The repair against the replacement
| What it takes | Range |
|---|---|
| Compressor or sealed-system repair | $1,510–$3,440 |
| Evaporator or condenser fan motor | $330–$750 |
| Buying another one instead | $12,710–$21,440 |
That last row buys a like-for-like built-in on its own, with nothing allowed for fitting it or for the joinery around it. Every figure above it is being weighed against that, which is why a structurally sound cabinet is usually worth putting right even when the quote makes you wince.
The number at the top of the page is the one that decides this, and most people never see it before they start shopping. A sealed-system repair is the most expensive thing this site quotes for, and it is still a fraction of what a comparable built-in costs once the installation and the cabinetry work around it are counted in.
What the replacement figure actually includes
Not much. It is the machine, before anybody has touched the opening it goes into. A built-in is fitted to a framed space of a particular height and depth, with a particular clearance for the condenser and a water line already run. Change the machine and there is a fair chance one of those has to change with it, and that cost sits on top of the figure in the table.
The question that comes before the quote
Whether it is the compressor at all. A cabinet that cannot hold temperature in a hot week behaves identically whether the compressor is tired or the condenser is packed solid and the fan has stopped. One of those is in the lowest band on the page and one is in the highest, and telling them apart takes gauges and half an hour rather than a guess.
Where the quote came from matters here too. A diagnosis that named the compressor without measuring the sealed system pressures is a conclusion, not a reading, and it is worth a second opinion before an appliance salesman gets involved.
Two systems, not one
On a combination cabinet there are two sealed systems, one per compartment. A failure on the freezer side says nothing about the refrigerator side — and it means the phrase “the compressor has gone” describes half the machine at most. That is worth establishing before the arithmetic starts, because it halves the scope of what is being weighed.
The honest exception
There is a version of this where replacing is right, and it is not about the price of the part. It is about whether the cabinet has already been through this once, and whether water has got into the liner or the door foam in the meantime. Those two conditions change the answer, and they have pages of their own.
What we usually find
-
A cabinet that has run constantly through a hot month and finally stopped holding, quoted as a compressor
Frequently the condenser and its fan rather than the compressor. A machine rejecting heat badly presents with exactly the same symptom, and it is the cheaper answer by an order of magnitude.
Evaporator or condenser fan motor $330–$750
-
A dual-system cabinet where one side has failed and the other is untouched
One sealed system out of two. These cabinets were built with separate refrigerator and freezer systems, so half the machine failing is a repair to half the machine, not a write-off.
Compressor or sealed-system repair $1,510–$3,440
-
A genuine compressor failure on a cabinet whose doors, liner and cabinetry are all sound
The repair most worth doing in this whole section, because everything the replacement figure buys you — the box, the doors, the fit — you already own.
Compressor or sealed-system repair $1,510–$3,440
Which of these it is gets settled at the visit, before a part is ordered — Sub-Zero Repair Pro Los Angeles, (310) 844-1973.
Which way it points
Repair it if
- The cabinet, liner, doors and joinery are sound and the opening was built around this machine
- Only one of the two sealed systems has failed and the other has never been touched
- The refrigerant is one still supplied for this equipment and the parts are catalogued
- Nobody has measured the condenser, the condenser fan or the airflow behind the plinth yet
Replace it if
- This is the second sealed-system failure on the same side of the same cabinet
- The quote is a sealed-system repair and the liner or the door foam has already been water damaged
- The kitchen is being rebuilt anyway and the opening is changing size
If your machine sits between the two columns, that is what the diagnosis is for: Sub-Zero Repair Pro Los Angeles measures it first and gives you the figure before any of it is committed to — (310) 844-1973.
- Written by
- Yuki Tanabe
- Role
- Refrigeration technician — controls and sensors
- In the trade
- 18 years in the trade
