottles, soda cans, beer
cans, etc. nice and cold, because in the Summer we go through alot
of beverages.


Our local "P.C. Richard" store has a nice "Avanti" 3.3. cubic foot
for sale right now for $124. That's pretty cheap considering that
Wally-Mart has the same size "Black and Decker" for $168, and Target
has a smaller 3.1 cubic foot one for $139.


Anyway, on the box it specifically says "Do NOT lay refrigerator down
on it's side! KEEP UPRIGHT AT ALL TIMES!!". The problem is, we don't
have a truck, so laying it flat on the seat would be the only option
of getting it home in our small Chevy Cavalier!!!! Would laying it
flat for a 20 minute drive home, really damage the fridge? It's to
tall to stand it up on the seat, so without spending extra money to
rent a truck, or pay for delivery, laying it down in the car is the
only way to get it home.


I've been watching this thread and I always recommend to anyone who must
lay a residential refrigerator on its side to determine where
the compressor is and make sure it is at the lowest point when you
lay the fridge on its side. To be safe you can let it sit upright for
24 hours but I've never seen one damaged from being run after being
laid on its side or run just right after being set upright. The oil will
be blown back to the compressor anyway and the thermal overload on the
compressor will click on and off until things stabilize. I think many of
them have rotary compressors now and those darn things are hard to
damage. I even saw a solid state dorm sized fridge one day a a retailer
and it didn't have a compressor. You can run one of those upside down if
you wished to, you may have a problem with condensate draining but
college students don't care about things like that. ^_^

TDD