Is Your Refrigerator Running? Mine's Not.

Last week, I noticed that my morning OJ wasn't as cold as it should be. Huh, weird. I threw an ice cube into it and sat down to enjoy my morning. 

The next day, I noticed that the OJ was fizzy... I assumed it'd gone bad, but I go through it so quickly, how was that possible? 

Then I looked at the half-gallon of milk in the door and noticed that there was a weird blue line around the container, and it looked... chunky. 

I stuck my face in the fridge and thought that it felt a little warmer than it should, so I cranked the thermostat down (up?) to 9, the coldest setting possible. Surely that'll fix it, right? 

The next day, it was still kinda warm in there; I started getting curiously worried and more frustrated. I researched why a fridge would be warm like that and got a few typical answers: broken Condenser Fan or Motor, dirty coils, broken Evaporator Fan, broken Damper, and even just overloaded/blocked freezer vents. On Friday, I moved stuff around in the freezer, and did discover some blocked vents, but it didn't seem to make much of a difference. The meat thermometer I stashed in the fridge said it was still 52º in there. That's not good...

While I was at parkrun on Saturday, chitchatting with one of the other volunteers, I told him that I wasn't sure if I should fix my fridge or get a new one; he asked how old my current fridge was and he was shocked when I said we got it in 2003 (that's 20 years old!)… Maybe I should just get a new one? 

Here she is in all her warm glory... 2003 GE Fridge

I went home and did a full reorganization of both kitchen and upright freezers, mostly to see if I could find any more blockages, but also because I was overdue for a full inventory anyway (full inventories suck, but they always unearth a treasure or two for future dinners!) Sadly, I had to get rid of a lot of stuff that had gone bad, like milk, cheese, and even some otherwise-edible leftovers. 

Unfortunately, it didn't make any difference. I decided that cleaning the coils and fixing the damper were two things that I could do, so I ordered a damper from Amazon and cleaned the coils (did nothing). The damper was easy to replace, but that didn't fix anything either. Luckily, I could return it for a full refund. 

By Monday, I threw up my hands and resigned myself to buying a new fridge. I didn't want to spend hundreds on more parts, plus labor (cuz we all know I can only do so much), only to be told that the whole fridge is trashed. I was sad, because this fridge was a housewarming present from my parents when we moved in to this house, the way that our old stove (RIP White Stove) was a gift from my grandmother (who passed just a few years later). When we get rid of this fridge, there will be no "New Homeowner" stuff left... it feels like we're True Grown-Ups, at 45! 

I did some fridge comparison shopping on my lunch break, agonizing over so many different choices! All I knew for sure is that I didn't want a Top Fridge nor did I want a Bottom Fridge. I'm a Side-By-Side Gal for life!  I ended up, again and again, returning to a GE side-by-side that seemed to offer every single thing that I wanted! And after looking long and hard at it I realized why I liked it so much! It was basically the granddaughter of the fridge I already have! She got a little glow-up, with extra drawers, glass shelves in the freezer, etc. 

I went to Lowe's after work to physically look at fridges, especially the one I was wanting; you just never really know if it's the right one until you touch it and manipulate it in real space! Also, I wanted to eyeball spaces with bins and baskets (since that's how I organize my freezer*). 

Sterilite 16qt bin $7.48 - fits nicely in the freezer!

Double up the storage with two 6qt Lowe's bins, $2.48 each
(or $1.98 Sterilite at Home Depot)

Maximize vertical storage with multiple stacking wire baskets

They only had the 25.3cf version (the exact dupe of what I have now), but I wanted to check out the slightly upgraded 25.1cf model. On a whim, I went over to Home Depot to see if they had it on the floor (the internet said they had it on display, and we all know it has to be true if they put it on the internet, bonjour!). It was there, and so I was able to compare both the 25.3 and the 25.1, and that's where the problems started... 

I just kept going back and forth about which one was better... Did I need the extra bins in the freezer? Did the deli drawer take up too much space? Should I settle for the dupe, but then regret not getting the fancier version later? Ahhhhhhh! I took way too many photos (that I will probably never reference again) and even made a video of me talking to myself about the pros and cons of each option! If anyone was around, they probably thought I was insane. In the end, I kind of just shut down all discussion, told myself, "But the nicer one, dumbass," and walked away. 

Freezer has 3 shelves and 2 pull-out bins
Fridge has 4 shelves and 3 pull-out drawers

After a fully unsatisfactory dinner from Subway (seriously, two pieces of roast beef on my 6"? for seven bucks?), I ordered my new fridge. I chose Lowe's, because I have $80 in paint rebates from when we re-did the living area, I could use Rakuten to get 1% cash back on my purchase, AND I saved 5% by using my Lowe's Credit Card (don't worry, I moved money around and paid it off pretty much instantly, so all my savings I just listed didn't get negated by interest!)

The best part is that they will deliver it on Wednesday. The worst part is that we have to clean out the kitchen so that they can deliver it on Wednesday. They'll need to have room to install the water line for the ice maker, and currently, that water line snakes it's way behind a shelf and under two cabinets... So we have to clear all of that out for them. Then tomorrow night after work, we'll need to take everything out of the freezer (that still works just fine) and put it into coolers. I'm hopeful that we can reorganize our upright freezer to make room for some of the more important stuff like steak and chicken. I mean, if the ice cream melts, it's no big deal, but I don't want to lose 20 pounds of chicken breasts and steak! And we'll need to take everything still viable out of the fridge, like bottled water and cans of soda. I think it's time to chuck the French Onion Dip and eggs, though... (Thank God tonight is trash night... I threw away so much stuff!)

