Questions

Are you affiliated with Thermador?

No. We are an independent repair company and hold no appointment from Thermador or its parent company; working on one make was our own decision. If your appliance is inside its manufacturer warranty, call Thermador first — work we do could affect that coverage. The full independence statement is in the colophon of every page.

What does a visit cost?

Flat $80 diagnostic, credited in full toward the repair when you approve the work. Written estimate before any part is ordered or any labor is billed. If you decline the estimate, the diagnostic stands alone and there is nothing further to pay.

Is it worth fixing, or should I just replace it?

Nearly always worth fixing, and the table says why. Every repair in the cooking half of it tops out at $1,060, against $2,100 — half of the $4,200 a comparable new appliance starts at. Only a column's sealed system comes near that line. There is a page here that does the arithmetic.

What is the 50% rule for appliance repair?

The old trade shorthand: if the repair costs more than half of replacing the thing, replace it. Half of $4,200 is $2,100, so the line is high. It is also blunt on a built-in, where replacing buys an appliance, a refit and whatever the cabinetry needs afterwards.

How much do you charge per hour?

Nothing per hour. One flat $80 diagnostic covers the visit, and the repair after it is quoted as a single written figure — part, labor and total agreed before anything is ordered. An hourly meter rewards a slow afternoon and leaves nobody able to say what the job will come to.

What is the most expensive part to replace in a refrigerator?

The sealed system — the compressor, the circuit around it and the charge that has to be recovered and renewed. $860–$2,480, parts and labor together, and the widest band on our table. Everything else in a column, from fans and dampers to boards and gaskets, sits well below it.

Is replacing a compressor worth doing?

On a column, usually. At $860–$2,480 it is the heaviest repair we list, and it still finishes under the $4,200 a comparable new appliance starts at. What decides it is the rest of the machine: sound cabinet, doors and controls, and the sealed system is the cheaper half of the decision.

Is it worth calling a repair technician out at all?

That is the $80. It buys the fault identified at the component and written down, and it comes off the repair if you go ahead. If the honest answer is that the appliance is not worth the work, you hear that instead — for $80, rather than by guessing.

How long should a Thermador built-in last?

Longer than a freestanding appliance, which is most of what the price bought. The trade generally reckons a built-in column or wall oven in decades rather than years. We publish no figure of our own, because what we see is that airflow and installation decide it far more than the badge on the door does.

How long is the Thermador warranty?

That is Thermador's to state rather than ours, and it turns on the appliance and when it was bought — the paperwork that came with it is the answer. Our own cover is separate: 90 days on labor, 365 days on parts, genuine OEM parts only. While the appliance is still inside the maker's warranty, call them before you call us.

Do you work on other brands?

No. Thermador built-ins only. A one-make shop carries one make's parts, reads one make's service literature and recognises one make's failure patterns. If the appliance is another brand we will say so on the phone rather than send someone out.

Do you repair heating or air conditioning?

No, and it is worth saying plainly because the two trades get confused on this coast. Seagate Appliance Works is a kitchen trade: refrigeration columns, wall ovens and warming drawers, steam ovens, ranges, rangetops and cooktops, extraction hoods and their blowers, dishwashers and built-in coffee systems. We do not repair furnaces, heat pumps, air handlers, central or split air conditioning, and the duct system that serves them. We do not install any of it either, and there is nobody here who does. If the call is about a house that will not cool or a furnace that will not light, an HVAC contractor is the right phone call and we will say so in the first minute rather than book a visit.

How long is the work guaranteed?

90 days on labor, 365 days on parts, genuine OEM parts only. The warranty covers the part we fitted and the labor to fit it. It does not cover a different fault that appears later on the same appliance.

Do you use genuine parts?

Genuine OEM parts only. In a sealed water or refrigerant circuit a generic substitute is a repeat visit with extra steps, and on a built-in the labor to get back in costs more than the part did.

Which areas do you cover?

Ponte Vedra Beach, Nocatee, Palm Valley, South Ponte Vedra and the St. Johns County coast, plus the Jacksonville side of the Intracoastal. We are based in Ponte Vedra Beach and work roughly a 30-mile radius from it.

When are you open?

Mon–Fri 8–6 · Sat 9–4. Those are the only hours we work. We do not advertise a 24-hour or emergency service because we do not run one, and a refrigerator that has already been warm since morning is not helped by someone arriving at midnight without the part.

Will you have to pull my built-in out of the cabinet?

Sometimes, and we will say so before we start. Most faults are reached through the front: the toe-kick panel, the door and its hinges, the filter and sump on a dishwasher, the service panel on a coffee system. A refrigeration column has to come forward on its rails far enough to reach the machine compartment, which needs the doors clear and the floor protected. A wall oven is a two-person lift out of its stack. Where cabinetry, stone or flooring has been fitted tight to an appliance since installation, getting it out is part of the job and part of the estimate.

Can you still get parts for an older built-in?

Often, but the answer depends on the serial number rather than the model. Thermador built-ins run for years across production changes, so two appliances that look identical can take different boards, valves or seals. Photograph the rating plate and we check availability against that serial before the visit rather than after it. If a part is on a long lead time, or no longer made, you get told at the diagnostic — along with what the alternative is.

My refrigerator runs warm. Is it low on refrigerant?

Usually not. Within sight of the Atlantic the common cause is a condenser fin pack packed with salt-laden dust, so the machine cannot reject its heat. We check airflow, the fin pack and the condenser fan before anyone opens a sealed system. EPA Section 608 certified for sealed-system refrigerant work, so when a system genuinely does need opening it can be.

Can a storm damage a built-in appliance?

It can. This coast sees around 68 thunderstorm days a year, and the damage is rarely dramatic — a control board that survives a surge but comes back with one dead output, so the oven heats and the fan does not. Tell us if the fault started on a stormy afternoon; it changes where we look first.

What should I have ready before I call?

Open the door and photograph the rating plate. The model and serial let us check parts availability before the van is loaded, which is often the difference between one visit and two. Say what the appliance does now, and when it last worked properly.

Do you sell appliances?

No. We repair, and when a repair is not worth doing we say so plainly and tell you why. There is nothing on the van to sell you.

Still unanswered

The rest is easier said out loud. Call during shop hours and describe what the appliance is doing; if it is not a Thermador, or if the answer is that a repair is not worth the $80, you will hear that on the phone. The worth-fixing arithmetic is set out in full on the repair-or-replace page.

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