Hello, for 4 years now, I have a Panasonic Econavi Inverter two doors refrigerator 

VERY satisfied of it, except that it breaks down ( i-e , lights work, but it's not cold at all ) ; for the third time, it was repaired yesterday (800 bahts, I think it's expansive, the guy stayed may be 30-40 minutes ) : so , my question is 

is it normal that it breaks down so often, is it that I am unlucky to have a "bad" fridge, is it better that I buy an other one ( which brand ? ) ? , because I think in one year, It will break down again

 

In the past, I had 2 fridges, basic, not sophisticated like this one, never had any problems ; I kept one 17 years, and I gave it to somebody ( because I came to Thailand ) , and still working; the second, bought here in Thailand 10 years ago , still working 

so ! new technologies make fridges more fragile or does it come from my personal fridge ? 

Thank you 

Thank you for your posting. I always think I should replace my old fridge because it might stop working. Postponed again ????

It certainly shouldn't be failing that often.

 

What's your power supply like? Low voltage, lights flickering, lots of lightning?

 

Does the man or his invoice say what he actually replaced to fix the unit?

 

We had a Samsung inverter washing machine that was eventually refunded by Samsung themselves after it started failing a lot! There's a thread somewhere.

Without knowing what was fixed / what failed, it is almost impossible to say whether or not something different or the same will fail again... so would need more info about that.

 

But as Crossy outlined, regular failures should not happen and should be addressed by the brand (Samsung), probably with a replacement.

 

That said - your other question - yes, the newer and the more (electronically) complex a device is, the higher the risk for failures, that is one reason why I tend to buy "last year" appliances, the major bugs should all be fixed by then, no matter fridge, TV, A/C etc.

1 hour ago, Aforek said:

is it normal that it breaks down so often, is it that I am unlucky to have a "bad" fridge,

 I'm unlucky with "Inverter" electrical stuff, having trouble finding someone who knows about air-con ones where I live.

Funny you mention it. I just right now had my medium Inverter fridge I use for drinks go bad. Have a repair guy coming to take a look. It is about 3 years old.

If it breaks again take a photo of the part that is being changed and post it here so we can better advise you.

3 hours ago, Aforek said:

i-e , lights work, but it's not cold at all

I have the same problem with an old Samsung fridge,that I just

keep for vegetables, I believe it's the automatic defroster, mine

last's about a month, works ,but is hardly cold,have to manually

defrost it,then its cold for about an other month.

regards worgeordie

1 hour ago, blackcab said:

If it breaks again take a photo of the part that is being changed and post it here so we can better advise you.

He opened the bottom part of the frigde, and he worked on the electronic part  , I think he changed only a small part of it ; maybe better to replace it completely ... where to buy ?

look here 

How to replace an electronic control board on the back of a refrigerator | Repair guide (searspartsdirect.com)

 

For Oldie, if your " old " fridge works good, don't replace it, it can stay many years for almost the same things ( mine just is auto-defroze and use less electricity, but to keep aliments cold of fresh, it's the same than old items ) 

My medium sized, freezer on the bottom Panasonic has been trouble free for 9 years.  I just replaced it not because it gave me any trouble, just needed more storage space.

4 hours ago, dddave said:

My medium sized, freezer on the bottom Panasonic has been trouble free for 9 years.  I just replaced it not because it gave me any trouble, just needed more storage space.

I've had a medium/small bottom freezer Panasonic for over 13 years now and it's been great, although there are times when I think I should change it for an inverter model, and the fact that I need more space these days....... 

 

BUT trying to find one of a similar size with a bottom freezer is damn near impossible, in fact it is impossible and all of the ones I've looked at are just a little too big to fit into the small space I've got in my rented apartment. Mine is 6.9 "something or others" and although it occasionally farts and squeaks, it works well and have never had a problem with it.

 

I noticed a Haier one the other day, but although it's relatively small, it's just not small enough, and believe it or not, on Lazada I noticed one from Xiaomi but couldn't make head nor tail of the description, but it had a huge discount on it!

9 hours ago, Aforek said:

In the past, I had 2 fridges, basic, not sophisticated like this one, never had any problems ;

There's your answer. The more sophisticated an appliance is the more to go wrong. I had a fridge before that has been going for about 20 years. Someone else has it now and still working far as I know.

You also have to ask who does the repairs ,outside out small town is a row of shops all fix fridges and washing machines and TV's .

My guess would be ,if is it over 10 year old they can fix it ,our old fridge lost its gas pipe burst ,the local lads soon fixed it 900 baht no problem With these modern day inverter's I would say it would be out of their  comfort zone ,they will say yep we can fix it ,but it will be a bodge .

Our all singing and dancing  LG washing machine would not fill up ,inlets valves blocked ,I got on  to LG's office in Bangkok ,they sent one of their filters  out from Lopburi our local town they  fixed it no problem ,would not trust our local lads .

Our 4-year-old Samsung Inverter fridge ,so far no problems. 

In Bangkok I had a 2-door Samsung inverter fridge 2-1/2 years old. The freezer section worked OK but the cold section started to run hot about 15 deg C (should be around 5 deg C). The official Samsung Service Center guys came FIVE TIMES.

1st visit they defrosted the cold section fan and left. 2nd time they replaced the control board for about 3,500 baht. No joy. 3rd time they came with a tablet with diagnostic program and plugged it into the control board to find a fault on the cold section fan which they repaired. Connector faulty (why did they not bring the diagnostic tool on the 1st and 2nd visits?). Fridge became cold but after a few days got hot again. 4th visit guy tested again and found no fault and suggested too much food in the fridge (BS). 5th visit no improvement.

SO, gave the Samsung fridge away and bought a new Hitachi inverter fridge which amazingly actually works.

I love Samsung stuff, TVs etc., but I will never buy a Samsung fridge again. By the way, I think this fridge was designed in Thailand since Samsung only had a user guide in Thai, not English. Samsung Singapore were unable to help with an English version.

I refused to pay the Samsung call-out fees after the first round.

TIT.