Does Your 20-Year Refrigerator Warranty Keep You UP at Night?

[GammaGlobulin]

 

My Dearest Fellow-Mortals of The Pub-Forum,

 

Earlier this year, I decided to buy a second refrigerator so that I would have one refrigerator for the kitchen, and another refrigerator for my “office-computer-internet-conference–breakfast-lunch-and-dinner-at-my-desk-room”.

 

The first refrigerator, bought several years ago, is protected by a 10-year warranty. I can sleep easy with the 10-year refrigerator-compressor warranty…And I have had no sleepless nights following this purchase.

 

This past March, I did some research before buying a second 500-liter fridge-with-freezer for my office. After delivery, I waited 24 hours before plugging it in, and it seemed to be working fine. I even bought a freezer thermometer which told me that the freezer compartment stayed below negative-25 degrees C, which is what I require.

 

Realizing that I seemed to have made a good purchase, and after filling up the freezer with many kilograms of chicken breasts, and several silicone ice trays, I began to feel proud of myself for being such a savvy consumer.

 

However, my good refrigerator vibes were not to last long.

 

After a few days, I began dwelling upon the fact that the salesman had talked me into buying a refrigerator with a 20-year warranty. This 20-year compressor warranty had not bothered me much while at the home appliance showroom…

 

However, after about a month, sometime around the end of April, I began feeling uneasy at night. I did not have any night sweats or anything, just a feeling that something was not completely right with the fridge.

 

It took me until about June before I realized what the matter was…and why I felt so unsettled.

 

This salesman had knowingly sold me a 20-year warranty when he obviously must have also known that I would never live long enough to ensure he and his company would live up to the terms of the warranty contract.

 

I mean, what will happen if the compressor fails in 18 or 19 years? If I am not around, will anyone force the company to replace the compressor? And how can I be sure? This is my main worry.

 

But also, this past month, as I tossed and turned, often losing sleep at night, I have worried that my refrigerator compressor might perversely decide to outlive me. I have heard of refrigerators that can even last 30 years, or more.

 

And then I begin to think: Well, what if I DO outlive the refrigerator? In this case, 20 years from now…Then what?  Because, twenty-years hence, wouldn’t I be faced with this same problem all over again?

You know what I mean?

Do you, too, wrestle with similar thoughts in the still, wee hours, waiting for the sunrise?

 

Best regards,

With so much to think about,

And not enough time,

Gamma

 

My Opinion:  The New Yorker is no longer what it once was when Cheever was alive.

 

 

 

Edited July 31, 2023 by GammaGlobulin

[flyingtlger]

You're thinking way too much...

[Ralf001]

I do not lose sleep over appliance warranties.

[GammaGlobulin]

31 minutes ago, flyingtlger said:

You're thinking way too much...

Yes.

And now, I am thinking of The New Yorker, and Cheever's Swimmer.

I cannot help but feel that Cheever might have worried about refrigerators, too, in the wee hours, when he was alive.

The story is here, and for free: 

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1964/07/18/the-swimmer

 

 

 

[Lacessit]

I lie awake at night wondering what nutty new tangential thread the OP will compose.

I remember not so fondly a refrigerator I was married to.

[nglodnig]

Have you thought about increasing your medication? Do us ALL a favour.

Edited July 31, 2023 by nglodnig

[Dan O]

If a refrigerator lasting longer than you do in life keeps you up,  it much be a pretty shallow existence you have. 

[2baht]

Do you stay awake at night thinking up this rubbish! ????

[2baht]

1 hour ago, flyingtlger said:

You're thinking way too much...

If he did think, he would'nt post useless rubbish day after day!

[nglodnig]

Seriously, is there any way you could SHUT THE FORK UP? Please!

 

Go to "blogger.com", create a page and you can spout all this nonsensical BS and get it off your chest.

Without inflicting it on us.

It's really good therapy - it's almost like talking to a real person (but then you wouldn't know the difference anyway ???? )

Edited July 31, 2023 by nglodnig

[GammaGlobulin]

56 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

I lie awake at night wondering what nutty new tangential thread the OP will compose.

I remember not so fondly a refrigerator I was married to.

Tangential. 

Good! 

 

Anyone wishing to have another eureka moment should never attack a problem head on. 

 

 

[GammaGlobulin]

23 minutes ago, 2baht said:

Do you stay awake at night thinking up this rubbish! ????

I have it on good authority that this is not rubbish. 

 

 

[nglodnig]

6 minutes ago, GammaGlobulin said:

I have it on good authority that this is not rubbish. 

 

Yeah but that's just the voices in your head - don't believe them. ???? If you create a blogger post then all your friends and avid readers (again mostly in your head ???? ) could read it and leave us in peace. Jest sayin....

[jerrymahoney]

Helpful suggestion when you are at loss for a new topic:

 

Does your chewing gum lose its flavour on the bedpost overnight?

