Repair or Replace · situation 1 of 10
Compressor Quoted on a Twenty-Year-Old Sub-Zero
A failed compressor on a twenty-year-old built-in is a sealed-system repair rather than a verdict on the unit, and the cabinet around it decides which way to go.
Sub-Zero Repair Sammamish · (425) 610-8986 · $89 service call, credited
- Compiled by
- Marta Fennimore
- Holds
- EPA 608 certified
- Dated
- Years at the work
- 12
A compressor that fails at twenty is a repair, not the end of the unit
The compressor is the pump of the sealed system, the closed loop of compressor, condenser, filter-drier, evaporator and the tubing that joins them. When it stops, nothing carries heat out of the cabinet and the temperature climbs.
Changing it is an established procedure. The refrigerant is recovered, the old compressor comes out, a new compressor and a new filter-drier go in, the loop is pulled into a deep vacuum and then charged with the refrigerant the unit is specified for.
At twenty years the unit is past the twelve-year limit of the sealed-system cover in Sub-Zero's residential warranty, so no one else pays for any of it. The only question is whether the rest of the cabinet deserves the work.
Sub-Zero Repair Sammamish · (425) 610-8986
The cabinet around the compressor decides whether the repair is worth it
A new compressor goes into the same cabinet, behind the same doors, answering to the same control board. Before a figure is agreed, look at what the rest of that cabinet has been doing:
- Do the doors swing shut and seal on their own, with gaskets that are still soft?
- Has the display or control acted up in recent years?
- Is there rust on the machine compartment frame or the condenser?
- Are the evaporator fan and defrost parts original, or recently changed?
Good doors, a settled control and a clean, dry compartment make the repair column strong. Two or three of these already going is the case for reading the second column closely. All four are looked at on the same visit as the diagnosis.
Sub-Zero Repair Sammamish · (425) 610-8986
Column one
If you repair
- The work
Recover the refrigerant, change the compressor and filter-drier, evacuate and recharge the loop, then run the unit down to temperature before leaving.
- What it comes to
-
$1,460–$3,380 plateau range for compressor or sealed-system repair
The $89 visit is credited against it once you say yes.
- Still unknown
How long the rest of the loop and the cabinet parts carry on after the repair; a new compressor does not make them any younger.
- This column wins when
The doors seal, the control behaves, the compartment is clean and dry, and changing the opening or its custom panels would cost more than the repair.
Sub-Zero Repair Sammamish · (425) 610-8986
Column two
If you replace
- The work
Read the old model off its tag first, because a twenty-year-old opening rarely lines up with anything current; then pick the nearest model and let the cabinetmaker price the difference.
- What it comes to
-
$11,550–$20,400 reference figure on the plateau for a comparable built-in replacement, before installation and cabinetry work
- Still unknown
How much of the twenty-year-old cabinetry has to come out. Two decades of catalog changes sit between your opening and any model you can buy today.
- This column wins when
Several other parts of the cabinet are already failing, the doors or frame are worn out, or the kitchen is about to be redone anyway.
Sub-Zero Repair Sammamish · (425) 610-8986
Replacing a built-in means the opening, the panels and the trim as well
A built-in Sub-Zero is fitted to an opening in the cabinetry, often wearing door panels made for that one unit. A new model's opening and panel sizes come from its own installation guide, and where they differ from the old unit's, the cabinet work changes with them: a filler, new trim, new panels or a rebuilt opening.
The replacement figure on this page covers the unit before any of that. Have whoever builds your cabinetry compare the new model's installation guide with your opening before anything is ordered, and price their part separately.
Sub-Zero Repair Sammamish · (425) 610-8986
Where a compressor job lands inside the sealed-system band
The band is wide on purpose. Three things move a job along it: which compressor the model takes, whether the unit has to be rolled out of its opening to reach the machine compartment, and whether the diagnosis turns up anything else in the loop, such as a restriction or a leak, that has to be put right on the same visit.
One firm figure is given in writing once the unit has been diagnosed and before anything is opened. That figure, not the band, is what you set against the second column.
Sub-Zero Repair Sammamish · (425) 610-8986
Asked about this situation
Does Sub-Zero's warranty cover a compressor on a twenty-year-old unit?
No. Sub-Zero's use and care guides give a residential warranty that covers sealed-system parts and labour for five years from installation, and the parts alone for twelve; at twenty years both have run out. Sub-Zero Repair Sammamish therefore puts the full figure in writing before any work begins.
Can the unit stay in its opening while the compressor is changed?
That depends on the model and how it was built in. Where the machine compartment cannot be reached from the front, the unit is rolled out of its opening, which is one of the things that moves the price within the band. Sub-Zero Repair Sammamish tells you which applies at the diagnosis.
