At first, we thought it was the tube that takes water from the filter up to the dispenser in the door. After further investigation, I realized instead that water was leaking from the inner and outer parts of the door. This was because the freezer was far too warm, but I didn't realize that till later.
When I did realize the freezer wasn't freezing, I took everything out and managed to shove it all into the freezer compartment of the avocado green refrigerator the previous owners left in the garage. I have always been thankful for that refrigerator, since our side-by-side is FAR too small for even just the two of us. (I have the feeling Kurt and I eat far too much fresh food, more than the average American.) Now I'm even MORE thankful since I was able to salvage all of our fresh and frozen food when the side-by-side went on the fritz.
Finally the side-by-side just died. So sad. We called a repairman, who was able to come out the very next day. We have a Kenmore, and when we called Sears, they told us it would be almost a week before they could come out. Bastards. It's a good thing they took so long because the repairman that could come out turned out to be a fellow fan of Robert A. Heinlein books, and I am now the proud owner of ten titles I didn't have previously. I kid you not, this guy on his second trip (I'm getting ahead of myself) brought me two, TWO, boxes of Heinlein books to paw through and choose what I wanted. Exxxxcellent. :o)
So the repair guy came out with his very nice wife as his assistant, and he replaced the relay that had completely shattered. Problem solved, yes?
Nyet.
We're not sure if the freezer being too warm was the problem that caused the relay to fry, or the relay simply fried on its own, but once the relay was fixed, the freezer STILL wasn't getting cold enough. However, the fridge part was in the safe fridge zone of 40 degrees, which hadn't happened much either. We only have the one thermometer, so we've had to switch it back and forth this whole time.
So the repair guy and his wife had to come back out, and that's when I added to my Heinlein collection. Lucky me. He attempted to replace the relay with one that would help the compressor start up because the compressor was going too slowly, but after some investigation he realized it wasn't helping and put the replaced relay back in. He gave me the depressing news that the compressor was not long for this world, and that the best thing would be to purchase a new fridge.
Damn fridge was manufactured in 1999. The avocado green one in the garage was obviously manufactured in the 70s. They just don't make things like they used to...
So Kurt gets home from work last night, and I dragged him off to Lowe's. But before we leave, he checks the temperature in the freezer, and lo and behold! 0 degrees. Hmm.
We still went to Lowe's. But halfway there (and it's not near the house), he realizes we forgot to measure the fridge. And our fridge is wedged so tightly between the cabinets and the door to the garage that it wouldn't take much to buy too large of a fridge.
We found an awesome Whirlpool fridge with all the things we were looking for. An icemaker, first and foremost. But as a luxury, it also has filtered water for the ice and a water dispenser inside the fridge compartment. It's a large fridge, probably smaller in cubic feet than our side-by-side, but the way it's designed it would accommodate more food. It's just lovely. But since we need it in black, it's considered a special order and would take 14 days for delivery.
And wouldn't you know it?! The freezer is still holding 0 degrees. Maybe it knows it's going to get replaced. So for now, we're just going to wait and see. I just hope the fridge doesn't work fine until late April and then crap out on me once Kurt's left on deployment. But at least we've picked out the one we want already.