Whirlpool Side by Side Gold Series - circa 2010

Refrigerator & Freezer Repair
,
1

Hi All,

My neighbor insisted on replacing their very nice stainless Gold Series Whirlpool side by side because of a bad control board.

I am now troubleshooting it, and think I have determine the cause.

The control board seems to operate normally, except the power control relay did not work. I localized it as the issue by tapping on the relays - it would very momentarily operate - as evidenced by the condenser fan “twitching” - occasionally even running for a second, but then off. I pulled the board, removed the top of the relay and found the points on the powered on side charred liked from repeated arcing. Was able to restore operation by sanding the points and rebending the relay frame a bit. On this relay a magnet is powered and it operates against a plastic actuator to move the points.

This is not a permanent solution - only until I can order a new relay to repair the board.

My question relates to whether the board is operating normally otherwise. After cranking it back up and letting it run overnight, I reset the freezer and refrig to the warmest temp in hopes of observing the control board cycle the compressor off to allow the temps to increase - but, this has not happened. I can’t find much on how this SHOULD work … anyone know?

Thanks!

2

So, put a Ring camera on the area to observe - looks like the board is controlling the temperature by cycling the compressor and condenser fan off and on - this seems like normal operations. Will let it run for a few days to see if the evaporator heater is activating.

3

That’s some impressive troubleshooting sanding the relay points to get temporary function back shows real skill. I’ve seen similar control board issues where a bad relay or capacitor caused irregular cycling too. It’s interesting how even small electronic faults can affect performance, much like how fluctuations in the 18 carat gold price in qatar can impact market trends both need precision and timing to get right.

4

Sanding/filing fouled points common in old days on motorcycles, cars, etc … since the r /r worked doing this I bought another relay and soldered it in … unit is at a rental house in the garage and has running since the repair.