Edited July 31, 2023 by jerrymahoney
u for UK

[GammaGlobulin]

I would hope that readers would understand that the refrigerator is not just a refrigerator, but also a metaphor for the accumulated material wealth we needlessly worry over, as we approach our happy ending. As we age, many of us become overly concerned with preservation of the physical possessions which truly become quite meaningless, in the end.

 

And I mentioned Cheever and his short story The Swimmer, which is one of his masterpieces. Cheever's The Swimmer is full of symbolism, and it is haunting.

 

It is the "winter" that is the focus, and also the loss.

In Cheever's story, the protagonist looses EVERYTHING, his house, his wealthy suburban lifestyle, his high society friends, and even his family. He is left cold and shivering, completely lost in the world.

 

Here is what one critic wrote of The Swimmer:

 

 

I have found this short story most thought provoking over the years.

 

 

[Lacessit]

1 hour ago, GammaGlobulin said:

I would hope that readers would understand that the refrigerator is not just a refrigerator, but also a metaphor for the accumulated material wealth we needlessly worry over, as we approach our happy ending. As we age, many of us become overly concerned with preservation of the physical possessions which truly become quite meaningless, in the end.

 

And I mentioned Cheever and his short story The Swimmer, which is one of his masterpieces. Cheever's The Swimmer is full of symbolism, and it is haunting.

 

It is the "winter" that is the focus, and also the loss.

In Cheever's story, the protagonist looses EVERYTHING, his house, his wealthy suburban lifestyle, his high society friends, and even his family. He is left cold and shivering, completely lost in the world.

 

Here is what one critic wrote of The Swimmer:

 

 

I have found this short story most thought provoking over the years.

 

 

Golf is a metaphor for life as well. Although not a popular one, because it tests character just as life does.

I am a minimalist, if a physical possession of mine did not have a function useful to me, I would not be buying it.

[GammaGlobulin]

7 hours ago, Lacessit said:

Golf is a metaphor for life as well. Although not a popular one, because it tests character just as life does.

I am a minimalist, if a physical possession of mine did not have a function useful to me, I would not be buying it.

I believe in the philosophy of minimalism.

But my philosophy of minimalism may not be the same as yours.

I do not mindlessly follow my belief as do some robotic-style minimalists.

Therefore, my purchase of two refrigerators does not contradict my belief.

My minimalist code of behavior involves a. buying only what is needed, b. buying only what will be used and thoroughly appreciated every day, or almost every day, for a period of at least 10 years, c. being able to look back from five years in the future while being able to also say I am really thankful I bought that.

 

[Lacessit]

11 minutes ago, GammaGlobulin said:

I believe in the philosophy of minimalism.

But my philosophy of minimalism may not be the same as yours.

I do not mindlessly follow my belief as do some robotic-style minimalists.

Therefore, my purchase of two refrigerators does not contradict my belief.

My minimalist code of behavior involves a. buying only what is needed, b. buying only what will be used and thoroughly appreciated every day, or almost every day, for a period of at least 10 years, c. being able to look back from five years in the future while being able to also say I am really thankful I bought that.

 

I have to wonder why people still wear watches, when their smartphone tells the time just as well. With a display which is much easier to read without glasses.

[brianthainess]

12 hours ago, GammaGlobulin said:

I even bought a freezer thermometer which told me that the freezer compartment stayed below negative-25 degrees C, which is what I require.

Are you serious -25c are you storing sperm? is it even possible for a domestic freezer to get that low? 

[GammaGlobulin]

1 hour ago, Lacessit said:

I have to wonder why people still wear watches, when their smartphone tells the time just as well. With a display which is much easier to read without glasses.

At even a DEEPER level, and being the minimalist that I AM, I have to wonder why people replace their perfectly good smartphones with a newer version, just about every year, when there is not that much advantage to doing so...

 

And also, I need not wonder too long, because... I know a bit about conspicuous consumption driven by increasing population density. There definitely IS a correlation between higher population density and increased conspicuous consumption.

 

I have a NOTE4 which is perfectly adequate for my needs, just because I have a phone for one reason: function

 

By the way, this will be the Topic of my next OP.

I just wanted to tell you in advance, in order that you will have no need to lay awake this evening wondering about what my next nutty tangential OP might be.

 

(By the way: During the past few decades, I have been bugged by the common usage of the words LAY and LIE...  I believe that hens LAY and humans LIE...  What say you?)

 

 

[GammaGlobulin]

1 hour ago, brianthainess said:

Are you serious -25c are you storing sperm? is it even possible for a domestic freezer to get that low? 

Yes, it is. My domestic freezer fluctuates from negative-40 degrees C, to just a bit over negative-25 degrees C. (Also, I keep my 500-liter fridge in my air conditioned office, which is kept cool 24/7.  The reason is that I am trying to preserve the compressor's low noise attributes. I keep my other Hitachi fridge in the kitchen.  But the kitchen is so hot that, now, the noise level of the compressor on that machine has doubled or tripled, since it works hard to maintain my freezer at the lowest design temperature, which, for that machine, is about negative-18 degrees C.)

 

Also, if you are storing ice cream, then it is necessary, in order to make ice cream taste better, to store it at an even lower temperature in a commercial freezer, which I, alas, do not possess.

