Repair questions, quiet answers.
What to know before you trust anyone with the machine.
Questions, by Topic
What a Repair Costs
How much does a service visit cost?
The diagnostic visit is $119, waived entirely if you proceed with the repair. You receive a fixed price before any work begins.
Do you charge by the hour?
No. The repair is quoted as one fixed number and approved by you before any repair begins. An hourly meter would charge you the least when we work fastest and the most when we are guessing; we would rather not price that way. Genuine parts are quoted on a separate line. If the job overruns, that is our cost, not your invoice. More on pricing.
Is the $119 charged if I decide not to repair?
Yes, and it is the only thing you pay. When the repair does not make sense, or you would rather not go ahead, the visit stands at $119 and nothing is added to it. It is waived in full only when the repair goes ahead.
How and when do I pay?
When the repair is finished, at the visit: in cash, or through a payment link we send to your phone. If a part has to be ordered and we come back another day, half of the quoted total is paid at the first visit and the other half when the repair is finished.
What if more than one appliance needs looking at?
The first appliance is $119, and each additional appliance looked at on the same visit is $69. Either fee is waived for any appliance you go ahead and repair, and each repair is quoted as one fixed number before any work begins.
Are parts included in the repair quote?
They are listed on their own line. The quote shows the labor and the genuine OEM parts separately, then the total, so you can see what each part of the repair costs before you approve it.
What if the job takes longer than you expected?
That is our cost, not your invoice. The number is fixed before any repair begins and approved by you first, so a job that runs to three hours instead of one is priced the same.
Do you put the price in writing before you start?
Yes. A fixed estimate is sent to you electronically before any work begins, with parts listed separately from labor, and no repair begins until you have approved it.
Do you charge more for a weekend?
No. We are open every day, 7am to 6pm, and a Saturday or a Sunday is priced exactly as a Tuesday is. A refrigerator that fails on Friday evening does not have to wait for Monday.
How long is your warranty?
Twelve months on parts and labor both, on every repair we make with the genuine OEM parts we supply, washers and dryers included. We give a full year because a repair done properly should outlast that many times over, and we would rather carry that risk than leave it with you. If the part we fitted fails within the year, the new part and the visit cost you nothing. The warranty covers parts we supply; a part you provide yourself is fitted for the labor alone and carries no warranty.
Does the warranty cover the return visit as well as the part?
Yes. If the part we fitted fails inside the twelve months, the new part and the visit both cost you nothing.
What if I supply the part myself?
We will fit it for the labor alone. It carries no warranty, and that labor is not refunded if the part does not fit, does not work, or fails later. We cannot stand behind a part we did not choose.
What We Work On
Which brands do you repair?
Four makers: Sub-Zero, Wolf, Viking and GE Monogram. Refrigeration comes first: refrigerators, wine storage, ice makers and freezers, followed by Wolf, Viking and Monogram ranges, wall ovens and cooktops, gas and electric. Specialization is the point: these four, in detail.
Do you repair gas ranges?
Yes: Wolf, Viking and Monogram, gas and dual-fuel as well as electric. We repair the appliance itself; new gas lines and supply connections are work for a licensed gas contractor. If you ever smell gas, leave the house and call Southwest Gas, your propane supplier or 911 from outside.
Do you repair washers and dryers?
Yes, gas and electric dryers included: $119 to diagnose, waived with the repair, and a fixed price approved first. The same twelve-month warranty on parts and labor applies, with the parts we supply. More on washer and dryer repair.
Do you repair dishwashers or garbage disposals?
No. We work on four makers of the luxury kitchen, refrigeration first, then the ranges, rangetops, wall ovens and cooktops beside them, plus washers and dryers, all on the same $119 visit, flat-rate pricing and twelve-month warranty.
Do you repair wine cabinets and wine cellars?
Yes: Sub-Zero wine storage, Viking wine cellars and Monogram wine reserves, full-height and undercounter. A wine cabinet has to hold a narrow band at a stable humidity without shaking the bottles, frequently in two independently controlled zones behind one door.
Do you repair a stand-alone ice machine?
Yes: undercounter clear-ice machines from Sub-Zero, Viking and Monogram, and the in-door and in-freezer ice systems in Sub-Zero and Monogram refrigerators, including fill valves, thickness sensors, drains and pumps.
