The other day Jen asked me if I noticed anything wrong with our fridge; the milk seemed to be spoiling quickly, which was out of the ordinary. We put a thermometer inside and were shocked to find it above 50˚, which meant something was extremely wrong. Jen and I emptied it out, stuffing the 70-year-old IH fridge in the garage with food and filling the freezers in the basement with as much as we could.

Consulting the interwebs, I found a video by a mushmouthed repairman working on the exact model of Frigidaire we own, who demonstrated how to test the inverter module next to the compressor. I busted out my multimeter and followed his instructions, getting the same result he did. Rolling the dice, I ordered a replacement part on the Jungle Site for $100, and then used a shop-vac to clean about thirty pounds of dust and hair from the coils and fan under the fridge. Helpfully, Frigidaire hid all this stuff behind a panel so that it could collect without being seen; I’ve cleaned the front of the fridge multiple times but never realized there was an entire Sasquatch worth of dust and fuzz hiding under there.

The part arrived on our doorstep yesterday afternoon, so I put on my headlamp, spread out my toolkit, and got to work. Navigating the tight space under the fridge with my big hands, I was able to squeeze the old inverter out between the compressor and two delicate copper tubes, and squeeze the new one in place. When I had it connected, I said a prayer and plugged the fridge back in.

This morning we came downstairs to find it quietly humming along at 32˚, just in time to store a new milk delivery, which was a HUGE relief. I was not prepared for an expensive repair bill—or, even worse, a replacement—so this was a big win.