Undercounter Unit Repair in La Jolla

Undercounter refrigeration is installed where there is the least room for heat to go, which is why it shows a restricted condenser sooner than anything else in a La Jolla kitchen. Refrigerator and freezer drawers, beverage centers, small wine cabinets and the units built into island runs and outdoor bars all breathe through one narrow grille at the bottom. Most calls on these come down to three things: airflow that has been choked off, a drain that has iced closed, or a door seal squeezed out of shape by a heavy custom panel. All three are quick to put right and all three get worse the longer they run.

What this covers in La Jolla

Integrated and undercounter Sub-Zero units of every kind, including refrigerator and freezer drawers, beverage centers, undercounter wine cabinets and outdoor-rated units. Cooling faults, drawer slides and gaskets, electronic controls and displays, drain paths, condenser cleaning and fan replacement, and the door and panel alignment that these units are unusually sensitive to.

• Drawers that will not hold temperature, or hold on one drawer and not the other
• Condenser and fan servicing where a tight cabinet or an outdoor enclosure has restricted airflow
• Drain paths that have iced closed, with water appearing under the cabinet run
• Door and drawer gaskets deformed by heavy custom panels, and slide mechanisms fouled with ice
• Electronic control and display faults on integrated units
• Outdoor-rated beverage and refrigerator drawers in terrace and pool bars

Outdoor and poolside undercounter units are the ones we get called to most often in this town, and where they are matters more than how old they are. Along the ocean-facing streets and on the terraces that catch onshore wind, a stainless drawer unit is being salted continuously. The exterior takes it reasonably well if it is rinsed; the condenser behind the grille is not rinsed by anybody. Salt deposit combined with the dust and pollen that comes off Torrey Pines and the canyon slopes builds a mat across the fins, the fan pulls harder through it, the bearing wears, and eventually the fan is the part that fails rather than the coil. That failure sequence is preventable with a coil clean once or twice a year and nothing else.

Inside the house the problem is usually the cabinetry rather than the weather. La Jolla has a lot of kitchens that were remodeled around appliances rather than the other way round, especially in the older Village and Lower Hermosa houses, and it is common to find an undercounter unit built into a run with a decorative toe kick across the grille or a filler panel that leaves under an inch of clearance at the back. It works fine in a cool room, which is exactly why nobody catches it during the remodel. Then a warm afternoon arrives, the unit cannot reject heat, and the temperature climbs in the evening and recovers by morning. Owners describe that as the unit being fine most of the time, which is the most useful clue there is.

Every repair uses factory-approved parts, and you get a price before any work begins. Call (858) 251-7380 and describe the symptom — we can usually tell you the likely cause on the phone.