Refrigerator stopped working-HELP!
 

Well, Mercury must be in Gatorade or something wrt appliances today. First Scott’s dryer and now the fridge at the cabin stopped working. The freezer seems to still be working OK but fridge not cold. A whole bunch of food about to go bad.

It’s a plain Jane GE, still humming away but not cold. Any help appreciated!!
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1594595846.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1594595846.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1594595846.jpg

Can't help ya on this one. Need to now outlet temps to even start guessing.

The evaporator coils are under the floor of the freezer. Take the floor out of the freezer (it's held down by a few screws) and see if the evaporator is iced up. If it is, the defrost heater or the defrost timer might have gone out. Either way, you might get it working again if the coils are iced up and you can thaw them.

One friend suggested that the thermostat quit working. I would not know where to look for that. I have no way to measure temps but it’s basically warm inside. No refrigeration taking place. Thanks

A new fridge is a joy. Automatic defrost etc. And they use a lot less electricity than that one.

I spent a few years working on GE refrigerators in the early 70s. Yours looks familiar, but I don't know it's vintage. Anyhow, I NEVER had a call where the thermostat went out. 99% of calls were one of the first five below. The first five you can diagnose yourself.
The problems, in order:

1. Defrost timer stopped working. The result was the evaporator iced up and often broke the defrost heater (a glass tube with a heating element in it). The symptoms are evaporator coils clogged with ice.

2. The defrost heater burned out. The symptoms are evaporator coils clogged with ice.

3. condenser coils were clogged with dog hair and other crap. They are pretty good at dispersing heat even with a lot of crap on them, but there is a limit.

4. evaporator fan stopped working. The evaporator fan is in the freezer, under the freezer floor.

5. condenser fan (under the refrigerator, draws air over the condenser coils) burned out

6. compressor start relay not working

7. compressor burned out

The freezer may still seem to be working because the evaporator coils are in the freezer and the compressor and cooling system are still working. It sounds like an air handling problem. The refrigerator section depends on the evaporator fan blowing air over the evaporator coils and sending it down to the refrigerator. If the evaporator coils are clogged with ice the freezer will stay cold but the evaporator fan can’t move air over them to send down to the fridge.

The first thing you should do is take the floor out of the freezer and see if the coils are free of ice and see if the fan is running.

Go on You Tube - punch in your model. Something may turn up that helps. That's usually my first stop.

Alright! If you're gonna make it difficult, pull the fridge out, turn the thermostat to its coldest setting, make sure the compressor is running, touch the small copper line and see if it's hot. Touch the bigger one and see if it's cool. You mention that it's "humming away" which indicates the evaporator fan is working. How does the air feel coming into the refrigerator? Does it seem like the fan is moving enough air? If not, evap is iced up. Let it defrost and try restarting the fridge. If you have some frozen stuff in the freezer and a cooler, toss the perishable stuff from the fridge in the cooler with some frozen stuff from the freezer and let the fridge defrost.

Post a pic of model and serial #. WD covers most of it. There is also a fan that moves air between the freezer and fridge. If it fails the fridge gets warm. All the food probably needs to come out and go in ice chests while you troubleshoot and diagnose.

Is your refrigerator running?
……..

Ok, lets not go there but a good place to start with WD's list.

Get some ice and throw all the frozen stuff in a cooler. Unplug and open the fridge and freezer door.

After a few hours, plug it back in and see if it goes back to normal operation.
Defrost timer. Very possible.
Defrost termination switch. Could be
Evap fan. Maybe
That style of fridge there shouldn't be any fancy damper systems like some of the newer fridges have.
Never hurts to roll out and clean the condenser.
Small line hot bigger line cold (to the compressor).
Refrigeration is something we all take for granted until it doesn't work. Much like running water and electricity...

You guys are the best! I’ll unplug it and defrost it, see if that helps.

I unplugged it and emptied the freezer, floor is a skating rink. Can’t even remove those screws until I get it thawed. The vents on the floor are almost completely blocked w ice. Pretty sure this is the problem, thanks a million. Especially WD but everyone who posted. :)

Use a hair dryer to speed the process..

Clean the Freezer out, shop vac underneath and the coils. Make sure the freezer set is good. Thats how I milked ours until I spent 3500 on a new one!

The suspense is killing me! Fess up man! did ya get it working?

Years ago I had a great fridge that I bought used. It stopped making things cold. I found an appliance repair guy that came out and checked all the things on your list, and all was fine. Then he checked the thermostat. So he removed the thermostat and the probe went from one side of the fridge, up over the freezer and down the other side. He said "in all my years I have never seen that before" so he got it out, went the parts store and got the exact part, installed it, and it was a bad part. Once again he said "in all my years I have never seen that before" so off to the parts store he went. They had a second one and he got it exchanged. They bench tested it at the parts store. The second one was bad. So once again both he and the parts store guys said "in all my years I have never seen that before". They tested the last one in stock and it was good. He got it installed.

So I got a total of four "in all my years I have never seen that before" on repair from experts. My personal record.

What I loved about that fridge is is had an cold air outlet in the corner near a shelf. If I put a beer right in front of it it would chill it to have just a few ice crystals in it. Never freeze the beer, but just the perfect cold.

We had a compressor go out while under extended warranty and was replaced at no charge. The repair guy said people should ALWAYS buy the extended warranty when buying new. He said if this had been a service call and replacement it would have been a $400-600 bill.

You should NEVER (almost) buy extended warranty when buying new.

How about you provide a reason for why you believe this? :rolleyes:

Yep! Just checked it and all is cold again. It just needed a serious defrost, (and cleaning, of course), it's working like new!

