Repair guide
Should you repair or replace an appliance?
By Deven Alcantara, EPA 608 certified technician ·
My rule of thumb: if the appliance is less than about 10 years old and the repair costs less than half the price of a comparable new one, repair usually wins. Consumer Reports uses the same 50 percent line. When a repair costs more, or the appliance is near the end of its usual life, replacing often makes more sense.
Safety first
Don’t keep using an appliance that sparks, trips the breaker or smells of gas while you decide. Turn it off at the breaker or close its gas valve. If you smell gas, leave the house and call your gas company or 911 from outside. If you replace a refrigerator or freezer, its refrigerant has to be recovered before it’s scrapped, so don’t cut the lines.
Questions to answer before you decide
- How old is it? Compare its age with how long that kind of appliance usually lasts. A national builders’ study puts a refrigerator at 13 years, a dishwasher at 9, a washer at 10, a dryer at 13 and a gas range at 15. My appliance lifespan guide has the full table. Consumer Reports says a refrigerator less than 10 years old is usually worth fixing.
- What does the repair cost against a new one? Consumer Reports’ rule is not to spend more than half the price of a new product on fixing an old one. Price a comparable new model, including delivery and installation, then compare. My service call is $65 and it’s waived when you approve the repair, and you get an exact price before any work starts. The pricing page has typical ranges.
- Is it still under warranty? Check your paperwork before you pay for anything. GE’s refrigerator warranty, for example, covers parts and labor for one year, with five years on the sealed system for GE Profile and Café models. The FTC says a manufacturer generally can’t make warranty coverage depend on using its own brand of parts or its own authorized service.
- What does it cost to run? ENERGY STAR says an old refrigerator uses about 20% more energy than a new ENERGY STAR model, and one more than 15 years old could cost about $95 a year to run. Its Flip Your Fridge calculator estimates what you’d save. ENERGY STAR washers use about 20% less energy and 30% less water than standard ones.
- Is it one failed part, or several? One worn part on a sound appliance is usually a good repair. Several failed parts at once, or a failed sealed system on an older refrigerator, often tips it the other way. Consumer Reports’ survey put the median compressor repair at $562, well above the $150 to $240 it found for common refrigerator repairs.
- How soon do you need it working? Sometimes timing decides it. If parts can’t arrive in time and you can’t wait, a new appliance may be the practical choice even when a repair is possible. I’ll tell you how long parts will take before you decide.
When repair usually wins
Many common failures come down to one part. In my own recent repairs that has included a gas oven igniter, a dryer heating element, a washer drain pump and a refrigerator defrost heater. On an appliance that’s otherwise in good shape and well short of its usual life, a repair like that is usually the cheaper path.
When replacing makes more sense
GE’s own advice is to weigh how much use you’ve already had from an appliance and what a new one costs against the price of the repair. Replacing makes sense when the repair is more than half the price of new, when the appliance is at or past its usual lifespan, or when more than one major part has failed. I’ve told customers that, too. You can read about the GE washer with three failed parts and the Samsung refrigerator with a locked compressor. In both cases the customer chose to replace, and I didn’t push a repair.
If you replace it
A refrigerator or freezer holds refrigerant, and EPA rules make whoever finally disposes of it responsible for recovering the refrigerant, or for getting a signed statement that someone else did. The EPA says some cities require a professional, such as an appliance repair technician, to remove the refrigerant before pickup, and it warns that appliances left at the curb may not be disposed of safely. APS and SRP both suspended their refrigerator recycling programs in 2015, so ask the store about haul-away when you buy.
When to call a technician
Book a diagnosis and decide with real numbers. I’ll tell you what failed, what the repair costs and whether it’s worth it. If it isn’t, I’ll say so. The $65 service call is waived if you go ahead with the repair.
Upfront pricing
$65
Service call, waived when you approve the repair. You get an exact price before any work starts.
Stacked washer and dryer units have a $125 service call, also waived with the repair.
From My Recent Repairs
- GE Washer With Three Failed Parts: An Honest Repair or Replace Call
A GE washer would not start a cycle. I checked everything and found three failed parts: the inverter board, the main control board and the drain pump. It could be fixed, but the customer needed the washer working on a Saturday, and the parts suppliers were closed until Monday. - Samsung Refrigerator Compressor Locked Up: An Honest Estimate
A Samsung refrigerator's compressor had a locked piston inside it. I diagnosed the sealed system and gave the customer the diagnosis and an estimate for the repair.
Sources for This Guide
The checks and numbers in this guide come from the manufacturers’ own support pages and manuals, plus the public sources listed. Your owner’s manual has the final word for your model.
Sources
- Fix it or nix it (Consumer Reports)
- Should you repair or replace your broken refrigerator? (Consumer Reports)
- Repair or Replace (GE Appliances)
- Refrigerator limited warranty (GE Appliances)
- Nixing the fix: warranties and repairs (Federal Trade Commission)
- Refrigerators (ENERGY STAR (U.S. EPA))
- Flip Your Fridge calculator (ENERGY STAR (U.S. EPA))
- Clothes washers (ENERGY STAR (U.S. EPA))
- Study of Life Expectancy of Home Components (2007) (National Association of Home Builders / Bank of America Home Equity)
- Appliance disposal (U.S. EPA)
- APS, SRP forced to halt appliance recycling programs (KJZZ)
Ready when you are
Not sure it's worth fixing? Book a diagnosis.
Call or text (480) 292-4746, Monday to Saturday, 9am to 6pm. Same-day and next-day appointments are often available.