How long should Refrigerator Evaporator Fan Motors Last?

[SMS]

I replaced a bad motor on a five year old Whirlpool refrigerator. It was a simple replacement, but it doesn't seem like a fan motor should last only five years, especially when it's in the freezer and not getting hot.

The motor wasn't in stock at the local appliance parts place (who wanted more than $60 to order it). I ordered it off of Amazon for $30.64 + $5.28 shipping. It came in three days. Not a big deal since the owner (mother-in-law) had a second identical refrigerator that was in a downstairs in an empty in-law unit, so I just took that motor to use in her fridge.

Now I'm wondering if I should buy a spare motor to have when the next one goes out, since the two fridges were bought at the same time, and now the fridge upstairs has the 5 year old motor.

[hrhofmann]

I had a freezer air circulating fan go out, but the freezer was 30

+years old at the time. Five years seems pretty short. Did you try oiling the motor after you removed it from the freezer???

[Grumpy]

simple replacement, but it doesn't seem like

and not getting hot.

than $60 to order it). I ordered it off

since the owner (mother-in-law) had a

unit, so I just took that motor to use in

out, since the two fridges were bought

Hell yes buy couple somebody needs to support economy:

[notbob]

We recently replaced a fan motor in a 7 yr old Whirlpool. Near as I can tell, Whirlpool no longer makes even a mediocre product. Her nearly new GE, which the Whirlpool replaced, died in 5 yrs. My old GE was over 25 yrs old before the evap motor needed replacement. Today's appliances are all junk.

nb

[Vic Smith]

I had a 7 year old GE compressor fail a couple years ago. Replaced it with another different GE. They're all made in Mexico I think. I know the failed one was. But they're all "possible" junk. It's silly to buy refrigerator parts to keep on hand. It's mostly initial quality luck of the draw. Not recommending this, but I bought a warranty for the GE washer my wife had to have because there were so many early failures in the reviews. People going for weeks with no machine, then failing again. Figured the extra 3 bills for a 5 year immediate replacement warranty was worth not going to the laundro-mat. Of course the machine has worked perfectly past the warranty period. That's okay. I figured the warranty cost into the total 5-year cost and that's exactly what it cost over the first 5 years. Never had to worry about it after I accepted the cost.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Seldom do they fail in five years from my experience. Most will go

15+. I'd not buy a spare.

Of course, anything can happen and one can go out in a week.

[bob haller]

new fridges are much more energy efficent and have a life expectancy of around 8 years....

[micky]

I had a Sears-Whrlpool-made fridge that was about 20 years old when I noticed the air wasn't coming out the bottom. It took me weeks to pull out the fridge to learn the problem. It was a mouse stuck in the fan, a dried dead mouse. I just pushed out with something and I expected the fridge would fail because of running too hot for weeks, but it didn't. About 5 years ago, the same thing happened. Again it ran without the fan spinning for weeks, and it was another dead dried mouse.. And 3 years ago, when the fridge was 30 years old, the thermostat failed. I replaced that with one from ebay, but the fan motors are still fine and the fridge runs fine after 33 years, and has no broken parts, except for the door gasket which is in place but has a "cut" on the ouside, for part of the perimieter.

So what I tend to be saying is you don't need to replace that motor as soon as it breaks, but otoh, I have an old well-made fridge and I hear all the new ones are junk. I guess you could stop the fan for an hour or two and use a remote thermometer to see how much the temperature of the condensor coil increases.

Is my fan a legacy from when fridges would really overheat without one?

(Of course I live alone so I don't use it as much as a family would.)

[notbob]

No, yer fan is a legacy from the era when appliances were made to last

30 yrs. I think mine was about 30 yrs old when I moved and had to salvage it, but it still worked great. In its entire history, it had only required 1 defroster fan and one defroster timer, about $50 total. I also knew of 4 other refrigerators jes like it in town that were also still going strong, two on my block, alone. My mom has gone through 2 new refrigrators in the last 15 yrs. Crap!!

nb