Repair or Replace? What to Do With A Decades Old Refrigerator

Late last year, my Sub-Zero refrigerator gave out. The temperature rose, frozen food was melting. I called an independent repair guy known locally as “The Appliance Whisperer.” I wanted him to diagnose the problem and tell me if the fridge was worth fixing. He came into my kitchen with his tool bag and a step stool and set up shop. When he opened the freezer door, he said, “Do you know how old this refrigerator is?”

I didn’t. The refrigerator had been in place when we’d moved in five years earlier. All I knew was that it was a Sub-Zero, had a facade that matched my cabinets and seemed to be built right into the wall.

The Appliance Whisperer, whose name is Dave Marsh, pointed to a small sticker on the inside of the freezer. It read, “NOV86.” My refrigerator was 32 years old. Was it worth fixing?

A typical refrigerator, according to Sears Home Services, has a lifespan of about 10 to 13 years. A Sub-Zero, according to Jeff Sweet, manager of product marketing for Sub-Zero, Wolf and Cove, should last, 20 or more years. And, apparently, my nearly middle-age fridge was not unique. “We have heard of people who have Sub-Zeros that are 50 years old.”

Regardless of what kind of refrigerator you have, though, you can extend its life, according to Sears Home Services, by keeping it clean on the inside to reduce the chances of accumulating bacteria; make sure there’s proper ventilation around the outside and inside, so don’t overcrowd it; look for tears, gaps or air leaks in the door gaskets; change your water filter and clean dust off the condenser coils a couple of times a year.

The usual signs that your fridge needs replacing include the following: It’s more than 10 years old and needs constant repairs; there’s excessive condensation; the motor is running hot; it’s really loud; it’s not energy efficient.

Refrigerators are one of the highest energy-consuming appliances in your home. The EPA has a handy calculator that lets you input refrigerator type (side by side, French door, etc.), the approximate model year, its capacity, and your own state’s (or the national average) electricity price per kilowatt. The calculation lets you know approximately how much you spend annually on electricity for your fridge and how much you will save in dollars and carbon pollution over five years. In my case, that was something like $881 and 2,510 pounds of carbon pollution over five years. (If my refrigerator had been built between 2011 and 2015, I’d save only $40 over five years, but it would be way more efficient so I’d save 114 pounds of carbon pollution in that same time.)

Another concern, other than that we were aiding and abetting global warming, was that the refrigerator is a built-in. You can’t just slide out the refrigerator, measure the hole and assume you can slip in a new fridge — especially one that’s not a Sub-Zero. My refrigerator is only 24-inches deep; another brand would likely be too deep for the space. And that wouldn’t work in my kitchen, as the refrigerator is located at the end of a cabinet run and right on a doorway. If it stuck out too far it would forever be difficult to maneuver around. And we could never remove and pop the wood panels onto a different brand’s built-in. Then, there’s the problem of fixing moldings, the door way, and possibly the electric and plumbing since a Sub-Zero is highly customized. So, we’d also be looking at a small remodeling project, to boot.

I asked Dave about whether, like other appliances, there was a sort of planned obsolescence for refrigerators and if people with newer fridges actually get them repaired. He says a lot of repairs can still be made on all brands of refrigerators, but it comes down to cost. “Most fridge repair costs today are between $150 and $600,” he says. “With a $600 fix on a five-year old refrigerator you’d probably buy a new one. But most people will repair a fridge it’s $300 or less—and that could cover fans, motors, some electrical devices. If it’s a problem with a sealed system problem, then you might be looking at a repair that’s half the cost of a new fridge.”

In 1986, my refrigerator probably cost somewhere around $3,000, a lot of money back then. To buy a similar-style Sub-Zero replacement now, I was looking at something north of $10,000. Yes, a new refrigerator would be more energy efficient and include newer and better components — compressor, evaporator and condenser technology has come a long way — but we weren’t ready or able to shell out that kind of money.

In the end, my Appliance Whisperer determined that he needed to clean the coils and install a new compressor, which he was somehow able to find. A few hours of labor and $900 later, my Sub-Zero was fixed. It turns out that Sub-Zero keeps parts on hand for 15 to 20 years after a product is discounted so it looks like we may have just a small window in which to fix it again if need be in the coming years. But, maybe we should stock up on parts now. As he left, Dave said, “It’s going to last you another 30 years.” Seems like a pretty good investment.

This post first appeared on Forbes.com. To see the original, click here.