Buying a Refrigerator from CraigsList

The advent of craigslist (online classifieds), has made buying and selling local goods and services remarkably easy. Recently I decided to shop for, and buy, a used stainless steel refrigerator on craigslist. I am a huge fan of craigslist and buy and sell many items there. However, sometimes things don’t work out at all how you picture them in your head–buying a refrigerator is one such experience.

Shopping Craigslist

I looked for only a couple days before seeing a listing for a $300 Fridgidaire which appeared to be in good condition. I emailed the seller and setup an appointment to see it. After driving down the nice lady showed me the unit which was sitting off to the side of her garage. I asked her why she was selling it and she told me she had just moved into her new place which already had a fridge and didn’t need two. I asked her if anything was wrong with the unit. She pointed out very small dings in the front and told me one of the paddles was missing off the water dispenser which she added, only cost $20 to replace. I told her I’d think about it and would have to rent a truck to transport it to my home. A day or two later I called the seller back and we negotiated a price for the Fridgidaire. I told her I’d rent a truck and pick it up the next day if her son would be able to help me load it into the truck. My roommate agreed to help unload it at the house. Everything seemed set!

Renting a Truck to Transport your Fridge

Thursday came and it started snowing very hard. I decided to try to move the fridge before the snow got too bad. I called the seller to tell her I was on my way, and headed to Home Depot to rent a truck. Within a half hour I was on the highway to the seller’s place. When I arrived, I found that the her son was at basketball practice and not there to help move the fridge. It was pure hell trying to move the fridge up a ramp in the snow with the help of a prissy female. Finally I got the unit loaded and headed back home. The snow was really coming down by then and upon arriving at my house, I found my driveway too slippery for the truck to climb. The wheels just spun in place even after taking a run at it. Finally, giving up, my roommate and I unloaded the fridge at the bottom of the drive and pulled it on a dolly into the garage. I returned the rental truck to Home Depot and decided to call it a day.

1955 Water Shut Off

After the trauma of transporting the fridge wore off, I decided to move the unit from the garage into the house. The first step, I decided was to disconnect the water from the old fridge in the kitchen. This proved to be more difficult than expected. My home was built in 1955, and when I pulled the fridge away from the wall I discovered a 1955 section of small diameter copper tubing coming from a hole in the floor and arcing in a big curve to connect to the fridge. There was no water shutoff there. I couldn’t find any shutoff in the furnace room where the water heater was, and it appeared I would have to crawl under the house over to where the tubing went to see if the shutoff was there–not fun in the snow! I did the logical thing, I procrastinated by putting it off for another day. A day later, I decided it would be simpler just to turn off the water to the house from the street.

Doorway One: Garage to Utility Room

It’s amazing how a doorway looks so large, but just isn’t. In order to fit thru the doorway from the garage to utility room I had to remove the doors from the new fridge. The right door was easy, however the left proved more difficult due to a water hose which feeds the door dispenser. I ended up downloading PDF instructions to figure out how to remove the freezer door. After both doors were removed, my roommate helped me move the fridge into location with the help of a dolly. It was then we found it still wouldn’t fit. The garage workbench was in the way and the doorway was still too narrow. We ended up removing the door itself. After much shifting and pushing we finally got it into the utility room.

Doorway Two: Utility Room to Kitchen

I was dumbfounded to discover a metal swing gate stuck out from the doorframe between utility room and kitchen. It had to be removed in order to get the fridge into the kitchen. Beyond that was a cabinet containing my stovetop with a narrow walkway between it and the oven. Again, too small. The handles from the double oven would have to be removed for the fridge to fit. However, my brilliant roommate pointed out we could tip the fridge with the dolly and slide it under the oven handles. That worked. Finally the fridge was in place and ready for water hookup!

New Fridge Water Hookup

Egads! The new fridge has nice new plastic tubing which won’t fit with the old copper tubing! Off to Home Depot we went to get adaptor parts. I installed the new parts and went outside and turned on the water. When I got back to the kitchen I had a geyser! Water was blasting from the connection point between fridge and copper tubing. I ran back out and turned off the water, cleaned up the mess and took a few minutes to figure out why the lead was happening. Apparently I needed that copper collar thing I had just cut off the tubing. Another trip was made to Home Depot for a 30 cent part. After install of the new part, I had the roommate watch the connection and I went out to turn the water on again. Finally, after four days I had a good connection and no leaks. I plugged in the fridge and it started blowing cool air. Awesome!

Water Filter Leaks

Later that day I opened up my new fridge to determine the water filter was leading. The top tray and all food items on it were soaked! I put a bowl under the leak to catch drips. After fiddling with the seals for two days, I finally managed to get a good connection on the water filter and no leaks

Conclusion

The lesson I learned from this experience is to measure twice and cut once. I think it pays to think things through. Buying a fridge from Craigslist is no small task–it is an experience!