Old Freezer with 4 shelves and one bin (notice the organization!)
Old Fridge with 4 shelves and two drawers (yes, that's a lot of drinks)

Clover will lick anything with condensation on it!

A sad and forlorn dinosaur awaits her replacement

Can I just complain a minute about this kitchen...
There is a light switch right by that shelf. There's no way to reach that! We had to install a ceiling fan so that we could just turn that light on when we needed light... Ugh, old homes, am I right?

On Wednesday, my beautiful new fridge showed up, and I left the installers alone to do their thing. They had everything installed in about 15 minutes, but unfortunately, they couldn't install the water line! The line I purchased was too short to reach from the back of the fridge to the sink (it has to go around a corner, so I should have purchased a 25-ft hose, whoops). I told the installer that I could do the water line myself the next day and to not worry about it. They turned the water back on, cleaned up, and left. Hubby and I took turns peeling off all of the tape and plastic and removing all of the little stickers and Styrofoam pieces and then left it alone to come down to temperature. I made a quick run over to Lowe's to return the short water line and buy a bigger one. 

A few hours later, I went in to the kitchen to start dinner, and when I tried to wash my hands, no water came out of the tap. 

Huh, guess they forgot to turn the water back on. No problem, I crawled under the cabinet and spun the spigot.

Still no water... 

That's not good. 

Righty tighty, lefty loosy... Yeah, they had turned the water back on, and I'd just turned it off. So I turned it back on again... Nothing from the tap. Not even a tiny drip or trickle.  

We dealt with it that night (woo hoo, no dishes tonight!), and the next day, I started calling around to plumbers. I got lucky with a company which I won't name, for reasons you'll see in a minute. They were able to send someone out within an hour of the call. 

When he got there (let's call him "Bob"), he looked at my pipes and made that noise, you know, that hissing intake of breath that indicates that shit's gonna get really expensive real quick? Yeah... that noise. See, my home was built in 1956. She's old. She's tired. And she has galvanized pipes that are old enough to draw Social Security. And when these pipes get really old, they begin to crumble from the inside out. So, most likely, the pipes have a bunch of crud built up and that's what's causing the blockage. And like a sand castle, the minute you touch them, they may just crumble. When that happens, you have to chase the pipe until you get to solid pipe, which could be many feet of pipe. And many hundreds of dollars. 

Just for shits & giggles, I asked him for a spitball estimate to repipe the entire house. He said he thought it'd run about $10,000. Just to run new lines from our laundry room to the kitchen, via external pipes, would be $1200. Luckily, he was an amazing human, and told me that the company he works for is very expensive, and he would do this freelance for $750. I was a little hesitant because, yes, it sounded shady and unethical, but I also wanted to save $700. I decided to take a chance, made a handshake deal, and he said he'd come back the next day.

Sure enough, he came by after work the following afternoon, with another company employee who also freelances. They ran new plumbing from my laundry room pipes, underground in front of the house, and up into the kitchen wall. It's a bit ugly, but I don't care. 

And just like that I have water again! Super water pressure! Hot as fuck water! Man, I didn't realize how slow our water lines were until we got good water lines back. He also hooked up the fridge water line for free, with his own water line, and told me to return the one I bought the other day (so there's another $40 savings!)

The next few days were nice, having scaldingly-hot water to do dishes in, but I noticed that the right side of the sink was draining slowly. So I pulled out the plunger and went to town. At first nothing was moving, and then finally, movement. 

POV Looking up at the pipes and the bottom of the sink

And a sound. 

Like a waterfall. 

Under my sink. 

Yeah... those pesky galvanized pipes again. I plunged so hard that the pipe sprung a leak and hosed down my (now clean and organized) under-sink cabinets with disgusting dishwater. 

So I pulled everything back out and called Bob again. He came over the following day and ran all new PVC pipes to the existing copper pipes in the wall, installed new strainer baskets (those little crisscrosses in the sink drains), and even installed my new kitchen faucet while he was there, all for $250. What a deal! 

I put the cabinets back together... again... and knock on wood, we're fucking DONE this time!!! 

2023 sucks. 

In case anyone is interested, 

here is how I organize my fridge and freezer:

Freezer Organization

• Top shelf: Butter
• Second shelf: More butter (yes, I know... I'm a baker), plus a few frozen dinners
• Third shelf: Frozen chicken, in meal-size portioned Ziplocs, corralled in plastic storage tubs (like the Sterilite, shown above)
• Fourth shelf: Frozen steak, ground beef, and other meats, in portioned Ziplocs, in plastic storage tubs
• Top pull-out bin: Homemade frozen meals (like casseroles), for easy access
• Bottom pull-out bin: Meal components, like diced meat, shredded cheese, etc
• Doors: Frozen juice boxes (wine alternatives for cooking), Irish butter (yes, yes, I can hear you), ice packs, Instant yeast, and other various stuff that has no home. 

Fridge Organization

• Top shelf: Hubby's beverages, larger insulated water bottles for when I run
• Second shelf: Condiments, leftovers, etc
• Third shelf: Deep fryer machine, taller bottles or beverages
• Fourth shelf: Margarine (I like it for box pasta meals), extra OJ, lunchmeat
• First drawer: Canned Pepsi (Migraine Deterrent!) and restaurant condiment cups
• Second drawer: Eggs, bin to hold all manor of cheese (cream, string, snack, shred)
• Bottom drawer: Overflow beverage storage (mostly bottled water)
• Doors: Typical fridge stuff, of course! Milk, OJ, condiments, etc; that weird bottom shelf that is super-shallow holds a tube of Pillsbury Orange Rolls perfectly, as well as Reddi-Whip!