Hi, just got a call from another Forumosan asking me to translate between her and a refrigerator repairman she’s never dealt with before (and isn’t sure whether to trust). The guy was sent by an islandwide chain, whose number I got for her from 3C (Cankun). Here’s the deal as I understand it:
The guy came over, fiddled with some wiring (she didn’t see him replace any parts, although it’s possible), and now there is cold air blowing in the freezer area, but not the frig compartment. She doesn’t want to pay the whole fee (he’s asking for NT$3000+) if he hasn’t fixed it so the frig area cools. The guy says he replaced a part (but didn’t show her the part), and that she needs to wait 3 hours for something to ‘kick in’ and cool the whole thing. She’s willing to pay him half first, and the other half after she sees it kick in, but the guy stormed out before this could be communicated to him. Not sure if or when he’s coming back.
I’m the one Dragonbones is referring to. The guy has yet to come back.
You know I just noticed something. When I open the freezer part now, it’s not ghastly cold. Am I wrong in assuming that even when you open the freezer, you still see a cold mist pouring? Strange how you never take note of this stuff on average.
I just went to check and it’s ‘spring’ and not ‘winter’, if you know what I mean.
The bottom portion of the refrigerator is just a pleasant summer day and that’s it.
I’ve put a bottle of Coke in the freezer portion and will wait to see what happens when I come home tonight from work.
The waiting could refer to the fact you should let the gases settle before turning a fridge on if it’s been fiddled with or moved - that’s a strongly held belief in Taiwan although I’m not at all sure how factual it is. I’d say the issue is the coolant has disssapeared because the pipes are crap and no amount of tinkering, bar a complete refit, will fix anything.
From bitter memories of a second hand fridge I had seen to a few times in Taichung, I’d say don’t pay anyone until there is evidence that it is working.
For three grand surely you could almost buy a new one?
And as for the coke in the freezer, make sure the bottle isn’t full or your happiness should that fridge be found to work tonight prove very short lived.
Just from personal experience, we put a very good condition but 2nd hand (wifes aunt gave it to us when they move) in a rental apt we have and after 1 year it needed service. Its a SAMPO, older model, but like new. It went on the blink and made a lot of ‘vibration noise’ and didn’t chill/cool sufficiently.
We called the toll free SAMPO # and told them we needed help. It is/was NOT under warranty. They hooked us up with a local guy, he came out, did something and replaced a vibration matt. He charged us NT$300. Its been working like a champ ever since. This was 2 years ago.
I recommend calling the manufacturer and seeing if they can help with a reliable service person.
[quote=“Tom Smothers”]My old man’s a refrigerator repairman.
What do you think about that?
He wears a refrigerator repairman’s raincoat.
He wears a refrigerator repairman’s hat.
He wears a refrigerator repairman’s jacket.
He wears a refrigerator repairman’s shoes.
And every Saturday morning
He reads the refrigerator repairman’s news.[/quote]
I can’t get it out of my head.
[quote=“Huang Guang Chen”]The waiting could refer to the fact you should let the gases settle before turning a fridge on if it’s been fiddled with or moved - that’s a strongly held belief in Taiwan although I’m not at all sure how factual it is. I’d say the issue is the coolant has disssapeared because the pipes are crap and no amount of tinkering, bar a complete refit, will fix anything.
From bitter memories of a second hand fridge I had seen to a few times in Taichung, I’d say don’t pay anyone until there is evidence that it is working.
For three grand surely you could almost buy a new one?
And as for the coke in the freezer, make sure the bottle isn’t full or your happiness should that fridge be found to work tonight prove very short lived.
HG[/quote]
If you just move it a bit around than there is no danger for it at all but if you transported a fridge horizontal (or came close to this angle during for example carrying it around) it can lead to problems if you switch it in directly.
Thre reason is that the coolant get mixed up in the cycle (the different forms of it, liquid and gas) and this can lead to problems with the compressor. Usually you should let a fridge settle for some hours before switching it in. Again, just small movements or sliding it in the upright position don’t cuase problems.
Also, an empty fridge works worser than a filled one as air is a better insolation material and it also escapes with opening the door. The more stuff is in there the more buffer you have to “store” the cold.
For checking if it works just try to figure out where the lines with the coolant go and touch that areas, they should be really cold. You can also check the back of the firdge (if accessable) and test if the lines there get hot or warm (=so warmth is given out).
