Looking to purchase a new used refrigerator soon?

 There are a couple of things to look for and consider when purchasing a used refrigerator. The first would be the age. Try and buy some thing newer than 10-12 yrs old. The least amount of electronics the better, stay with mechanical temp controls. Inspect the door gaskets and make sure they are in good shape, they serve a very important purpose.

The next thing to check is the proper operation of the compressor. Start with removing the front bottom kick plate. Look to see if there is a large amount of debris clogging the  front coils? Next remove the rear cover and check to see if the original start device is in place it will be located on the left side of the compressor. If you find some wires coming off the compressor connected to a large round device do not buy the refrigerator! That round device is whats called a hard start 3&1 and is designed to start a compressor that will not start normally with its correct start overload device.

 If you do nothing else check for the round hard start, some used appliance stores use these and you compressor will fail with in 6-12 months. Good luck on your purchase!