The Death Of Our Refrigerator

Those of you who are friends on my Facebook already know that we had our refrigerator in our 5th wheel die about ten days ago. Fortunately we have a chest freezer on board so the frozen items were no problem and the high temps outside here in Victor, MT are in the 40’s range so an ice chest worked temporarily though inconvenient. The replacement cost new is around $1200 so I did some shopping. In the meantime I tried to console Nancy that the refrigerator under these conditions was more of a convenience than a necessity. Her glare would have made an Oak tree wither. That ploy wasn’t going to work.

While searching for some kind of a deal for a good used or refurbished unit I found that I could purchase a re-built cooling unit with a 3 yr warranty for
$440 incl shipping. I requested the instructions be emailed to me in advance to see if I thought I could do the job. Upon looking at them I could see it wasn’t going to be a cake walk because there is just enough clearance between the refrigerator and the breakfast nook to get it out. Then it had to be lowered to the floor and placed face down in the living room so the cooling system could be removed from the back. $750 is a huge savings so we ordered it. It arrived within a week.

Friday I went hunting in the morning and began work on the unit after lunch. With the help of my wife, Nancy, and some leverage principles I remember from my high school physics class (some memory, huh?) we used a 10 ft 2x4 and a step stool to lower it down to the floor. (I’d have to draw a picture to explain that.)

By 7 p.m. I was bone tired and though I wanted to finish the job Nancy & I both decided on the wisdom of waiting until morning. One problem was the hole in the outside wall which we blocked with pillows. Fortunately the really cold weather was yet to come so we survived the night just fine.

The following morning I got right to it and using the same levering system the unit slipped right into the hole. After hooking up the electric and propane lines we turned it on. About an hour later we could feel the freezer actually getting cold. It was WORKING! Once again a challenge was met and overcome with "patient persistence", my favorite phrase.

My Quote for the Day:
"Concentrate all your thoughts on the task at hand. The sun's rays do not burn until brought to focus."

~Alexander Graham Bell


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