Thanks again for the help, everyone. This place rocks for most any technical/mechanical problem on earth. :)

Damn it. You posted again before I got to ask if your refrigerator was running.

I believe it, and here's why.
I had a warranty on my furnace. Called the insurance company to get it fixed. Turned out the place they called wasn't even a repair shop - just a guy who had some contractors on the line that he could sub the job out to. He sent out a guy from 60 miles away because he was the lowest bidder. He got here, looked at the furnace, and declared that the problem was with the vent and vents aren't covered under the policy. I had to pay the $100 minimum charge and then find a local guy to come and fix it. Turned out the problem was a cracked heat exchanger.
A friend of mine had a water pump put in his VW Scirocco under warranty. They paid for the pump and labor to put it in, but would not pay for a broken stud, gasket, antifreeze, shop supplies or shop supplies. He saved some money, but they didn't "cover" the repair.

Most people who buy an extended warranty would end up with more $$$ in the long run if they didn't buy one.
An extended warranty is basically an insurance policy, with an unbelievable mark-up and a large portion going to commission. Almost pure profit.
Like double or better. Crazy expensive if you buy from the seller.

Iffn you are nervous about being in the very small percentage of people who would benefit from buying an extended warranty, you can buy a much, much cheaper version if you look around.
At credit union fer example.
On a used car you can usually get the same extended warranty from a credit union fer about half of what a stealer would charge.

Fwiw, the evaporator and fan were not under the freezer floor on this one but behind the rear wall of freezer. I did still have to remove the freezer floor, though, to defrost it. It was iced solid where it is supposed to have air passages(?), large baffles going front-to-rear.

Here is a photo of it, (before cleaning but after defrost), it was frozen solid everywhere under floor and up the back wall to the bottom of the evaporator. You can see the floor section on the kitchen floor in second photo:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1594651450.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1594651450.jpg

And a shot of the lake, just for the why not: :)
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1594651707.jpg

Good news is that it you can't fix it you can always use it as a boat anchor.

Check the defrost drain. It drains the water that is generated by the defrosting process out of the freezer and into a pan under the fridge. It's possible it is clogged with slime. A slimy kind of mold can grow in them and clog the drain. When this happens the frozen stuff in the evaporator area is ICE (as in frozen liquid water) as opposed to frosty stuff that looks like packed snow, which is what develops when the defrosting system isn't working.

You are right again! The drain was frozen solid...I did not know exactly what its function was until now. I poked around in it and chipped some of the ice out but I need to take it apart again and make sure that it's completely clear. I need a heated clothes hanger wire or something.

Thanks again. SmileWavy

That's true. Always looking for more boat anchors up here. :)

You guys gave two or more examples that have nothing to do with a kitchen appliance. Good try but your reasons don't fit the problem.

It's a rubber tube, so I would't jam a coathanger down it. I used a turkey baster to put hot water down it until it ran clear, then mix a teaspoon of baking soda in a cup of hot water and pour it down. There is a J-trap at the bottom and that is where the mold accumulates.

Yep, extended warranties, (really insurance policies), are almost never a good deal on consumer products. You would need to be a lawyer w mouse vision who can speed read 10k words a minute to even determine what most of them cover before hitting the *yes button* on the key pad when you're paying at the register and they are always a sucker bet in favor of the retailer.

Most so-called extended warranties on vehicles would require a complete engine or transmission grenade w proof of perfect maintenance to break even.

If a service policy on an appliance is reasonably priced and covers likely repairs without some hidden deductible or worm terms that exclude things that might break, then I say go for it. It all depends on the details. Most are a scam, at the end of the day. Just additional profit for retailers, pure and simple.

Maybe.
I have a 5-6 year old Samsung that had the same problem as Speeder, except the ice forms around the fan on top, stops the fan, and the fridge gets warm..

Seems like it's a very common occurrence.

Appliance and electronic warranties are hit and miss and usually overpriced and not worth it. I go case by case, though. At Magnolia (in Best Buy) they have an all-encompassing warranty with Best Buy's reputation behind it. I took it on my 4K TV setup because it wasn't expensive and I like the idea of the Geek Squad coming to my house to troubleshoot and replace as necessary. Some credit card benefits will double your warranty- I got a complete refund on a an early HD TV through that.

On cars it gets complicated. A lot of them are aftermarket "extended service contracts" that dealers sell with huge markups. I'm a fan of factory warranties if you know you're getting a good deal, which isn't easy to know. It is a form of insurance, of course. Just because somebody makes money on it doesn't mean it's not a good deal for you. What if Porsche offered an IMSB warranty for 10 years for $1,000, hypothetically? CPO warranties on cars are good deals. The dealer does it up front for a reasonable price, the cars tend to qualify for low APR financing as well. With Volvos, you can extend them, too. You can wind up with a car that has warranty for 10 years from the original sale date with either 100,000 miles or unlimited miles. They sell for about $3,500-4,000 including a healthy markup. For what they cover, plus peace of mind over a $15,000 engine or $7,000 transmission, I think they're a good deal. You will recover a big chunk of what you put in, anyway on some repairs.

They are a business. They have expenses and turn a profit. For every $100 they pay out they take in $120 in revenue.

For every person that receives more benefit than they paid it there are 10 that pay in more than they receive in benefits.

Fine, buy extended warranties. Buy lots of em, spend all the money you want.
Is that what you wanted to hear?

Don't buy one because the company makes a lot of profit from it. Sure seems like a good reason.

I wanted to hear a reason other than the company makes money from them. Which is not a reason not to buy one.

Like anything it depends on the details; the product and the coverage. