Whisperkool Obsolescence

I realize these topics are tedious, but I find myself the not so proud owner of not 1 but 2 broken Whisperkool 4200 XLT units. These were relatively expensive, thru the wall units for a 1000 cubic ft cellar. One unit after working reliably for 4 years now ices up, the other (my ‘spare’) will simply run forever without cooling - no coolant I imagine.

Anyway Whisperkool, in their wisdom no longer supports or reconditions these units. So I am now in possession of 2 boat anchors, and like 60+lb boat anchors at that. However despite living in the immediate proximity of the Puget Sound we do not choose to own a boat.

These are not service friendly units - they are riveted shut and need to be drilled out. And anyway, my refrigeration skills consist of turning a thermostat up or down. Anyone had luck having these sorts of units repaired independently? If it were possible, I have some interest in keeping one for a spare and selling or giving the other away.

Commercial refrigeration repair?
Used appliance shop?
Anyone in Seattle know anyone… probably a pipe dream…

Thanks for reading.

Hi. I had our commercial refrigeration company repair mine about 5 years ago. It was cheaper than buying a new one.

So…what happened??

Well, nothing yet actually. Based on your and Steve’s advice, I do plan on finding a local refrigeration repair company. But work, and another home improvement project we are doing have been taking precedence.

As I am stuck with a Whisperkool sized hole in the wall, I bought the new WK SC4001 unit even before posting this. So the cellar has been nice and cool all along, though the wife is not happy walking around the other units out in the garage, so I will have to act soon. I did look at the N’Finity units as a same sized replacement. They are a little less expensive, but operate on air temp not the bottle probe, so I spent more $$ on WK despite hating them.

I will come back and post on my repair experience.

I’m sorry to hear that they no longer sell reconditioned units. In the past, when mine has stopped working, I was able to get a reconditioned unit at what I felt was a reasonable price. It is still a huge pain in the neck to change one out, exacerbated in my instance by all the wine in the immediate vicinity of the cooler.

I use a smaller WhisperKool as a backup, and it works fine for short-term duty. The big one has been working for more than eight years – not sure how long. I guess when it stops working I will contact my local refrigeration guys to come out and re-charge it and repair whatever leak has developed.

Although you’re right, it’s riveted together, I don’t believe that’s a big problem for a refrigeration guy. They just drill out the rivets and replace them when finished. The refrigeration repair, whatever it is that’s needed, is more involved. It’s not a repair you would want to attempt on your own.

Thanks for the update.

I had the same problem with two units. Our refrigeration guy took them to his shop fixed both. They were working when we sold the house a couple of years later. Not cheap or easy but got it done.

JD

Larry, I don’t know for certain, I don’t think they have stopped repairing supported units, or selling supported reconditioned units. Usually they send you one if you ship yours in, and you can usually either return it or keep if for a price, at least if yours is under warrantee.

The issue here is they have dropped ALL support for the XLT 4200. They will only sell you the replacement model (SC4001) at a small discount to retail - essentially the same price as on Amazon, or other resellers.

BTW, I called a couple refrigeration repair places today. We’re having a bit of a heat wave here in Seattle, so they are going crazy with emergency work and none of them want to deal with me until after the holiday. Understandable.

My WhisperKool 4200 just froze up. It is 13 years old so I was lucky. Now what? Do the new 4000 units fit in the same space dimension wise?

Welcome to the forum Linda. My recommendation would be to buy a CellarPro and do you need to to make it fit if the size is not the same.

The SC4000i fits in the same opening as the 4200. Mine has been running flawlessly for the nearly 4.5 years since this thread. It seems to be a much improved unit.

You can certainly look into cellarpro or others but you may have to do some minor construction work.

Btw, I never posted on my repair experience because I never had one. I did have a refrigeration guy stop by once but he politely declined. I’m ashamed to say the 2 old units are still sitting out in my garage waiting to be carted away by mr junk.

What do people think about CellarPro, Wine Guardian versus Whisperkool? I have a SC3000 that died and I need to decide on a replacement.

CellarPro are serious bits of kit. I became quite familiar with the insides of a vinotemp unit that was on the cusp of life, which I eventually replaced with a cellarpro. Once out of the box you can immediately tell the engineering involved is far superior to anything else on the market. The manual alone gives a level of detail far beyond its peers. It runs quieter, less and I would expect more efficiently than the previous unit. I would highly recommend it.