Howdee all.
We have a not entirely old Sears KEnmore 3 door bottom freezer refer.
The other day I noticed it making a noise that I had thought was working harder than normal on the water line-- pump or something.
Tonight, my wife pointed out that the freezer was no longer working, and the refer part wasn’t as cold as normal.
As our last refrigerator lasted some 25-30 years, this is more than a little disappointing…
Any ideas on what it could be?
Does this model usually quit so young in its life?
The problem I had thought it was was the ice maker pump. It sounds like a motor that can’t quite start. It’s like there’s a whine, and then a switch/relay that clicks that causes it to stop.
Help… please.
TYIA.
Ok, I found out that we bought this in May 2004.
I also pulled the freezer drawer out, and found that the noise is coming from underneath the refer.
If the clicking noise is from the compressor in the back, probably from a bad compressor start device behind the compressor side cover. Order it here,AP4079373.
If it looks different than the one on the compressor, let us know.
Morning Rich,
Ok, this was the same part I thought it would be, after reading some of the other discussions on it.
Well, I ordered the part, so we’ll find out this weekend…
Thanks for your time.
Enjoy your day, an the rest of the week.
Hi,
Ok, the parts just arrived
Where is the location for this part?
On the bottom? from the back?
I see what appears to be a service access door at the bottom of the unit, in back, is that it?
Anyone got a service manual for this unit? Please???
Thank you.
Ok, opened up the back panel, found the compressor, and on the left side of the compressor is a device which looks like the compressor start device. I’ve removed it. It appears to match. All the #'s match. The girl I’m talking on the phone say they match, so that part looks good.
The problem that I am now having is that I can’t get the pins to line up.
The first thing I notice about the bases of the two start devices is that the older one is shorter in height, and narrower in width than the new one.
The next thing I notice is that the width difference is all in the top side of the base. I was able to remove the old easily enough, but now I can’t even align that back up to get in place, to have a sense of how to do the same to the new one.
Help… any input will be really helpful…
Alright. I figured it out. I had tried aligning it horizontally, instead of vertically. This device is to be inserted vertically-- NOT horizontally.
doh!
howdee all.
Last month I came in and posted the above thread on a dead refrigerator. as you can see I bought the capacitor, and it seemed to work fine. This past week that noise I’d described began again.
I checked the refrigerator when I’d hear the noise, and it still was cold. The freezer was working too, but now, this evening, the ice has melted, frozen deserts are melted, and the noise just keeps happening.
Help…
Thank you.
Is the noise a clicking sound from the compressor?
Morning Rich.
I have no idea where the noise is coming from, except that it’s the identical noise as before. It cycles, it sounds as though the compressor is trying to start, and then stops, tries to start, and then stops.
Like a noise starts, and then can’t accomplish it’s goal, an gives up. It starts again. The noise kept getting louder, more pronounced, and just kept doing it over and over.
It is the exact same noise as before. All the cycling, sound, type, properties of that noise are identical to what was happening back in June.[quote=richappy;491729]Is the noise a clicking sound from the compressor?[/quote]
this is just plain weird on so many levels…
This morning I turned the freddie back on to 4, and no noise, no cycling of sounding like it’s trying to kick start and fail… My father in law came out an hour ago and said it’s at 35degreesF.
My wife now wants to put everything back, and I’m waiting for an answer, so we don’t have to move it all again…
You probably have a hard starting compressor that starts when the line voltage is high, but has trouble when the line voltage is lower.Probably damaged start winding. An amprobe would confirm this.
Hi Rich.
Thanks for the timely response.
Ok, went to my local HD store and talked with the electrical guy-- he’s a contractor too, so he has been helpful over the past few years.
He showed me the different probes and meters, and those were all out of my budget. He then showed me a plug-in meter which tells the various electrical data. It’s called a P3 4460 Kill-A-Watt EZ.
My voltage is 121.6, the power factor is .96, the VoltAmps is 130, and the amperage was 1.06-1.07.
It’s still presently working-- no clipping/pinching (an electrical pinch is what the noise reminds me of) type noises-- so I’ll keep an eye on it.
what’s next?
I have a capture and hold amprobe that will display the starting current peak. This is the only way to determine status of the windings. Your measurements are “normal”, it’s only at startup you have problems.
Hi again Rich.
Ok, Please tell me what tester tool I’ll need for this.
I saw some testers, ammeters, voltimeters, etc.., and the price ranged quite a bit. I don’t know any sparky’s from whom I could borrow, or buy them some beer/dinner to come and test for me.
The contractor/sales guy at the local HD showed me a amprobe, and it was $60.00.
While that’s less than a new compressor, it’s still above my budget-- especially since I wouldn’t use it more than a handful of times over the next few years.
Thank you.
Well, about 2 hours ago it did the “pinch” sound again, and when I realized what was happening, I ran over, had to turn on the light to read the meter, and just as it ended, I saw it read 0.20 amps.
There’s been no episodes since.
Oops… I lied. It JUST now did one.
I got there in time, and the high amperage was 9.4-9.8, and upon finishing, it dropped back to the 0.20 amps.
Any ideas?
You still have a hard starting compressor. For an R134A system compressor, there is not much you can do about it. A lower resistance start device might help, but you run the risk of it failing later.
Ok, so are you saying that my compressor has gone bad? I don’t know what the rerigerant used is. I know that for cars they changed over to 134a back in the 90’s.
But for freddies… don’t know.
I would measure the freezer temperature, in addition, you might have a refrigerant leak.
Hi.
Ok, yesterday afternoon, after I’d turned it back on from Friday night’s crash, my father in law came out around 11:30 yesterday morning, and said the freezer temp was 21. I just dropped our cooking thermo. in and the ice is still frozen, looks crisp- no rounded corners, as though it was melting…
I’ll post back in 10 minutes with the freezer temp.
As far as refrigerant leaks, I know that that stuff causes serious respiratory distress, and as my wife has asthma, I’d think we’d already noticed that just because of her.
Beyond her, how could I tell?
Ok, it’s been about 15 minutes-- 0.00F degrees. Give or take a degree or two. It’s a commercial meat thermo. so I’ll assume it’s accurate (my father in law is a retired chef, and kept all his “tools.”).
Ok, seems like there is no refrigerant leak, and when the compressor runs, it’s performing “normally”, and will probably not waste a lot of energy, ie, good for a beer fridg. but not a primary one, could not trust it to preserve food.
Ok.
This of course is not what I want to hear.
What else can I do to resolve this?
A replacement is not in the budget. Our last Freddie was 5-10 yrs old in 1977, and we replaced it with this one in 2004.
