8 replies to this topic

[nickfixit]

Picture this...

Frigidaire top mount refrigerator.

Thermostat set on "2" (factory recommended setting was between"3" and "4")

Freezer is empty

An air-temp dial thermometer "Chefs' Delight" purchased at Lowes. Sitting on a wire shelf in the freezer.

The Medical supplies in the unit are worth more than 25 new refrigerators.

The unit is in a medical center, and filled with drugs and vaccines. A staff member is recording freezer temperatures on a clipboard to show me something is wrong with the refrigerator. People are opening the door very often, my guess would be 20-40 times per hour. 

My thermometer has freezer temp at 10 degrees F, theirs says 33 degrees F.

Full frost pattern, both fans running, condenser nice and warm, compressor running and not hot to the touch.

I told them....

The machine was working properly.

Their thermometer was not accurate.

Their thermometer was the wrong type.

Set the unit on the factory settings.

Add some mass to the freezer cavity.

They were taking a huge risk trusting medical supplies to a Frigidaire refrigerator.

They need a calibrated thermometer.

They will get huge temp swings when the unit does the auto defrost.

No claims are made that this unit is suitable for commercial use on medial supplies.

"you bought a Dai-Woo when you needed a Mercedes"

They didn't believe either.

Nick

[Samurai Appliance Repair Man]

[user=425]nickfixit[/user] wrote:

They didn't believe either.

That sums it all up. We're just parts-changing monkeys, it's simply not genetically possible for us to comprehend how these machines work.

Good run-down of your findings.

[Crouching Tiger]

I just had that same problem with a Kenmore (Maytag) bottom mount fridge that holds vaccines for the local medical unit.  Their complaint was that the temperature was too low during the night.  The temp is on a 24 hour monitor that signals an alarm if the temperature is above 8C or below 2C.  For the last month the doctor has had to wake up in the middle of the night to tend to the fridge in the lab.  So I get there and he begins to explain that he keeps adjusting the control in the fridge but cannot get results and is pretty sure there is a problem with the fridge.  Does anyone see a problem here?  This Maytag bottom mount is freezer controlled and the fridge section is damper controlled.  In addition the temp sensor is on the bottom shelf sitting in a pill bottle with a cotton ball surrounding it.  My temp meter reads the same as the good doctor's on the bottom, about 5C, and about 2.5C and the top shelf.  Of course the staff is in and out of the fridge during the day which seems to keep the temp. at about 4 - 6C, but during the night the door is never opened and the temp. falls below 2C.  I then began to explain to him that I would not trust a residential fridge especially a Maytag to do the job, but I'm only a dumb a** repair man, what do I know?

[nickfixit]

It needs to be made perfectly clear. It is not our responsibility to make a residential refrigerator into a medical laboratory device. We should not even run the calls. We and the manufacturer make no claims the machine will do what they want. 

We need to tell them this on evey call. They, and they alone, are taking a huge risk of ruining their medical supplies. The cheap bastards need lab equipment not consumer junk.

[nickfixit]

This is what they should have...

https://www1.fishers...62059&details=Y

Starts over $5000

[Scottthewolf]

My favorite is when I get this line,  "My husband is an engineer, he knows exactly how it's supposed to work."

[AccApp]

Or the guy who was an "electrician in the Navy" who couldn't properly connect the power to a dishwasher and melted a wire nut. Worked some days but not others. Let's hope Navy ships don't have domestic dishwashers onboard.

[Poobah]

I am one that hates to, and will not just sell a part to a customer without talking to them alittle about the symptoms of the prob, to see what caused the part failure to start with.  Then in the process they come with "oh my husband (father,brother) is an electrician, ditch digger, car wash boy whatever, and they know how to fix it or whats wrong and why it did it"

Thats  when I do one of two things depending on my mood at the time, nicely explain that I am not a parts monkey and don't just change parts to be changing them, and I really don't want them to buy a part take it home and it fail because they didn't check everything then they come back upset with me, . OR agree with them that they are prob. right their person can prob. do it but don't blame me when your back having to fix it again....I was just trying to help....