Our basement was flooded last week with around 10 inches of water. Our 5-year old Kenmore refrigerator located in the basement stopped working afterwards. After I pumped out the flood water, I opened the bottom panel on the refrigerator and plugged it in. The fan next to the compressor came on without problem. At the time, I didn't check to see whether the compressor was on as well; I just assumed everything was fine since the fan worked. One day later, I noticed the fridge wasn't cooling. I opened the back bottom panel again and noticed the fan was no longer running. The compressor was also not running and felt warm to the touch.

Is my compressor shot, or could it be a damaged relay, capacitor, or something else? Are compressors sealed enough to survive a water submersion from floods?

Please help. Any suggestion on what I should do next will be appreciated. Thanks.

Addition info: I just found out that if I start the fan rotating by pushing with a stick, it continues to rotate by itself. The compressor hums, but I don't think it's running.

Thanks for your reply. I've pulled the start device off the compressor. The start device is also connected to the run capacitor, which is sold as a separate item. Do you think I need to replace both? The compressor itself looks relatively well sealed against water penetration. Do you think my compressor is fine?

PS - The fan also plugs into the start device. Does the start device also control the fan somehow? I was wondering why the fan doesn't start running by itself when I plug in the electricity, but does run if I gave it a spin start.

Rich is right.

Odds are you need the compressor relay and the condensor fan motor.

That should get you up and running. :)

Matt