ddsrph

I visited a friend from the Navy a couple weekends ago in Asheville. We spent most of the day in Greenville SC. I liked the downtown with many small restaurants and especially was impressed by the waterfall park. The bridge overlooking the waterfall was an amazing work of engineering.

Steerpike

Compounding this situation, though, is the fact that lenders don't like to lend on an 'unfinished' project. At least, that's what we ran into back in the 90s. Our inspection uncovered some major structural issues. I really did not want to rush into a 'fix' proposed by the seller, due to the issues you raise, but also because it was in January and the last thing I wanted to see was a major structural issue being worked on in the rainy season. Our lender wanted to see a complete 'sign off' on the list of issues found in the reports; I believe their argument was, you don't know the full scope of a 'project' until you get into it (which also has merit). In the end, we were able to get the loan without doing the work. Ironically, due to my inexperience, I still ended up choosing a poor contractor to do the work and the whole thing ended up getting re-done 10 years later at great expense!

Steerpike

When writing my response above, I did a quick google on the issue of double-glazing ('dual pane' seems to be the best search term using US parlance). I couldn't find a definitive answer on whether dual-pane was required absolutely or not. It seems the US is separated into climate zones, with AZ and FL being the 'hot' extreme, and there are different standards for each zone (fair enough). The standards seem more geared to thermal efficiency than to specific solutions, so I guess, if you could design a window that was single pane and it met the standard, so be it.

I moved into a condo in AZ in 2009, and it had single-pane windows. It was build in 1989. I believe (but not sure now) that I could have replaced the windows with single-pane. Hard to believe, in AZ!

Interesting that mobile homes are built to entirely different standards! Staying on the ground during hurricanes seems to be another difference ...

zzrmark

Trailers are a whole different world when it comes to the construction industry. Some parks, much like HOA's don't want any old crap and if you put a new 'home' on the site it has to meet their standards, this in addition to county codes which differ considerably - Charlotte county is the most strict of the counties we work in, hardly surprising as the county town of Punta Gorda was all but totally flattened when Cat.4 Charley made landfall in 2004. All areas on this coast are given a flood zone category which also affects method of construction, it's bureaucratic heaven.

My 'old' 1988 brick build house doesn't meet current elevation requirements for the flood zone, not that we have had a problem but with all the new sub-divisions springing up around us that have had to be raised up six feet (try working out how much dirt that requires for the average 40 acre construction site!!!) we are rapidly going from living on a plain that had good drainage systems to being located in a six foot deep valley 200' from the main drainage creek - the new town going in on our doorstep is only going to increase surface runoff and eventually send it all our way, not ideal!
Going back to my house, I have replaced the front and back doors (on the sly, with no permits or required contractors licence) that meet code. Double glazed, impact resistant, you could drive a truck over them and leave no more than tyre prints. My windows, however, are original, single glazed, nasty aluminium framed, affairs that would probably fall out if I sneezed on them, had the house been built four years later the windows would almost certainly have been impact resistant, thank to Andrew kicking the crap out of the state in 1992 and all the local authorities introducing strict rules to help minimize hurricane destruction.

RICH

That'll teach me not to brag. The Fridge Freezer crapped out again, so I am now in the market for a replacement.
Before I research, any "must haves" I should know about. Alexa type of things?

eta well the damn machine came back on after i wrote this. Not sure if all is lost yet!

Pulaski

Under-over, or side-by-side? .... Either way, keep it simple, IMO there is no need or benefit to have it connected to your wifi or with a screen. They're just more things to go wrong!

For under-overs, avoid the cheapest, there's a lot of cheap junk out there. In the cheap ones the fridge is cooled by a small fan blowing cold air out of the freezer compartment into the fridge.

Depending on your budget, the "French door" style is popular, but costs more than a basic side-by-side. Whirlpool/ KitchenAid make a "four door" French door fridge that we really like, and while the fourth door (a deli drawer below the fridge and above the freezer) might seem like a novelty, it is much more convenient than having to open both fridge doors to be able to open the deli drawer.

See if there is an "American Freight" (Sears outlet) near you - they have killer deals on scratch and dent appliances. We have shopped there several times, and got a new dishwasher there earlier this year for about half the new price, that has just a very slight line (pressure mark) on the door.

RICH

Thanks for that. I got this unit for free from a friend of the ex wife 12 years ago so that was a good deal .it is side by side and bigger than i need. Ironically, I visited the ex wife a month ago and she still has the "new" unit we got around 2006. ps I edited prev post it is running again!

Pulaski

You're welcome. And I edited (expanded) my post that you quoted too.

And further to the above, personally, I would avoid Korean brands; my opinion is supported by the experience of several colleagues and acquaintances.

