Author Topic: I think my fridge is dying (Read 243 times)

Meatwad · « **on:** July 02, 2005, 12:06:38 AM »

Yup caught the compressor cycling on and off every few seconds. Unplugged it and plugged it back in about 20 minutes later. Running for now and air in freezer feels about 40 degrees. Guess I'll pull that booger out tomorrow and give it a once over if its still working. Anyone here have experience with fridge repair?

Toad · « **Reply #1 on:** July 02, 2005, 12:08:17 AM »

Yeah. If it's the compressor, go buy a new fridge.

Toad · « **Reply #2 on:** July 02, 2005, 12:11:56 AM »

Oh, yeah, you may want to look here. Covers the common problems.

Refrigerator Problems

Nefarious · « **Reply #3 on:** July 02, 2005, 12:14:00 AM »

Do you have animals ? Or Dust Problem?

If so it might need to be cleaned, Our Fridge started collecting water under neath the Vegetable (Beer) Bins. Called a Repair Man. Compressor was always running. Our Fridge is getting up there in Years too.

He looked it over, Damn thing was filled with Hair, you could of built a cat with all the hair we had. He cleaned the inner workings out, and it works like a champ!

Nilsen · « **Reply #4 on:** July 02, 2005, 12:33:55 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Nefarious

He looked it over, Damn thing was filled with Hair, you could of built a cat with all the hair we had.

Jackal1 · « **Reply #5 on:** July 02, 2005, 12:40:37 AM »

If all else fails and the compressor keeps acting up...lay it down, grab a short length of 2x4 and a hammer. Place the board flat on the compressor and give it 4 or 5 good, solid whacks with the hammer. Sit it back upright and turn it on.

storch · « **Reply #6 on:** July 02, 2005, 07:46:21 AM »

if the compressor is cycling short it's probably low on freon and you have a leak.

lazs2 · « **Reply #7 on:** July 02, 2005, 08:30:04 AM »

Unless you have to have a really big full featured fridge... they are cheap.

$500 buys you a large one that will even have an ice maker.. if your old one is like 10 or more years old... the new one will probly save you $75 a year in elecricity over the old one. I have seen fridges without icemakers for as low as 400 bucks.

lazs

Meatwad · « **Reply #8 on:** July 02, 2005, 10:58:18 AM »

Looked inside its got so much hair and dust in there looks like it sucked up one of my rabbits. guess i better pull the vacuum out and clean it today.

Toad · « **Reply #9 on:** July 02, 2005, 11:07:47 AM »

That will help a bunch. Then give it some time and see if it cools down and stops cycling.

capt. apathy · « **Reply #10 on:** July 02, 2005, 05:17:35 PM »

the major things that most people can do are

vacuum the dust off of the of the back of the fridge, and use a degrease so the element can give off heat more efficiently (this will take a load off your compressor, and let you run a few degrees cooler)

check the seals. obviously if it's leaking out cool air the compressor will have to compensate for that.

keep the freezer full. if you have a lot of empty space in the freezer, fill up some empty 2-liter bottles with water and use them to get it fuller. when you have empty space, all of the cold (and heavier) air dumps out on the floor every time you open the freezer. the fridge/freezer then needs to cool all of that room temperature air down to the proper temp. an added benefit is that you will have less freezer-burned food, since you won't have the outer bit of food thawed and refrozen every time the door is opened.

usually when a compressor begins to go it fails to start. you can often buy a bit of time until you need to replace it by replacing the start-up capacitor with a more powerful one. this simple fix got me an additional 3 years of use out of my last freezer.

Author Topic: I think my fridge is dying (Read 243 times)

storch