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F47  
#1 Posted : Thursday, March 26, 2015 5:20:35 AM(UTC)
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F47

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Hello,
I have an ancient side by side fridge that has stopped cooling on three occasions in the past 3 days.

It is an Inglis Royal 100. Model # FS99801.

We keep this fridge in the basement as a second unit. Initially I cleaned off the condenser coils and that seemed to help. After doing that the compressor was quite hot, and the coils were as well. However it seemed to return to normal operation.

The next day, it had another warming incident. The compressor and evaporator fan was running, but the fridge (and freezer) were warm. That time I advanced the defrost timer until the unit clicked off. Then I advanced it further until it restarted. It returned to normal operation. The following day the same episode happened, and advancing through the timer stages appears to correct the problem.

I assumed that perhaps the defroster was sticking in the on position, however at each warming event, the evaporator fan was running. It is my understanding this should not be the case.

Could the compressor behave in such a way that it cools intermittently, even when running? It appears to start without difficulty, even though we end up with a warm fridge in an intermittent basis.

Sorry, I don't have the proper model and serial numbers, but it is very old. I have had it for 35 years.

My wife has a solution... buy a new one. That might be the best answer, as I am sure it is inefficient by today's standards. but I am puzzled by its behavior. (and I like keeping old things running)

Any advice would be appreciated.
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F47  
#2 Posted : Saturday, March 28, 2015 8:43:13 AM(UTC)
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F47

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Hello again,

Well did not receive any replies, so next step is a new fridge.
My curiosity kept me trying to figure out what was happening.

This fridge cools intermittently, and returns from normal cold temps to room temp, with the compressor running steady. Turning the timer switch to the point where it clicks off and enters defrost mode seems to restart the cooling process after it advances through the defrost stage.

Still wondering if the compressor is failing, even though it starts fine and runs most of the time, due to the warming spells. It does shut off if it reaches the proper cold temperature before a warming spell occurs.

Curiously, the compressor is always running when the cooling process ends, fans are blowing warm air. There is no evaporator freeze up whatsoever and the defrost heater appears to work.

Can a compressor fail in this intermittent manner?

Won't matter much longer as my wife loves to shop for new stuff. She is on a mission now. Frankly, it would annoy the hell out of her if I found a solution. Mainly I am hoping someone can provide an explanation as to the erratic behavior and perhaps confirm these symptoms are consistent with compressor failure. (I assume if it is running... it should always be cooling.. which it is not)
denman  
#3 Posted : Sunday, March 29, 2015 2:12:27 AM(UTC)
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denman

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[COLOR="Blue"]Can a compressor fail in this intermittent manner?[/COLOR]
Yes it can or at least your unit proves that it can.

If a compressor is running, it should be cooling (frosting up the evaporator coils). Yours does not do this so it is a sealed system problem which is an expensive repair.

Note that it does not matter if the problem is in the compressor or the somewhere else in the sealed system, it will be expensive.
THIS FORUM IS DEAD!!!!!!!
F47  
#4 Posted : Sunday, March 29, 2015 9:04:24 AM(UTC)
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F47

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Thanks Denman,

I will have to relinquish my attachment to this fridge, which has been with me since 1978! It was a pretty high end unit in its day and a testament to the quality back then.

My wife ordered a new one yesterday. You would think we could live with one fridge, but I guess we can't.

I appreciate you responding. It seems that if I manually advance the timer to the defrost stage about every 6 or 7 hours and let it cycle through that, it keeps running cool. It has an 8 hour timer. That is probably a coincidence. Just curious as it acts completely normal, then on occasion runs warm. It will not cool again unless I advance to defrost to shut it down temporarily. Then it seems to be happy again.

At any rate, I appreciate your reply.

Thanks!

Wayne
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