Steerpike

My fridge / freezer combo crapped out early in the pandemic and I replaced it with a new one. Here's my thoughts.
1) Even if your machine started working again, it's clearly flakey at this point. What's the value ($, convenience) of losing it again?
2) Where is your fridge? Mine is in an 'open plan' kitchen, so I can hear it cycle from elsewhere in the house. While the new one seems 'fairly quiet', I don't think it's as quiet as the old one. New one cost circa $1600, old one (I think) was $2k plus. I would gladly pay more to have less noise, in retrospect (It IS quiet, but I have very sensitive hearing).
3) I went from classic 'side by side' (freezer on left, fridge on right) to what I think is called the 'French Door' design - two doors 'on top', both accessing the fridge section, with the freezer on the bottom as a pull-out 'chest'. While I hear it's more space-efficient having the slide-out chest design, I do find it requires more organization. I have had to resort to maintaining a list of what's in there, and where, because I have to dig for everything!
4) My new fridge is a 'sealed coil' design; not sure if that's the correct term, but it does not have an accessible 'coil' that you can vacuum to get rid of dust build-up. Don't even know how it works, exactly - but definitely no removable grill to allow for cleaning.
5) I made a point of not getting an ice dispenser in the door, as it takes up a lot of space and ... I've never adapted to the US habit of using ice. This new one does have an icemaker in the lower freezer compartment, you just have to open the freezer to get at the ice. They didn't have a version available without it.
6) I'm away from the place for months at a time, so for me, having a 'smart' fridge would have been a nice feature (for remote monitoring of temperature, to be aware of problems) but that feature is only available on the most expensive models. Instead, I bought 2 temperature sensors that work with my 'Samsung SmartThings' home automation setup, and I can monitor the temperature remotely that way.

lansbury

Judging from our experience replacing the microwave, that wasn't worth repairing, COVID is causing supply problems. You choice might be limited if you need something from stock.

OldJuddian

I also need to replace my fridge as it ices up and causes a horrendous noise every 2 weeks (ice hitting fan), needing a forced or manual defrost. It's a known failure of most French 4-Door fridge-freezers. This one is Samsung but every brand has the issue by checking the reviews. I don't really want workmen in the house at the moment, and the supply of fridges has been disrupted. So for now putting up with it. My family love the French Door design with the drawer. I really don't need a screen, wifi, or anything like that - but would pay a premium for quiet.

I had tried to repair it, and have replaced everything easy, but no joy. From the many forums checked there is no good solution.

I will likely pick one from Costco for the extended warranty

Pulaski

Please can you expand on this - all Google finds for me is problems related to Samsung F/D fridges (my search terms were <french door fridge defrost>, and then excluding Samsung hits from the search (adding <-samsung> to the search) didn't find much of anything other than ad hoc repair tips, there was nothing about general issues, defrosting or otherwise, with F/D fridges. .... And my own experience with a GE F/D fridge has been without any defrosting issues in the first 9-10 years of ownership.

And re Samsung, I will add you to my list of people who have had issues with Korean appliances.
IMO extended warranties are virtually worthless - in all the appliances I have ever bought, only one has ever failed within 5 years, so I am several $'000's ahead without buying exteneded warranties. And even if the extended warrant is "free" (I am guessing that's what you're going to tell me ) I would sooner shop for the best price as the risk of needing a warranty claim IME is extremely small.

An extended warranty is only a bet that your new appliance is going to fail, and generally that is a pretty poor bet to make. Famously in the early 1990's Dixon's lost money one year ('92?) on their retailing business, but reported a net profit because the profit they made on warranties exceeded the money they lost on sales of products.

OldJuddian

I typically agree, but Costco tends to have great prices and gives 4-year warranty on large appliances. So if the cost is roughly the same then I will go with Costco. The bigger problem is that the selection may be limited.
I just looked at "Samsung RF28R7351SR 28 cu. ft. 4-Door French Door Food Showcase Refrigerator - Stainless Steel", and American Freight can only match the price by offering a cosmetically damages one.

For the noise issue I'll need to dig into the reviews again, I am happy to buy any brand as long as it does not have the same issue, and each one that I was tempted to buy there were enough people complaining of the same issue. I had been told by a colleague that has the same fridge that Samsung redesigned the cooling unit to resolve this, this was from Home Depot not Samsung.

OldJuddian

I went down a rabbit hole, I did not know that Haier own these brands here: GE, GE Profile, Café, Monogram, Haier and Hotpoint
And Whirlpool: Whirlpool, Maytag, KitchenAid
And Electrolux: Frigidaire (but they don't sell large capacity French Door fridges)
If I ignore LG/Samsung then high capacity options (27/28cu ft) seem to be only Cafe/GE which are both Haier. (4-door French Door). I'll think again what I really want.

I could not quickly find recent reviews on the similar ice/fan problems that the Samsung had. There were enough scary 1-star reviews, but not for that specific issues.

Now to go out to enjoy the winter sun in the PNW - it is a rare event.

ddsrph

One thing to consider is a smaller refrigerator plus a separate freezer. We have a simple 18 cu foot refrigerator plus on our porch a freezer from Lowe’s that cost around $150 and has worked great for 8 years so far.