frost free's the death knell!!

[billyfridge]

Do you think the days of independant domestic refrigeration engineers are finished???.....i do!!...the Frost free's and integrated's are killing the job.
frost free parts such as PCB's, defrost heaters, and some circulating fans, are difficult, if not impossible to get.
diagnosis is difficult and time consuming. when you do give an estimate the customer usually says they'd rather put the money towards a new unit, particularly if its going to take a few days to get the part.
have any of you been to your local tip lately? there you will find dozens of frost free fridges in showroom condition.....scrapped.
I've been a domestic engineer for about 30yrs,and brought 5 kids up. i've never made a lot of money, but i've always been able to make a ''buttie'' so to speak. I wouldn't make a living now. i retire next year, so it doesn't matter to me.

[Andy W]

Some good points there, when I started up on my own in 1997 I repaired certain frost frees for which spares were available and you soon find out which ones to turn down on the phone. I no longer repair frost frees only because of the sheer amount of commercial refrigeration and air con service calls and installations that I now do, now I do make an excellent living out of the fridge game even though I am a one man band so to speak I turn over decent sums of money and have a good profit margin. Domestic calls to me are only pocket money jobs and only make up a tiny amount of my work as my intention from day one was to always go where the money was, commercial.

[Abe]

I have hardly ever had a call for a domestic repair..

But if I did...........sorry.....

The idea of going into a private home, into the kitchen.. then theres the suspicious " house of horrors" scepticism.........from the housewife....

Then getting parts and panels off and panels on..........Every thing is small, theres no access valves so u cant check pressures.........

The evaporator coils are embedded in the body......u cant feel nothing.....

And when you give a price............you wonder how they will take it, they dont really want to pay a call out.......

And the best place to repair a domestic fridge is in a workshop......

After all that they scurry off to comets.......


Domestics??? You can keep them................

[chemi-cool]

Sorry to hear your story billyfridge,
But its life, the fridges today are so cheap that its worthless to repair them after the one year warranty.

Even the prices of mini splits has fallen and I have stopped installing them.
I make more money, changing an outdoor fan or repairing a gas leak then installing.
The same with Domestics.
I went for the big stuff and its wonderful, tons of work and I don't have a dull moment.

Chemi

[Andy W]

I screen all my "dommie" calls, I only go out to larder fridges or fridge freezers up to 10 years old as there is a 90% chance it is just the stat and I have got changing stats down to a fine art, some are more difficult than others but once you have done a few you soon get to know the easy ones and the time consuming ones. Integrated cabinets can be a pain to remove from a fitted kitchen but I usually get the customer to remove it prior to my arrival unless it is a little old dear on her own then I will remove it for her.

[billyfridge]

I know you 'commercial' guys...you are not averse to stooping down to my level, doing the odd larder fridge 'stat and picking my pocket but BEWARE there are under worktop units out there with PCB's instead of the usual 'stats. these can easily be identified by feeling the sensor lead, which is flexible.

thanx for yer response to my tale of woe