[Noexpert]

That's exactly my point - millions of dangerous start devices that were catching fires were originally recommended to be replaced and actually were replaced by the same dangerous OEM devices.

The appliance industry is doing a great job of keeping it a secret but refrigerator start devices are the NUMBER ONE cause of all the kitchen or house fires started by refrigerators in the past 20 years or so. And yes, we are talking about original OEM start devices - there are no reliable reports of any 3 n 1 or similar devices either catching fires or contributing to overheating of compressors or casing any other fires.

Eventually due to the numerous recalls millions of those faulty OEM start devices were replaced with less dangerous devices but millions of the same or similar dangerous OEM devices are still out there. There are countless documented cases of OEM start devices catching spectacular fires (and I had one of those in my house too) but there is no reliable report of even one fire caused by 3 n 1.

There were millions of dangerous fire prone start devices out there. Millions were replaced in various recalls but millions of the same or similar devices are still out there still causing fires. Now there are some rumors of overheated compressors cause by 3 n 1s, mostly on forums like this but in actuality no one has seen an actual fire, an overheated compressor or anything else that was caused by any 3 n 1 yet.

In my case it was the original start device in Whirpool ET1WTKXKQ00 - there were other fires reported in that model but the fires did not cause enough actual deaths so that model was never a part of a recall so, obviously, the fire prone start device in that model is still the one that normally is "recommended" as a replacement and, I believe, it is still installed most of the time.

In my case it seemed the fault was with the plastic used in the manufacturing of the device itself - the inside shell was made of softer and highly flammable plastic similar to napalm that was encased in a harder outer shell of correct UL approved kind of plastic used for electrical devices. When the inside went on fire it was just like napalm shooting through the holes of the harder outer shell. It melted all the metal parts of the device and the metal pins on the compressor. No circuit breaker were tripped and the compressor was fine except for the melted connector pins and yes, the tech recommended replacement using he same OEM start device.

Now do you still think I put any faith behind "recommended" devices or do you think I would ever replace the burned start device in this refrigerator with the same "recommended" OEM device?

Noexpert

[richappy]

Do a google search, in my professional opinion,and actual experience these 3 n 1 devices will destroy a modern R134A compressor, particularily when there is a power surge.
You are hinting the 3 n 1 is superior to other packaged devices, that is simply not true.