Update to: NICE FRIDGE, BUT REALLY NOISY...
av8or22
10/13/2019
I made a prior review, but don't see a way to update it. The prior review is 2 out of 5 stars, and titled "NICE FRIDGE, BUT REALLY NOISY...". Maytag responded to call their customer care, which I did. I tried to update my review to reflect the result of this, plus new issue (compressor runs almost all the time), but can't update my review. Setting to 1 of 5 stars due to compressor issue, although fridge works, I know there is something wrong but I am stuck as service says no issues. Here are the responses to the prior noted issues, plus the new compressor issue:
Compressor start is noisy, especially at startup. Much louder than prior Whirlpool: diagnosed as normal
Evaporator fan is loud, constant hum, easily heard a couple rooms away. It almost as loud as the dishwasher running: diagnosed normal
Dispenser Water not cold: Tech advised normal - only cools about a cup of water. It has the same type of cooling loop on prior Kenmore/Whirlpool, which had limited supply but was able to provide cold water. The Maytag always provides room temp or a little below, never cold. Worthless for dispensing cold water, seems like a design flaw if it only cools 1 cup of water (which it doesn't even do that).
Water drips once or twice after use: normal. The manual says this may happen, to hold glass under dispenser for 2 - 3 seconds after dispensing, but drip occurs 10 - 15 seconds. Due to this, we have hard water stains in tray and all down the front of the refrigerator. Diagnosed as normal, suggested leaving paper towel on base of dispenser area. Really?
Ice chute: Every 2nd or 3rd use, an ice cube gets stuck between door and chute. This is due to the door closing fast, and not giving time for falling ice to come out of chute. This means we have to check EVERY time we get ice to be sure door closes, either by bending down to look up into it or reaching up in ice chute to be sure door closes. If chute is stuck open, the stuck ice will melt and create a puddle in dispenser area and on kitchen floor. Diagnosed as normal. Really? This is a design flaw, if the door stayed open for 1 second after ice dispensing, the issue would be eliminated.
Condensation on outside/front of freezer door dispenser area. When humid (we live in FL), there is about a quarter size spot that condenses water out of the air. This means there is a gap in the insulation. Tech advised that keep temp of house below 75 to avoid this. I descibed that it is humidity thing, not temp, but he advised the "Engineer" he called told him this, and engineer is never wrong. I hate to say, engineer is wrong... If our house gets over 60% humidity, it will condense there. Using a spot read thermometer does indeed show that spot on the door is colder by at least 5 degrees, meaning there is a gap in the insulation. I was very roundly told I was wrong and that it is a house temperature issue. Issue = insulation gap in dispenser area, tech was told it was normal...
While the above issues are not really "Functional" type issues, the refrigerator recently started to freeze a large number of items. The compressor has been running much longer than normal for past couple weeks (easy to determine because it is so audible), service was called and advised it is normal: "It is summer and fridge has to run more..." It is October, and summer didn't start 2 weeks ago. Something is functionally running different with the refrigerator, I guess we have to tolerate it randomly freezing the refrigerator since it is "running as normal". The compressor has been running significantly longer per over past couple weeks, it is on nearly all the time. There is clearly an issue with it, but nothing can be done as the techs note all is normal with it. It ran fine for 7 months, cycling as expected, but starting about 2 weeks ago, the compressor has run nearly non-stop.
Tech advised to not use rear half of top refrigerator shelf, as items on it will freeze. I can see why, as cold air comes from freezer into refrigerator, but seems like a design flaw to have the cold air so focused on one area, rendering half the top shelf useless.
Additionally, we were advised to have less stuff in the freezer - it is full, but there is space in it. It is not blocking vents or freezing. From our prior understanding, a full freezer is more efficient than an empty one, as long as vents aren't blocked. We've never had an issue with this in 20+ years of refrigerator/freezers, and the issues listed here are not related to freezer load. I am not sure why I'd buy a freezer this large, then be told to only use half of it. This makes no sense.
All of my appliances are now Maytag. The refrigerator was in the last batch of appliances I replaced. The appliances have been good, with the exception of this refrigerator. Prior refrigerator was Kenmore (Whirlpool based), and was a major reason we went with Maytag as we had good experience with it. It seems things have changed drastically, as this refrigerator was a major downgrade to our prior one, and it seems the QA department at Maytag didn't review how this model functions and released it with major design flaws (lack of cold water, drips, ice cube chute getting stuck open, insulation issues)... It also seems a lack of review of the refrigerator before it left the factory, as at setup time I found numerous "spare" screws inside the refrigerator and freezer, as well as silicon all over the inside (this took a lot of time to clean).
I hope Maytag's other refrigerators are better than this one. I know good companies sometimes have duds, but it is so aggravating to be stuck with this with no support (i.e. Tech says "it is functioning normal or as expected") or way out of it. If I could return it I would, but I gave it too much time to settle in/break in to see if things got better. Heed the warnings in the other reviews. There were not many reviews when I purchased this, and I got burned.
Originally posted on Maytag.com
No, I do not recommend this product
