fromPep Boys and

General Discussion
142

Okay, I learned something new about the site. Did not know you could click on the arrow.

My guess Joe was replying to this:

And when your automatic ice maker breaks, you’ll have to go out and buy ice trays and make ice the old fashioned way. You should get rid of that janky newfangled technology! Better yet, build yourself a heavily insulated shed, cut big blocks of ice out of a lake in the winter, pack 'em in the shed with sawdust, and you don’t even have to pay for the electricity to have ice! That’s how we used to do it before all these fancy schmancy machines made us so indolent! :wink:
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143

Thing is Bobo is in Florida. They don’t have frozen lakes there very often. As a kid I do remember going to the ice house once in a while if we wanted a block of ice. This was in the 50’s before every gas station had bags of ice. Yeah they would cut the blocks of ice out of the lake in the winter, stack them in a quanset type building with saw dust as an insulator. I don’t remember what months but seemed like they lasted all summer. I also think they would load railroad cars bound for the warmer states.

It’s all timing though. You have to know when to get out of a business. I did have to replace my ice maker though on my old refrigerator. When it stopped the second time I called a guy. Turns out ice would build up behind the panels and stop the thing from working. Couple hours and $80 and all was well. Never had a compressor problem yet.

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144

Honestly if you took 7 days and that’s the most coherent counterargument you could come up with, you should probably take Lincoln’s advice and remain silent.

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146

True, but I too live in Florida. 15 miles south of me an ice house serving Florida East Coast RR that has been preserved, I don’t know what RR ran through here in the early years of the last century.
You see examples of lake ice being cut, stored, loaded into refrigerator cars, and delivered to homes in movies and documentaries.

147

… and without that innovation, long-distance transport of meat would have been impossible.
This is what allowed Armour, Swift, and some other meat packers to become giants in their industry.

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148

Well actually YES to all. born in the early '50’s, the first car I owned was a '62 Chevy II and I currently have a 1952 MG (a Driver, not a Trailer Baby) that I’ve owned and maintained for 30+ years.

But most importantly, I COMPLETELY AGREE THAT MODERN CARS ARE MUCH BETTER THAN OLDER CARS IN PRACTICALLY EVERY WAY!.

Returning to the original topic of this thread “Customer complaints because everything isn’t included in their warranty”, my premise was that the reason for these complaints is because Modern cars are so good, requiring minimal maintenance, that it has created the current customer expectation that nothing on the modern car will ever fail.
Obviously, the expectation that any machine will never fail is a false expectation because ALL machines will eventually need repair and fail but this false expectation is understandable. We’ve made a product so good that we’ve become the victim of our own success, “What do you mean I need a water pump? The car’s ONLY 7 years old and 130,000 miles”.

Next, responding to a post “That in the Good Old Days things were built better and easier to fix”, my response was that “They were easier to fix/ maintain because they broke more often and needed much maintenance”.
For example, the plugs in the above 1952 MG are extremely easy to change BUT they become “coked” and have to be changed every 6,000 - 12,000 miles unlike the plugs in my V6 Hyundai which are a PITA to change but only have to be changed every 100,000 miles.
Let me add that I understand the frustration of Modern car owners when things break and the natural inclination to look back to My Good Old car but some of the things people complain about breaking today, never existed on that Good Old car.

Air conditioning, heat, radio, automatic transmission, power steering, power brakes, power windows, power locks, power seats, power mirrors, safety equipment, ABS, traction control, heated seats, infotainment … none of these were Standard and many unavailable on most 1950’s -1970’s cars.

So before anyone accuses me of hating Modern Cars or Classic Cars, let me just say that it’s like preferring chocolate or vanilla.

Modern cars offer safety, speed, performance, comfort and reliability that never existed during the 60’s - 70’s. They’re a miracle of modern engineering, electrical engineering and manufacturing that in comparative dollars are a great deal.
On the other hand, the best Classic cars offer a combination of style, driver commitment and immediacy that’s lacking in most of today’s cars. The smell of oil, leather and rubber, the noise, the constant demands on the driver and the sheer fun.

And BTW. during a NH Winter, Lord give me a reliable Modern car but during a NH Fall, when the “Leaf Peepers” are in bloom, Lord give me a Classic convertible. :blush:
Lovely part of the country and wonderful folks.

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149

I believe frost-free freezers that dispense crushed ice through the door are designed to fail this way. I tried to explain this concept to my girlfriend, but she prefers crushed ice and used it anyway. When the chute jammed up with melted and refrozen crushed ice, I got to say “I told you so.”

Frost-free freezers stay frost-free by going above freezing temperatures for short periods.

The only way to clear the chute safely is to pour hot water down it, and it often makes a mess with water everywhere.

150

Is she still your girlfriend and if she is are you living in the doghouse. :upside_down_face: :laughing:

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151

It’s been a few years so fuzzy memory but ours was in the freezer compartment but not in the door. Somehow either the panel in the back of the freezer or in the back of the fridge was filled with ice and had to disassemble and heat gun the ice. Maybe the flow froze up first like you said and then the water just kept collecting behind it and freezing.

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Fortunately, she’s madder at whoever designed the system than she is with me.

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153

Never had a refrigerator where the ice dispenser and crusher were connected to the chute. On the rare occasions where there was a logjam in the chute, just dislodge it with my hand.
If your ice is partially melting, then freezing together, there is a problem with your freezer.
Same if your car AC evaporator freezes over with ice, you have an AC problem.

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If you set your freezer cold enough, it isn’t a chronic condition, but then you’re wasting electricity and letting frost slowly build in your freezer.

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Never been a problem for me, but then I prefer to scoop ice cream rather than pour it from the carton. Nor do I like milk to spoil.

156

Consumer Reports doesn’t like any in-door ice dispensers. Ours has been fine since it was delivered two months ago. We’ll see how it goes. We do dispense ice several times a day. I don’t count my wife’s use, but I dispense ice at least 4 times a day.

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157

If Consumer Reports does not like something then it goes on my wish list.

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158

I use to rely on Consumer Reports years ago. but there has been to many times where they say a product is great and owner reviews say its terrible.

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159

There is only one type of refrigerator I would ever buy or own: the kind with the freezer on the top, and no water going to it at all. That means no ice maker, no water dispenser, no water filter, etc. Older houses usually don’t even have a water source behind the refrigerator, just a standard 120V electrical outlet.

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Our 100 year old house has electric and a line run for the ice maker, getting bathroom redone, inspector said remove the knob and tube that is abandoned as we have romex. Like going from points to electronic ignition to upgrade an old car, the world moves on

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161

This didn’t go over very well at our house so guess who won? The original plumber strung that plastic tubing about 40’ to the refrigerator. I never liked it so before we replaced the fridge, I pulled it all out, cut into the sheetrock in the basement ceiling, and plumbed in a real water line. I don’t know how many hours it took but it’s there for good now. Thing is I had to get access to a cold water pipe that was not soft water.

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Smart move. I’ve seen those plastic water lines bend, kink, and then spring a leak after someone moves the fridge.

Hopefully, someone who knows where the shutoff valve is located is there when it happens.