Can a fridge (Gas Unit) be repaired and replaced? Or is this REALLY a right off?

[365drills]

I am an idiot.

Getting ready for the football I clear out the wine fridge of wine and prepare to stock it with bargain beers (£10 a case Sainsburrys) well in advance.

My lovely designer built in wine fridge.... Centre Piece of my kitchen....

I notice the white plate behind heavy with Ice so decide to do a quick defrost. Instead of waiting hours for it to drip on my floor I help it along by chipping it off the plate with a knife...

Bullseye and straight through the micro bore. Unit is now scrap. Cant be repaired.

Hotpoint WE26X Wine Cellar £955.00

Oh joy....

What a nice thing to have to replace !


Question: Is this really impossible to repair? I would have thought that to replace the panel (or patch it) and re-gas the unit was an option. Spoke to THREE companies today and they all say "unit is scrap".

My other option is home insurance with an excess of £250 still cheaper than paying the above.

 

[quality]

Ya can get some stuff called "super poxee" for repairing aluminium plate evaporators like the one in your post it got to be worth a try at that cost of replacement

 

[365drills]

Thanks yes its a lot of cost to replace it. When I hit it the gas came out so it will need re-gassing. Would there be a filling point on the Hotpoint motor or is it a fully sealed unit - and gassed once at the factory ?

 

[quality]

There would not be a service port to re-charge it so one would have to be fitted ( no big deal) I do a lot of refrigeration repairs but I am in yorkshire but would attemt a repair no problem

 

[oldplumber]

cheaper to use a wet towel over your tinnies and let evaporation cool them. Having seen your work on fridges, I wouldnt want you near my boiler. lol

 

[migoplumber]

hope you learnt your lesson drills !
as said above repairs are easy, you just need to find a local one.
basically, just means installing a non return valve somewhere on existing pipework and then regassing from your 'new' fill up point (after fixing leak !!)
good luck

by the way a 1k fridge shouldn't be stuffed with coors - should be full of chateau pap

 

[oldplumber]

leave the chateux pap in the swimming pool to cool works for me (in my dreams)

 

[365drills]

Thanks for that ! (The comments about the leak - not the ones about my taste in beer...)

Good news. I spoke to Hotpoint and for £71.98 they are going to send me that white thing as a replacement part which they tell me is called an Evaporator.

Next I have booked up Nationwide Home Appliance Repair Services - 0800 Repair and on Tuesday an engineer is going to come out at a fixed fee of £60 inc VAT to "look at it"

What I am hoping is that Hotpoint would not supply a part if the unit was unservicable. Also. I am hoping the engineer is savvy enough so that when presented with the replacement part he can put two and two together and actually repair this unit. The danger is that they are just an old part-off then new-part on outfit. Not sure if any talk of re-gassing will faze him. If it does I will direct him to this very helpful post.... Fingers XXXed !

 

[oldplumber]

No need for the fridge based on englands great performance last night, Id save your money and take the missus out, if they cant beat the yanks who can they beat???

 

[migoplumber]

lol....

 

[365drills]

Well with luck the engineer will have the fridge fixed.
Fabio Capella will have the England team fixed.

And then on Friday I will have cold beer once more. And England will win.

Start getting excited.... (no not about the football).... The part has arrived.

And if it works then we have a bottle of champagne on standby to celebrate

Lets see if the engineer can make heads or tails of it.

Time to get the unit out and leave it ready for him..

 

[365drills]

Re: The pride of my kitchen RUINED and all for the FOOTBALL.. How sad am I...

OK prepare for a saga of disaster to beat the England Team.

Got the unit ready by taking it out the night before.

Ease it out gently.

Looking good....

Checked the back of the fridge to make sure that the parts all match up.
THEY DO!

Result..

Woke up in the morning and went down for a cuppa....

And yes..... The unit has fallen off the raised cube I had it balanced on.

Smashing the glass door panel and ripping it from its hinges...

OK Deep breath....

So I STILL am thinking at this point that if the guy turns up and does his bit then I have to spend another £172.44 with Hotpoint for a replacement door.

So here he is. Hes arrived on site. I show him the unit..

And within FIVE minutes he tells me he has broken the spare part by bending the white pipe too far and snapping it off the plate...

IS THIS FRIDGE CURSED!

New plan of action. These people are on a fixed fee. "£60 and we guarantee to fix it - You never pay more"

So he has left with a £71. part to replace.

Folks when I say this is not going well.
I MEAN THIS IS NOT GOING WELL
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[emerald]

o dear... i cant belive this thread is killing me, you must be the most unlucky guy i know, good luck on getting it sorted, i kinda know how you feel with my attempts to fix my own iphone as the insurance wouldnt pay out, only had a cracked screen, new one cost £12 inc tools, i watched vids on how to do it, looks easy but i ended up breaking the lcd... another £50, but once this arrives i will still have saved a fortune provided i get put it all back together again.

 

[oldplumber]

and didnt england do well tonight!!!!!!!!!!!! time to start drinking warm beer and drowning your sorrrows

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

Tescos lots of bags of ice done this for two months after lg yank fridge freezers died after 7 months told parts were unobtainable told them were to stick there fridge and got my money back

 

[Puddle]

and didnt england do well tonight!!!!!!!!!!!! time to start drinking warm beer and drowning your sorrrows

Think we should have a bit of respect for those stupid enough to go and watch the game down the pub old plumber,.......people like me

but tomorrow is a new day,full of new promises .....yeh

 

[oldplumber]

at least in the pub the beer should be the right temprature, got to admit, football and the world cup has no interest to me at all, so all of you needing an emergency call out, Im available over the next 4 weeks.

 

[Puddle]

Think the england squad are in urgent need of a call out,called out of the world cup and put on the next plane home

 

[oldplumber]

good answer, why not put a pub team together, you wouldnt be any worse and probably more enjoyable to watch.