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help! i need to cook everything

mrbigjas

By mrbigjas
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mrbigjas

mrbigjas

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OK my less than 1 year old 'i thought it was the greatest fridge ever until this morning' fridge has died, necessitating some emergency cooking of a lot of stuff that was in it.

one of things i bought this weekend thinking that i'd have a couple days to research how to cook them is lamb spare ribs. now i don't have a couple of days; i need to cook them now.

any tips?

i may be posting more about this situation as is warranted.

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Soup

Soup

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OK my less than 1 year old 'i thought it was the greatest fridge ever until this morning' fridge has died, necessitating some emergency cooking of a lot of stuff that was in it.

one of things i bought this weekend thinking that i'd have a couple days to research how to cook them is lamb spare ribs.  now i don't have a couple of days; i need to cook them now.

any tips? 

i may be posting more about this situation as is warranted.

Do you have a neighbor's who'd let you barrow space in their fridge? BTW, what fridge was it?

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mrbigjas

mrbigjas

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yes, i saved my heavily reduced beef, lobster and chicken stocks, and some various meats and things in a friend's freezer. i'm just incensed about the fact that it's impossible to get a live person on the phone from GE, and their piece of shit automated repair scheduler scheduled an appointment for WEDNESDAY, and i can't get out of the automated loop at all on the phone, and it keeps telling me that i can use their very! convenient! automagical! website!

WHICH IS DOWN.

i seem to get anyone around here on the phone either. do refrigerators not die on sundays? wtf?

(it's a profile bottom freezer model that i got at a scratch and dent place near here last october--discounted significantly and it still cost nearly $1000, if that gives you any indication of why i'm so pissed that it's dead. the compressor was making an awful noise this morning)

ok, phew, thanks, i feel better.

now then, about those lamb ribs, i'm thinking a rub of garlic, dried mint, red pepper, maybe some lemon juice and putting them in a slow oven for a couple-three hours. i'm just not sure how long to bake them for.

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mrbigjas

mrbigjas

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p.s. after all this ranting, i come back and the fridge is at 37F and the freezer is back down to 17F... what the hell is going on? the compressor was making these awful noises this morning when i came down and found the temps at 56 and 40, respectively... good lord.

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BarbaraY

BarbaraY

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If you are able to move the fridge away from the wall, remove the back panel and check your fan motor. I had this happen once and a piece of foam insulation had fallen into the fan blades and jammed them. Good luck!

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mrbigjas

mrbigjas

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oo, good thought. thanks barbara!

i'm not cancelling the service call.

btw, i rubbed those lamb ribs with garlic, mint, ashe's savory, red pepper, salt, and oil, and baked them for 3 hours in a slow oven. they were great. a sadly neglected cut of meat.

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Chris Amirault

Chris Amirault

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Please do keep us posted on this. I'm considering precisely the same purchase (at a scratch-and-dent place, too), so I'll be very interested to know all the ups and downs.

Oh, and, it just so happens that, if you can swear like a sailor as needed, it'll help me comprehend your situation more thoroughly! :biggrin:

Chris Amirault

eG Ethics Signatory

Sir Luscious got gator belts and patty melts

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monavano

monavano

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The same type of thing happened with my built in last month. It's got quite a few years on it, so I was hoping against hope that it just needed a part. Indeed it did (thank you Lord! Built ins go for 5 grand and up). It had something to do with condenstation. When I turn off both the fridge and freezer, the units dried of the moist air and viola! when I turned down the thermostats again(for shits and grins) it frickin' worked!!

Keep your fingers crossed, there may be hope.

note to say, I also completely emtied them (before turning them off )out as I have an old refrigerator/freezer AND a large freezer in my basement. I needed to replace the part despite the fact that it got cold again, but it was only like 250 bucks. Whew.

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saskanuck

saskanuck

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Something like this happened to our fridge at the cottage. It's fairly old, but was working fine until one night when we discovered that the fridge was getting warm inside.

After transferring everything to the really old and tiny beer fridge, we unplugged and shut off the main fridge.

Just for the hell of it, we turned it on the next day and it worked just fine and has been fine ever since. It does have something to do with condensation from what an appliance repairman told us.

I don't mind the rat race, but I'd like more cheese.

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monavano

monavano

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Our problem, with our old Kitchen Aide built in side by side (see post above) was a problem with the heating coil which keeps the water line in the freezer from well, freezing.

Once the line was frozen, it blocked cold air from entering. When we turned off the unit, the line thawed out, allowing cold air to flow back in once the temps were cranked down again.

Hope you are up and running soon.

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ruthcooks

ruthcooks

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With similar symptoms, I've had at least 3 different culprits:

...a short that would not let the freezer light or fan go off

...dirty coils (what an embarrassing service call that was)

...someone leaving the door ajar overnight and not admitting it

Ruth Dondanville aka "ruthcooks"

“Are you making a statement, or are you making dinner?” Mario Batali

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mrbigjas

mrbigjas

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yep, he came this morning. he thinks a door was ajar, and condensation froze the fan. so the refrigerator went into defrost mode (i.e. shut down till it melted enough that things started working again), and started working fine after that.

i still have a bit of skepticism about this, i have to admit, because when i heard the fridge making that noise, i thought something similar, and when i opened the door it didn't seem as if it was already open. plus that has happened before, when we first got it, and when it did there was frost all over everything in the freezer; there wasn't that day. the only way i can reconcile that in my mind is that it did freeze up enough to go into full shutdown like he said, and that frost had already melted.

but the guy checked it out from top to bottom and pronounced it good, and it has been working since that afternoon... and i have a 5-year extension on the 1-year warranty with full replacement promise and a $100 spoiled food rebate, so i guess that's about all i can do about it at the moment. really the thing that pissed me off was the fact that there was no way to get in touch with anyone when it happened. i should say that the people at the scratch and dent were great yesterday when i talked to them on the phone; i love a reputable discount business.

oh, one thing he mentioned about these fridges is that since the bottom freezer door slides, it's not self-closing, and slamming the fridge door hard can jar it open a little bit, because the fridge door is pretty heavy. so that's something to watch for, chrisamirault, if you're considering this fridge. other than that i have no complaints about it; it's a great appliance. however, if it dies again, i reserve the right to change my opinion...

(mods, if you want to a) move this to general topics, and b) change the title, please go ahead. because although the lamb ribs ended up delicious and i'm finishing the leftovers tonight, this really ended up being more about the fridge...)

Edited by mrbigjas (log)
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