This is my opinion as a refrigeration technician. The manufacturers discovered as you said the coil does not get dirt and dust in it as when the coil is folded and under the unit as some newer models. The cleaner the coil stays the lower the load on the compressor. Extending the life of the compressor many years beyond the warranty implied on the unit. Add a condenser fan motor with the folded coil that is smaller and requires fewer passes resulting in less material to manufacturer the coil and multiply this several million times and you have huge savings in production costs. Now reduce the entire factory warranty to one year without the purchase of an extended warranty, compressors in refrigerators used to be warranted by the manufacturer back in the day for ten years standard. Now let us throw in BIG BROTHER yes the government places mandates on appliance manufacturers to be more energy efficient or face fines within time frames. The new scroll and rotary compressors are junk, compared to piston compressors, in life expectancy, they use less electricity but wear out much faster, they do not have the beef in them compared to a piston compressor, even in commercial rack refrigeration I have witnessed this such as grocery stores. Some store chains refuse to use rotary or scrolls for this reason, to much risk in loosing product. The energy savings could have been overcome with the use of better insulations alone in the cabinets, but why do this when you can reduce the warranty on your equipment to one year and get right back in someone's pocket much faster than you were able to years ago. In short the perfect design was costing them millions in sales. The only manufacturer I know of that still uses piston type compressors is SUB-ZERO top shelf equipment, BUT BROTHER only the very well to do spend 17 to
20 thousand dollars for a refrigerator for the house and I am not talking about the man cave.- posted
9 years ago