Thanks, @steve-miller !
I didn't watch the whole video, just the beginning....but....we have an upright freezer that's in the basement. A very undemanding environment. Had a chest freezer years ago and gave it away to a friend. I know chest freezers are much more efficient and run like tanks, but not having to unload twenty things to get to the bottom where the one you want is located is the huge advantage for us and why we switched to uprights. We had a manual defrost upright and got tired of the whole defrosting thing so replaced our old upright with a frost free. Have been really happy with it in terms of function. Reliability, not so much. The one that died is 4 1/2 years old. Abt does extended warranties. A five year costs $175. If the thing craps out again, it's cost me that much to get a new one. Oh, and the warranty lets you claim $200 of lost food. I hate the concept of throwaway appliances but try to make up for it in other ways. We drive our cars for 20 years!
Thanks for the info on the dryers. Between you and Claude, you've convinced me it's worth having it looked at before buying new. We do indeed have a local guy, George's Appliance CPR. My neighbor has used him and said he's great and reasonably priced. I got his number and texted him. We'll see what he says!
Thanks much. Will keep you posted!