 

In addition:  At this point in my life, there is no need for me to store sperm of any kind.  If I had such a need, then I would probably have to buy another freezer, one which was based on a liquid nitrogen cooling system that could achieve a constant balmy negative-196 degrees C.

 

 

[HuskerDo2]

"Does Your 20-Year Refrigerator Warranty Keep You UP at Night?".......

 

No, but the noise emitting from the fridge did so I got another. Problem solved. I never get warranties on anything. Total scam. As I tell the salespeople every time the try to sell me a warranty.... "if I need a warranty then you're telling me this thing isn't built very well". That shuts them up.

Edited August 1, 2023 by HuskerDo2

[ozimoron]

Just get a new fridge. I bitched to my landlord about the noise from my old fridge and he paid 10,000 baht for a new BEKO inverter fridge. Dead silent with adjustable temps in both compartments and LED temp meters on the front door. I don't remember what the warranty was but it seemed pretty decent.

[GammaGlobulin]

2 hours ago, brianthainess said:

Are you serious -25c are you storing sperm? is it even possible for a domestic freezer to get that low? 

By the way:  I use silicone ice trays which remain perfectly flexible at negative-40 degrees C.

 

And, it's fun (at least for me) when the ice cubes are so cold that they stick to my fingers, even when I give my finger a good shake.

 

 

[Lacessit]

43 minutes ago, GammaGlobulin said:

At even a DEEPER level, and being the minimalist that I AM, I have to wonder why people replace their perfectly good smartphones with a newer version, just about every year, when there is not that much advantage to doing so...

 

And also, I need not wonder too long, because... I know a bit about conspicuous consumption driven by increasing population density. There definitely IS a correlation between higher population density and increased conspicuous consumption.

 

I have a NOTE4 which is perfectly adequate for my needs, just because I have a phone for one reason: function

 

By the way, this will be the Topic of my next OP.

I just wanted to tell you in advance, in order that you will have no need to lay awake this evening wondering about what my next nutty tangential OP might be.

 

(By the way: During the past few decades, I have been bugged by the common usage of the words LAY and LIE...  I believe that hens LAY and humans LIE...  What say you?)

 

 

Now I lay me down to sleep, I cannot tell a lie. Although I could lie down for a short nap, before watching a lay preacher on Youtube lay down the law.

 

I have had to replace my venerable OPPO A37 because the battery life was getting very short. It is still functional on a trickle charge.

 

I drive a 17 year old Vios in Thailand, and an even older vehicle in Australia. Conspicuous I am not. Solvent I am.

[GammaGlobulin]

10 hours ago, brianthainess said:

Are you serious -25c are you storing sperm? is it even possible for a domestic freezer to get that low? 

I would not blame you for doubting my word about the freezer temperature.

However, as you can see from the photo here, I actually understated the low temperature by a few degrees C.

 

This domestic-use freezer (top compartment of my fridge) maintains negative-30 degrees C...IF I don't keep opening the door, for example to take photos of the freezer thermometer.

 

IF I use a digital thermometer with a remote sensor connected by a wire (so that the freezer door can remain shut while monitoring the inside temperature), then the air temperature will sometimes go down to negative-50 while the freezer blower is operating.

 

I am very happy with the low temperature because I like to keep my meat fresh.

 

 

Note:  I don't consider minus-30 degrees C to be especially cold. I have driven around in colder temperatures while in Quebec in the winter. Minus-48 degrees C is cold when driving around on the roads of Canada, and the snow is no longer slippery at this temperature. Sound changes, too, when it gets that cold, just due to the change in the density of the air.  Cars were not made to operate in those temperatures, and even the behavior of tires changes. Driving around in those temps in Quebec, in 1972, was a real blast!

 

 

 

 

[tweedledee2]

21 hours ago, Lacessit said:

I have to wonder why people still wear watches, when their smartphone tells the time just as well. With a display which is much easier to read without glasses.

Simplicity. I wear my Casio Edifice solar-powered on my left wrist. My carry my phone is in my left back pants pocket. If I want to check the time it's easier and quicker too just look at my watch on my wrist, than taking my phone out of my pocket and powering up the screen to read the time. 

[LukKrueng]

On 8/1/2023 at 3:53 AM, GammaGlobulin said:

what will happen if the compressor fails in 18 or 19 years? If I am not around, will anyone force the company to replace the compressor?

Simple. Ask to be buried in the fridge and if the compressor stops working after 18-19 years you could take care of it yourself

[Sticky Rice Balls]

Not at all BUT my 19 yr old one does! ????

 

And the late night calls asking if its running and Prince Albert in a can

[Lacessit]

2 hours ago, tweedledee2 said:

Simplicity. I wear my Casio Edifice solar-powered on my left wrist. My carry my phone is in my left back pants pocket. If I want to check the time it's easier and quicker too just look at my watch on my wrist, than taking my phone out of my pocket and powering up the screen to read the time. 

You are so time-poor you need to do that?