New fridge different question

[bethben]

We are considering getting a bigger fridge. Here’s the question—our water line freezes 2-3 times a week. Is this a common problem? If so, we may just forget the water in the door and just install a water filter elsewhere.

 

 

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[Jyhwkmama]

This is not normal. Is the line in an exterior wall?

[JudoMom]

Ours has never frozen and our fridge is on an outside wall.

[Miss Tick]

That surely should not happen, but if you are open to a filter elsewhere that might be a good idea anyway. Water in the door is something that is easy to fail and expensive to fix. Worth considering avoiding it for that reason alone, in my book.

[bethben]

Exterior wall.  It usually freezes overnight although it did a couple of days ago in the middle of the morning.  

[KatieJ]

I am wondering if something is not mechanically correct.

Our freezer drain line froze often. Hubby looked it up and the drain line was too close to the coolant line. He fixed it with something cheap, like copper wire, I don’t remember, but it was no cost to us just his time.

[Catwoman]

Exterior wall. It usually freezes overnight although it did a couple of days ago in the middle of the morning.

Can you put more insulation in the wall to prevent freezing? Or if that’s not possible, can you put some insulation behind the refrigerator to keep the water line from freezing?

[Carol in Cal.]

Personally, I am looking for a fridge that goes in a cabin where the water line is likely to freeze.

I need a very quiet model as it will be in a great room that includes the living room and dining room areas and is open to the upstairs master bedroom (because that is the only way to heat the master bedroom, we can't just close the shutters up there to keep noise from downstairs out during much of the year.)

 

What I have found out is that it's very hard to even order a good, quiet fridge without water lines built into the door and ice service.  We will not be hooking up the water to the fridge or using the automatic feed ice maker in it, but there doesn't seem to be any way to avoid losing the fridge and freezer space for these things, since they are so integral to the designs of the better, quieter fridges.  It's so annoying.  

 

I would love to find a basic fridge that has no water feed but is still really quiet.  Alas, they are not made right now.

And I keep hearing that those water feed features are among the first things to go wrong, and hard and/or expensive to get repaired, so many of my friends have them but don't use them.  You might end up like that, in which case the best thing to do is cap off the water feed to your fridge.

 

(The other most common problem that I keep hearing about is that on many electronic fridges, which these days is all of the ones that are, you guessed it, medium to high end and hence quiet, if the electricity falters the fridge does not reliably turn itself back on when the power comes back; rather, you have to manually reset/turn on the machine.  That means that if we leave anything in the fridge while we are gone, we won't know for sure whether it will be kept cold until we get back.  There does not seem to be a solution for this.  So for now we are continuing to use our beater fridge in the basement.  We got it very cheap at a Lowe's sale.  It's shiny black, ugly, and was a dented machine when we got it, which is why it was so cheap.  It's very noisy but since it's in the basement this is not so bad.  We pictured it as a temporary solution and thought that we would use it just for an overflow fridge, hardly ever even turning it on, once we got our 'real' fridge.  That was 3 years ago.  Sigh.)

 

[Carol in Cal.]

I am wondering if something is not mechanically correct.

Our freezer drain line froze often. Hubby looked it up and the drain line was too close to the coolant line. He fixed it with something cheap, like copper wire, I don’t remember, but it was no cost to us just his time.

This seems likely to me.

 

I'm guessing that position is one issue, and also that you can get an electric tape heater to wind around the line and prevent freezing.

[bethben]

I am finding that it's almost $1000 cheaper to get a fridge without an in door water dispenser.  I may just do that and install a good RO system with minerals under the sink.  It will be better filtered water and be cheaper.  

[Carol in Cal.]

I am finding that it's almost $1000 cheaper to get a fridge without an in door water dispenser.  I may just do that and install a good RO system with minerals under the sink.  It will be better filtered water and be cheaper.  

Make sure you check how noisy this is.  Mine sounds like a failing car.

[Jyhwkmama]

FYI--no water line also means no ice maker?

 

I could not live like that.

[bethben]

Ice maker—just not in the door

 

 

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[gardenmom5]

I've talked to repairmen.

eventually, any fridge with a water line - the plastic will become brittle or develop other issues

and yeah - if you want an ice maker, you need a water line..

 

eta: my last fridge did NOT have an in-door ice maker.  it developed problems with the water line that went up the back of the fridge and leaked from there.  - so it doens't matter where the water line is - it's the face of a water line.

Edited February 2, 2018 by gardenmom5

[Carol in Cal.]

What I am planning to get is one of those portable, stand alone ice makers.

They are super cheap, get good reviews, and you have ice pretty fast.

That way the noise is at a specific time, you can park this in the basement near a basement sink so you fill it specifically when you want ice, and then it makes it, and then you're done, and I figure I could bring a little ice into the main freezer in a bucket for routine use.  As much as I like regular ice makers in fridges, they ARE awfully noisy, and at random times. 

 

And this way if the thing fails, it won't be a catastrophic fridge fail.  It will just be a small appliance fail.

 

I can't seem to cut and paste right now, but the one I want is the New Air 50 lb one, for $279.  They have a 35 lb one, too, for a lot less.  Very much better than having to replace or repair a fridge.

[Jyhwkmama]

Ice maker—just not in the door

 

 

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Maybe I am not understanding what is freezing. The ice maker in your freezer is fed by the water line to your freezer. Is something other than the water line to your freezer freezing? Why does location of the access matter? If you are not going to have a water line, you cannot have an ice maker in your freezer anywhere.

[Ellie]

Personally, I am looking for a fridge that goes in a cabin where the water line is likely to freeze.

I need a very quiet model as it will be in a great room that includes the living room and dining room areas and is open to the upstairs master bedroom (because that is the only way to heat the master bedroom, we can't just close the shutters up there to keep noise from downstairs out during much of the year.)

 

What I have found out is that it's very hard to even order a good, quiet fridge without water lines built into the door and ice service.  We will not be hooking up the water to the fridge or using the automatic feed ice maker in it, but there doesn't seem to be any way to avoid losing the fridge and freezer space for these things, since they are so integral to the designs of the better, quieter fridges.  It's so annoying.  

 

I would love to find a basic fridge that has no water feed but is still really quiet.  Alas, they are not made right now.

And I keep hearing that those water feed features are among the first things to go wrong, and hard and/or expensive to get repaired, so many of my friends have them but don't use them.  You might end up like that, in which case the best thing to do is cap off the water feed to your fridge.

 

(The other most common problem that I keep hearing about is that on many electronic fridges, which these days is all of the ones that are, you guessed it, medium to high end and hence quiet, if the electricity falters the fridge does not reliably turn itself back on when the power comes back; rather, you have to manually reset/turn on the machine.  That means that if we leave anything in the fridge while we are gone, we won't know for sure whether it will be kept cold until we get back.  There does not seem to be a solution for this.  So for now we are continuing to use our beater fridge in the basement.  We got it very cheap at a Lowe's sale.  It's shiny black, ugly, and was a dented machine when we got it, which is why it was so cheap.  It's very noisy but since it's in the basement this is not so bad.  We pictured it as a temporary solution and thought that we would use it just for an overflow fridge, hardly ever even turning it on, once we got our 'real' fridge.  That was 3 years ago.  Sigh.)

 

I found one at Sears. I think it was a Whirlpool.

[bethben]

The water line for water goes through the freezer door on a side by side fridge. It keeps freezing about 5 inches into the line. The water for ice is a different line.

 

Hearing about how all

water lines have issues is making me rethink water in the fridge at all..[emoji848]

 

 

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