Refrigerators

[Edward Grant]

Has anyone had any experience with LG refrigerators. Are they reliable?

[m Ransley]

You mean NG or Propane, I had a Servel run for 40 yrs never a problem, then it died. Servel still makes them. But they will warm your kitchen

5-8 degrees, good if you live north

[Mike]

Korean.

Probably decent...but for me the price difference and features wasn't enough to sway me from buying an American made product.

[ns]

No, read the post again: LG, like the electronics company. Every refrigerator will warm up your kitchen, its a heat pump after all.

[ns]

Good that you asked about the experience of this group.

From a recent visit to a few appliance stores, I noticed that LG appliances are feature-rich in order to attract the mobs who like to play with computer-like user interface. Keep in mind that there is a hidden cost for all those fancy features: they will fail, question is when, not if. Repair costs can be significant. One of the most common modes of failures is due to ESD, mostly prevalent during the winter months when the relative humidity is pretty low (normal and comfortable range is 35-50%, in winter it can drop to 5%). Most consumer type electronics are ill designed to meet the ESD challenge and will fail either immediately (like locking or resting the processor) or after some time (failures are usually latent defects: it will take some time to manifest as a physical defect). Start with Consumer Reports to see the grade they assigned and any repair history. Call the recommended repair centre and ask for typical failures and their costs, then use this information to calculate life cycle cost (purchase price, maintenance price, energy price normalized over the life of the product).

[Mike]

Problem is, these LG are so new in the U.S. market that there is little long-term evidence to base a decision on.

I personally disagree with electro-static discharge being a big issue. They design for this stuff...when I used to work as a EE at a Fortune-50 company, a fellow co-worker of mine spent hours a day zapping circuit boards. I agree that crap consumer electronics are probably not up to par in this area...but my guess is that a $1k appliance was built with this in mind.

Microcontrollers are being embedded in more and more appliances. Maytag has addressed people's concerns with the LCD screen failing in their Neptune washer line by offering a long warranty on this particular part. But will this part be available 15 years from now? Who knows...

LG hasn't been in the U.S. market long enough for me to trust them. That was my personal decision...I looked at LG and decided to get an Amana (manufactured in Iowa). Yes, the LG was comparably priced and had a couple more features. However Amana has been in business for a long time and I'm supporting the local economy. 4 years ago I didn't feel this way at all...buying a Japanese car was my first post-college purchase. But feeling the job crunch a bit personally and seeing my friends unemployed (with engineering degrees), this is now a criteria when I compare products.

[ns]

Mike, you'll be surprised how ESD can affect equipment: I make my living from testing & destroying equipment to prove that it can withstand very tough requirement - ESD being one of them. I used to so for one of the largest (they are much smaller now) telecom companies, since moved to another one with big hopes.

Yes, MCUs are becoming part of life, like M$ products, whether we like it or not. There are ways to mitigate ESD, and the question is: Did LG take the time to design properly & verify this product? An independent test lab will be able to tell you this, for a nominal fee (~$2k/day), or you could ask LG to provide their test data, or buy one and take it apart.

Only time and consumer pain will tell if they did a good job. Agree with you that it is better to go with the tried & tested.

[Stormin Mormon]

Funny you should ask. I'm a repair guy. I got a call about three weeks ago to go fix one. The very nice fellow who owns it lives about an hour drive from me. The complaint was "freezng in the bottom part of the refrig".

The short of it was that the tech support guy wasn't sure. So he suggested I call aprts, and get a circuit board. I did.

Go home, wait for part.

Got the part. Drove out, and scheduling error. Missed him. Hour drive back home.

Drove out #3, install the board. No change.

Call tech support. they suggest the defrost controller.

Drive out #4, install the defrost controller. Seems to be working.

Next day. Customer calls back. Still freezing in the bottom.

April 03, Sat, call tech support. Seems everyone is in a training meeting, and to call back on Monday.

Four house calls, two parts, and twice on the phone with tech support. Still doesn't work. I don't like this electronic gadgetry.

[m Ransley]

And what a shame if the guy only called someone that knew his business

[*CBHVAC*]

To the OP....Chris is a change out man. A parts changer.. I suggest that if you take his advice seriously, that you do a Google on him using the words: Installed, cant take back, because it was on my car.

He is NOT a repair person...he IS a locksmith..of sorts..