Do you repair freezer drawers and freezer columns?
Yes: full-height all-freezer columns from Sub-Zero, Viking and Monogram, undercounter freezer drawers in islands and pantries, and the freezer side of side-by-side and over-and-under built-ins.
Do you repair cooktops and rangetops, or only full ranges?
Both, on Wolf, Viking and Monogram: ranges, rangetops, wall ovens and cooktops, gas, electric and dual-fuel. We repair the appliance itself, and gas supply lines and new connections are a licensed gas contractor’s work.
Do you repair built-ins hidden behind cabinet panels?
Yes. Integrated and panel-ready built-ins are exactly what we work on. The panels come off and go back on, and the cabinetry around the machine is never touched.
Do you sell new appliances?
No. We do not sell appliances. That is deliberate: when the honest answer is that a machine is not worth repairing, there is nothing for us to sell you instead.
Who We Are
Are you a factory-authorized service?
No. Aphelion is an independent repair company, not affiliated with Sub-Zero, Wolf, Viking or GE Appliances, and we do not describe ourselves as authorized or factory-certified. If your appliance is still under the manufacturer’s warranty, contact the manufacturer first: a covered repair should cost you nothing.
My appliance is still under the manufacturer’s warranty. Should I call you?
Call the manufacturer first. A repair covered by their own warranty should cost you nothing, and we would rather tell you that than take the visit.
Why only four makers?
Because a built-in from these four is a different machine from a free-standing refrigerator, and the difference lives in the detail: two independent sealed systems in a Sub-Zero built-in, an inverter-driven compressor in a Viking, a condenser loop foamed into a Monogram cabinet. Keeping to four is what lets us hold those details.
Can you still get parts for a discontinued model?
Sometimes, and sometimes not. A part that is no longer manufactured is one of the few things that turns a repair into a replacement, and it is among the first things we check once the model number is known.
What is your legal name?
Aphelion Appliance Repair LLC, an Arizona limited liability company. Aphelion Appliance Repair is the name we work under, and it is the same name on this site, on the phone and in the paperwork.
Sealed Systems and Parts
What is a sealed system and why does it matter?
The refrigeration heart of the machine: compressor, condenser, evaporator and the refrigerant circuit connecting them. Any work that opens that circuit is regulated under EPA Section 608 and must be carried out by a certified technician. It is also where guesswork is most expensive, which is why an accurate diagnosis comes first.
Who is allowed to open a sealed system?
Under EPA Section 608 only a certified technician may recover and recharge refrigerant, and the charge goes back in by weight rather than by feel. It is worth asking any company about before anyone reaches for a set of gauges.
Can you tell over the phone whether it is a sealed-system fault?
Not honestly. The same symptom, a warm compartment, can be anything from a sensor to a sealed-system repair, and a number given down a phone line would not mean anything. That is exactly what the $119 visit is for.
Do you use genuine parts?
Every part we supply is a genuine OEM component, backed by a 12-month warranty on both parts and labor. If you would rather supply a part yourself, we fit it for the labor alone and without warranty: should it not fit, not work or fail later, the labor is not refunded.
Will you show me the part that failed?
Yes, in person, before we leave. It is a standard rather than a courtesy: you should be able to see the thing you paid to replace.
What happens if the part has to be ordered?
We order it and come back to fit it. A part usually reaches us within a week. Some arrive sooner, and now and then one takes longer. The day it arrives we call you, and you choose the time for the repair. The model number sent with the request can save that second trip: with it the likely part can be named before the visit.
What does the diagnosis actually involve?
Readings taken at the machine, the series confirmed from the rating tag inside the cabinet, the display and any codes read off, and the failed part named before a price is put against it.
Where, When and How to Book
What areas do you serve?
Within about 30 miles of downtown Phoenix. Sixteen places have their own page, among them Phoenix, Arcadia, Scottsdale, North Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Tempe, Mesa, Chandler, Gilbert, Queen Creek, Glendale and Peoria; the neighborhoods between them are served on the same terms. The service area page lists them all.
How fast can you come out?
Refrigeration failures are time-critical, especially in Arizona. Call (478) 888-2999, every day from 7am to 6pm, and tell us what happened. We set the visit for the same day, the next day, or whichever day suits you.