[quote=“TainanCowboy”]Just from personal experience, we put a very good condition but 2nd hand (wifes aunt gave it to us when they move) in a rental apt we have and after 1 year it needed service. Its a SAMPO, older model, but like new. It went on the blink and made a lot of ‘vibration noise’ and didn’t chill/cool sufficiently.
We called the toll free SAMPO # and told them we needed help. It is/was NOT under warranty. They hooked us up with a local guy, he came out, did something and replaced a vibration matt. He charged us NT$300. Its been working like a champ ever since. This was 2 years ago.
I recommend calling the manufacturer and seeing if they can help with a reliable service person.
Also called the 104 & 106 numbers, and contacted 3C to see if they could put us in touch with a manufacturer-certified repair center. But this unaffiliated island-wide chain is the only one I could get for her. :s
Okay, so I get home at 11pm and what ever fiddling the repairman did earlier only lasted for so long. The refrigerator is back to where we started. No cold air at all. In fact it’s a warm summer day in there.
Thank goodness we didn’t pay.
I finally talked the husband (Fortigurn) into getting a new one (5 year warranty). Yeah me!
[quote=“Dee_B”]Okay, so I get home at 11pm and what ever fiddling the repairman did earlier only lasted for so long. The refrigerator is back to where we started. No cold air at all. In fact it’s a warm summer day in there.
Thank goodness we didn’t pay.
I finally talked the husband (Fortigurn) into getting a new one (5 year warranty). Yeah me!
Dee[/quote]
Congratulations on the new one, but remember to not switch a new fridge in after transporting it horizontal, not that you need another one than.
Just don’t buy another Daewoo. Gosh, I asked around, I even checked the cable guide ads -which have repair numbers for almost everything- and nope, no Daewoo.
I asked at my faithful Chueng Guo Dian Tzu guys, and they do not carry Daewoo, so they did not have the service number, but they did warn me that any outside repairperson would charge an arm and a leg and was not reliable, so stick to the manufacturer’s, since -supposedly- they are especially trained. Anyway, the Chueng Guo Dian Tzu guys have repaired several small appliances for me -mostly after encounters of the feline type- and never charged more than 300 nts, and even have the patience to show me the parts they removed and explain what was done. I must point out some of these appliances were not purchased there.
Good luck with your next purchase. Hope you will enjoy it trouble-free for many years to come.
You’d think Whirlpool would be American made, right? But the plastic-clad ones they sell at RTMart aren’t, AFAIK. My brother works for Whirlpool and he said they don’t have any manufacturing facilities in Taiwan, but the guy at RTMart said their Whirlpools are made in Taiwan (and cost around $12-15 I think). I guess their production is licensed out or something. They have really long warranties (5 years), so I imagine they have better specs and QC.
I think the Whirlpool dreadnaughts at Costco are imported, though – and cost over double the price of the others.
4/2011 edit: A repairman today said that despite the RTMart salesman’s claim that local plastic-clad Whirlpools are made in Taiwan, they are in fact brought in from Korea. Our lasted four months past the 5-year warranty before needing a minor repair, btw.
Ah, choices, choices… If I had the space I would go for a small local made fridge -Panasonic, maybe- and a deep freeze from COSTCO -for meat and stuff. If I had the money, I would go for the fancy Hitachi or Mitsubishi japanese refrigerators.
As it is, I have an LG with two vertical doors that reminds me of the big Westinghouse we had when I was little. A lot less bulky, a lot cheaper, so far so good -but only 2 years old.
Question: (a bit off topic) Don’t you guys go through a bit of soul-searching when you buy a big appliance, along the lines of “Should I buy this, maybe I won’t be staying in Taiwan that long, I dunno…” kind of thinking?
I started out buying used, for that reason (and budget), but after a while the reliability of things like your fridge become more important, and before you know it you have a wife and kits here.
Damn, now I need a refrigerator repairman ASAP. The Whirlpool lasted just past its warranty. Grrr. Whirlpool is closed until tomorrow. Anyone have a good repairman in Neihu?
Don’t buy used refrigerators in Taiwan from a second hand dealer.
What they do is when the refrigerator loses the cooling gas FCKW which is very bad for the o3 layer in the earth atmosphere, they’ll just replace it without closing the leakage.
Three month later the gas is gone and your refrigerator doesn’t work. It’s an environmental disaster. And it’s bad for your electricity bill.
12.000 NT$ and you have a brand new one, big enough for two weeks food supplies.
Saves you up to 800 NT$ electricity every two month and a year later you already got back your investment.
