On the job · Downtown Charleston
The rest of the lineup.
Same $99 diagnostic, same written quote, same written warranty on every machine we fix in Downtown Charleston.
August on the peninsula. The power blinks during an afternoon storm, comes back, and by morning the Sub-Zero in a South of Broad kitchen is reading 55 and clicking. A warm refrigerator goes to the front of our schedule in Downtown Charleston. We meter the compressor, the board and the fans, write one number, and fix it in place, panel-front or freestanding.
Same $99 diagnostic, same written quote, same written warranty on every machine we fix in Downtown Charleston.
June through November is refrigerator season for us downtown, and not because of the heat alone. Hurricane-season storms drop and restore power across the peninsula several times a summer, and each restore sends a surge through control boards and inverter compressors that were already working hard in a 90-degree kitchen. The houses South of Broad and in Harleston Village hold heat in a way a new build does not, and a built-in with its condenser on top pulls that warm air plus a decade of kitchen dust across its coil. By the time the owner notices soft butter, the compressor has been short-cycling for a day. We hold same-day windows for this call, fifteen minutes over the Ashley River.
What fails here is a specific list. Built-in Sub-Zero, Thermador and Miele units with panel fronts have their own failure habits: evaporator fans in the freezer section, inverter boards, and condensers that have not been cleaned since installation. Freestanding Samsung and LG French doors in the Cannonborough-Elliotborough renovations ice up behind the back panel and stop cooling the fresh food side. Ground-floor kitchens and garage refrigerators on the low streets near Lockwood and the Ashley take on water in a king tide or a hard rain, and the board or the compressor relay goes with it. A Wagener Terrace owner called after a flooded ground floor; the fridge ran but never cooled, and the start relay had corroded through.
Almost always airflow between the sections: a failed evaporator fan, a damper stuck closed, or a defrost system that let the evaporator ice over. We pull the back panel, meter the fan and the defrost heater and thermostat, and clear the ice. This one is usually fixed on the first visit.
The clicking is the start relay or the inverter board trying and failing to start the compressor. We meter the compressor windings first to find out whether the compressor itself has failed or just the part that starts it. That distinction decides whether the repair makes sense, and we tell you before writing the number.
The door gasket is not sealing, the defrost heater or its thermostat has failed, or the drain is frozen and backing up. Humidity downtown makes frost problems worse. We test the gasket, meter the defrost circuit and clear the drain. On built-ins we check the door hinge adjustment too.
A frozen or clogged defrost drain, a cracked drain pan, or on units with water a split fill line to the ice maker. Under a panel-front built-in that water can sit on old heart pine for days. We find where it comes from and stop it, then check the floor around the unit for damage.
A dirty condenser, a weak condenser fan or low refrigerant charge from a slow leak. We clean the coil, check fan speed and take temperatures at the evaporator and condenser. Sealed-system work on some units is a real conversation about age and value, and we have it plainly.
A surge on the restore took out the main board, the inverter or the compressor relay. We meter each in turn and replace what failed. If food was lost, the written invoice describes the cause for your insurance claim. We carry boards and relays for the common brands on the van.
The diagnosis is measured, not guessed. We start with thermometers in both sections and an amp clamp on the compressor to see whether it is running, starting and stopping, or not trying. Then the condenser: on a built-in that means pulling the top grille and looking at a coil most owners have never seen. The evaporator comes next, with the back panel off and the meter on the fan, defrost heater and thermistor. On inverter units we read the board’s output to the compressor. A Sub-Zero or Thermador does not come out of its cabinetry for any of this; we work through the front, the top and the kick panel and put the panels and hinges back where they were.
We repair Sub-Zero, Thermador, Viking, Wolf, Miele and JennAir built-ins, and Whirlpool, GE, Samsung, LG, Frigidaire, KitchenAid, Bosch, Electrolux and Kenmore freestanding units, along with the second freezer on the piazza or in the carriage house. Short-term rental managers downtown call us because a warm refrigerator on a check-in day is a refund waiting to happen; we book the gap between guests and send the written number by text. Pricing is identical from the Battery to Hampton Park: the $99 diagnostic is inside the number you approve, and if you decline, $99 is the whole bill. Book online and up to $20 comes off the repair.
Call (843) 969-4664 with the symptom, or book online and up to $20 comes off the repair. Downtown Charleston, six days a week.