What are your hours?
Every day, 7am to 6pm. Those are the hours the phone is actually answered, not an opening time that only exists on a page.
Do you work weekends?
Yes. We are open every day, so the clock never has to run through a weekend while a freezer stands warm.
What if my town is not on your list?
Call (478) 888-2999 with your ZIP code and we will tell you plainly whether we can come. Sixteen places have a page of their own and the neighborhoods between them are served on the same terms, all within about 30 miles of downtown Phoenix.
Will you tell me before you arrive?
Yes. You get a message telling you how many minutes out we are, so nobody has to watch the street. Nobody arrives unannounced.
How is the visit booked?
Call (478) 888-2999, every day from 7am to 6pm, and tell us what stopped. We set the visit for the same day, the next day, or whichever day suits you. Or send a request online and we will call you back.
Do you only fix the part that broke?
No. We replace what failed, trace why it failed, and check the rest of the appliance before we leave. You get a plain list of what is sound, what is wearing and what can wait. Anything beyond the repair you called about gets its own written price, and nothing is done until you approve it.
What the Machine Is Doing
My Sub-Zero shows a service light. What should I do?
Note any code on the display, avoid repeatedly unplugging the unit, and keep the doors closed as much as possible. Then call: codes plus symptoms help us arrive with the right parts. The model number helps even more.
It runs constantly and never switches off.
Sometimes by design: GE puts normal running at 80% to 90% of the time, and a variable-speed compressor runs most of the day. When it is a fault, usually the heat has nowhere to go: a condenser coil coated in dust, a condenser fan that has seized or slowed, or too little clearance behind the grille for air to move at all. A compartment that never reaches its setting is a different search, and the visit separates the two.
There is water on the floor under the unit.
That points at the drain or the pan rather than at the refrigeration: a drain that no longer clears, a pan heater or float switch that has stopped, or a door that no longer seals and is letting humid air in. It is rarely the expensive end of the machine.
Frost or a wall of ice is building inside the freezer. Is it urgent?
Not an emergency, but it does not fix itself. It usually means the defrost cycle has stopped rather than the refrigeration failing, and the ice keeps growing until it reaches the fan and the compartment goes warm.
The ice tastes or smells wrong.
That is the filter and the bin rather than the machine. On an undercounter ice maker, Sub-Zero asks for the filter to be replaced every six months and the first batch of ice after a new one to be thrown away. It also asks for the machine to be cleaned and sanitized every six months whatever filtration is fitted.
The glass door of the wine cabinet is sweating.
The glass is the thermal weak point. Sub-Zero’s 400 Series service manual shows the remedy: hot discharge gas carried around the door gasket seat, so the frame does not sweat. Its owner guide calls condensation in humid weather normal, clearing when the humidity drops. Moisture that stays after the air dries out, with the door closing and sealing properly, is worth a call.
The door will not close flush, or the seal no longer grips.
Hinges and gaskets, and they matter more here than in a milder climate. A gasket that no longer pulls tight lets humid monsoon air in continuously, and the coil ices faster than any defrost cycle was designed to clear it.
What should I do while I wait for the visit?
Keep the doors closed as much as you can, write down whatever the display shows before anything is switched off, and find the model number. Those three are most of the difference between one visit and two.
In Your Home
Is it worth repairing instead of replacing?
Usually. A new Sub-Zero Classic or Viking built-in lists at about $8,000 to $19,000 on the makers’ own sites, and Sub-Zero puts the design life of its own at about twenty years on average. A proper repair with OEM parts costs a fraction of replacement, and avoids remodeling the cabinetry it lives in. The decision, in numbers.
What happens when you arrive?
A message with the arrival time in minutes, then shoe covers and floor protection before a single tool comes into the kitchen. The diagnosis follows, and the fixed estimate reaches you before any work begins.
Will the kitchen be left as it was?
That is the intention: the panels back on, the grille clear, the cabinetry untouched. Replacing a built-in is a small remodel; repairing one should leave no sign that it happened.
Can I have the fault explained in plain words?
Yes, and there is a page for exactly that: twenty of the parts we are likely to name, what each one does, what its failure looks like from the kitchen, and whether it sits inside the sealed refrigerant circuit.
Still wondering?
Ask us directly. We answer every day, 7am–6pm.