The questions we actually get asked

Are you affiliated with Sub-Zero?

No. Seawall Refrigeration is an independent appliance repair company. We are not affiliated with, authorized by, or endorsed by Sub-Zero or Sub-Zero Group, Inc.. We use the brand name only to say which appliances we service.

If you want work carried out under a manufacturer program, contact the manufacturer directly. We will tell you that plainly rather than let you assume otherwise.

Do you do heating or air conditioning?

No, and the word in our name is the reason people ask. Refrigeration here means the cabinet in your kitchen — the sealed system, the condenser behind the grille, the evaporator inside it. Furnaces, heat pumps, air handlers, mini-splits and duct runs are a different trade with a different licence, and we do not work on any of them.

What we do service is short, and this is the whole of it: built-in sub-zero refrigerators and freezers; integrated sub-zero refrigerator and freezer columns; undercounter and outdoor-rated sub-zero units; sub-zero ice makers and in-cabinet ice systems; sub-zero wine storage cabinets. If you have reached us looking for a furnace or an AC unit, call an HVAC contractor — we would rather lose the call than send a refrigeration technician to something that is not ours.

What does a visit cost?

$80 flat for the diagnostic. Flat $80 diagnostic. It is credited toward the repair if you go ahead with the work.

You get a written estimate before any part is ordered or any labor is billed.

Is it worth fixing a Sub-Zero refrigerator?

Usually, and the arithmetic is published rather than argued. Every repair on our table falls between $230 and $2,380, parts and labor together, while a comparable built-in is $8,600–$19,400 for the appliance alone. Only sealed-system work on a cabinet already corroded at its fasteners gets near that line.

What is the 50 percent rule, and does it hold for a built-in?

The rule says replace once the repair passes half the price of a new machine. Against a built-in at $11,600–$16,800, that halfway mark sits far above our highest band, which stops at $2,380. On this equipment the rule answers repair almost every time, so we do not lean on it.

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

The compressor, and the sealed system it belongs to: $920–$2,380, parts and labor. Everything else we publish is a fraction of that — a control board $430–$790, a door gasket $230–$630. What carries the cost is the regulated refrigerant work around the part, not the part itself.

How much does it cost to replace a Sub-Zero compressor?

$920–$2,380, parts and labor. The band covers the whole sealed-system job rather than the component on its own: recovery, the replacement, evacuation and a measured charge. The $80 diagnostic comes off it, and where a cabinet sits inside the band is settled by readings taken with the grille off.

Do you charge by the hour?

No. $80 flat for the diagnostic, credited toward the repair, then the published band for whatever the readings condemn. You get a written estimate before any part is ordered or any labor is billed. An hourly rate pays a technician to work slowly, and on a built-in in a tight opening that is an expensive way to be billed.

What makes one quote higher than another for the same symptom?

Which part the readings condemn. One warm cabinet can end as a defrost fault at $240–$610, a fan motor at $270–$590, or sealed-system work at $920–$2,380. Access moves it as well: a built-in in a tight cased opening takes longer to pull than an undercounter fed by a front grille.

How long does a Sub-Zero refrigerator last?

The trade generally treats a built-in as a multi-decade cabinet rather than a ten-year appliance, and we publish no figure of our own because we have not measured one. What shortens it on this coast is the condenser: a fin pack loaded with chloride makes the compressor run long and warm for years.

Do you work on brands other than Sub-Zero?

No. Sub-Zero refrigeration is the whole of what we do: built-in cabinets, integrated columns, undercounter units, ice makers and wine storage.

A shop that services one line sees the same machine compartment every day, and that is worth more to you than a longer brand list.

How soon can someone come out?

We work monday – friday, 8:00am – 6:00pm, and saturday 9:00am – 4:00pm. Calls placed outside these hours are returned the next working morning.

We do not advertise emergency or overnight service, because we do not run it. If a cabinet is failing and food is at risk, move what matters to a second unit or a cooler and call us at the start of the next working day.

What is covered after the repair?

90 days on labor and 365 days on parts. genuine oem parts on every repair.

The warranty covers the repair we carried out. It does not cover an unrelated fault that appears later in a different part of the cabinet, and we will say which is which in writing.

How often should a condenser be cleaned on the beach?

Three to four times a year for a house in the first few streets off the ocean, twice a year further back. Inland guidance of once a year does not survive here.

Marine aerosol is chloride carried in droplets too fine to see. Salt is hygroscopic, so it holds moisture in the fin pack and binds ordinary household lint into a mat that a vacuum rides straight over.

Is a fifteen-year-old built-in worth repairing?

Usually, and the reason is joinery rather than sentiment. A built-in or a column sits in a cased opening built to its dimensions, often behind a panel matched to the kitchen, so replacing it is rarely a delivery and a plug.

A gasket, a fan motor, a thermistor, a control board or a full condenser service on a cabinet that is otherwise sound is straightforward economics. A failed compressor in a cabinet that is also corroded at its fasteners is a different conversation, and we will have it honestly before you spend anything.

Do you use genuine parts?

Genuine OEM parts. We do not fit pattern parts into a sealed system or a control position and call it a repair.

If a part is on back-order we tell you the wait before you commit, along with what the cabinet can safely do in the meantime.

Can a storm damage a control board?

About 68 thunderstorm days a year fall on this coast. Control boards fail from repeated surge exposure, not from one dramatic strike.

The symptoms are intermittent rather than dramatic: a fan running at the wrong time, a display that resets, an alarm that will not clear. We check what the board is being told by its sensors before we condemn the board.

Which areas do you cover?

Jacksonville Beach and the neighbouring beaches, within about 25 miles. Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach, Isle of Palms, South Jacksonville Beach and Ponte Vedra Beach are all inside that.

We publish a page per area because distance from the water changes the service interval, and that is a real difference rather than a list of place names.

Published bands

What does a visit and a repair actually cost?

Flat $80 diagnostic covering the visit and the full diagnostic sequence, credited toward the repair once you approve the work.

The bands that fit this page, parts and labor together. The rest of the table is on the pricing page.

Work	Typical range
Diagnostic visit	$80 flat, credited
Door gasket or seal replacement	$230–$630
Evaporator or condenser fan motor	$270–$590
Defrost heater, thermostat or sensor	$240–$610
Ice maker, water valve or supply line	$240–$660

Ranges, not quotes. What a cabinet actually needs is settled by readings taken with the grille off, and the figure you are asked to approve is written down before a part is ordered. The whole table is on the pricing page.

Something not answered here? Call us — we would rather talk you out of an unnecessary visit than book one. The worth-it-or-not arithmetic has a page of its own: repair or replace. See also pricing, warranty and about.