OT - Appliance Repairs, Refrigerator, DIY

Have this ~10 year old refrigerator. Think we must have had an electrical surge the last storm. Furnace Controls have the fan running continuously, and took out sump pump. Hit disconnect on furnace and am pumping out the water from the basement so I can get to the sump. My biggest problem is that the Refrigerator quit cooling along the way. Any DIY things I can try to do basic diagnosis to see if it might be salvageable before calling the repairman or shopping for a new one.

Thanks,

Kirk

Call your insurance co. That sort of damage should be covered under your homeowners ins.

Call your insurance company. You may need to get a good repairman to find what all was damaged. Hal

I once had the Xformer out back blow with lightning. With other things burned out, it burned the contacts on the switches of my furnace and refrigerator. I filed them and played with them for years and they were never right again. Sounds to me like that might be your problem..contacts stuck shut or burned bad.
KennyP

sound strange but..

unplug it. look at where the wires go into the comrpessor. Pull of the plastic cap.. and one of the wires will be burnt off of the compressor..

has happened 3 times to me.. skin it back to soft pliable wire, and recrimp a new spade lug on.

replace cover and plug back in..

Insurance was one of my first calls yesterday. Agent politely reminded me that in one of my budget cutting exercises I had modified my coverage to exclude damage to loose equipment/fixtures (don't remember his term). Thus damage to furnace is covered, refrigerator is not. Seems like one of those pennywise/pound foolish things now, but we had not experienced a similar loss in 20 years so who knows. Should probably start another thread to discuss insurance issues. Suffice it to say that I am not fond of insurance. Being self employed health insurance is one of our largest expenses and had never had a real claim until my wife had surgery a few months ago. Insurer is declining to pay most of $40k so I am probably going to need a lawyer (another thread).

We are in the process of updating kitchen anyway, so it looks like the refrigerator might be pushed to the top of the list. Still interested in any diagnostic hints as well.

As far as insurance, we have had several scams around here of agents defrauding people on insurance. Some have lasted for years. Insurance agents rank below used car salesmen.

If you're self employed, look into Health Savings Account (HSA)- A high-deductible but cheap health insurance (mine is Regents Blue Shield, $2,500 deductible, costs $256 per month (I'm 60, much less if you're younger). And a special savings account, into which you sock away about $300 a month, which you use to pay for anything medical, but especially, your health care costs up to the amount of the deductible. Combined cost of the premium plus the savings account contribution is less than I was paying in premium, and at the end of the year, whatever is in the savings account is MY MONEY! And did I mention that the money goes into the account tax-free, comes out tax free, and earns 2.5%? Better deal than an IRA.

BTW, the photo was just to see if I could do it. Don't have a good pic of a Health Savings Account, so a tractor will have to do.

I'd agree with bill... Check the power cord. The only other big thing I'd think about is the compressor, but if it's not blowing fuses, then that's probably OK.
A leaker is another thing, but I'd find it a bit odd that it would develop suddenly because of that unless it was just a coincidence... who knows.

Can you hear the compressor start or the fan run?

Rod

Light comes on when door is opened, but no cooling at all.

Need to empty it later today (starting to smell) and pull it out from the wall and see if I can chase anything obvious out of it.

Things just seem to be piling on right now. Pulled the injection pump from my 3600 and took it to the diesel shop Monday. They shipped it out yesterday, but it set me back $700.00 for the rebuild. Needed a few parts.

Have a sick pony (my daughter's first) that is ringing up the vet bills.

Only have old vehicles and they are becoming unreliable as well, so need to be thinking about upgrading there as well.

Can't really complain too much though, see a whole lot of the world worse off than us.

First thing to do is "get it out" where you can get to "stuff." and get the diagam, which should be pasted in the most inconvienient spot possible.

Second, determine if you have a mechanical (motor driven) defrost timer, or electronic, and if the motor is running. Any of these I've seen have a manual (screwdriver) override so you can turn them.

See if the compressor is running, and if not, try turning the defrost timer if mechanical. IF the compressor "clicks" off the overload and/or the case is hot, you have other problems.

Depending on the starting system, you may have a starting components problem--starting relay, start/ run capacitor, or even just a loose/ burned terminal.

If you can determine that the starting relay is ok, usually by replacing it, and the compressor STILL won't start, you've probably got a damaged compressor.

Frankly at this point, I'd probably have a "real" tech double check your findings. You would not want to toss a fridge with a good compressor when a 15.00 relay would have fixed it

Bear in mind that strange things can happen with defrost timers. It is possible to have a situation whereby the timer causes the compressor AND the defrost heater to run simultaneously. Not a good deal, there.

And, obviously, make sure the circulating fan in the freezer compartment is running. Note that it will normally be shut off in defrost.

And, make sure that it actually IS defrosting. A bad heater, plugged drain line, or again, problems with the timer, can allow ice buildup aroud the evaporator, which will stop cooling effect

first thing to do if its self defrosting is find the defrost timer and turn it with a screwdriver to see if it will come on.generally its in the front where you can get to it.especialy on older ones.sometimes lightning takes out the timer motor.second check to see if it has frost on coils,will be in back on a side by side and on bttom ,generally ,of freezer compartment if an top freezer model.if its froze up it wont cool and everything will defrost believe it or not.third pull it out and check condenser fan.then and only then check compressor,its the most reliable thing on any fridge.wire burning off generally is not caused by lightning,its caused by not having a terminal heavy enough for the application.a wally world special wont handle the heat generated by the current draw.I repaired appliances full and part time for 10yrs saw one actual burnt up compressor.