[Jerret]

Hi,
My refrigerator has stopped cooling all together. I was gone for a few days and upon my return I found my fridge and freezer warm. I shut it off at that point because I did not know what to do. Now that I have read some about it I found the the start relay or the box that plugs into the compressor looks and smells burnt and it does rattle. Is there any way I can tell if it is just my start relay or my compressor? I did not check to see if the compressor was warm or if anything clicked before I shut the fridge off, like I said above I was gone for a few days and when I returned everything was warm so I don't know when the problem started.

Thanks for any help. Jerret

[TechnicianBrian]

You can check your compressor with a multimeter and do a resistance check on the pins that the start device plugs into. If you check each pin to the compressor ground connection, you should read infinite resistance. Then check each pin to every other pin and you should find some low level of resistance such as 8 ohms. If any pin combination measures infinity, then you would have an open winding on the compressor. But I would start with the relay because that is the more likely reason for the failure.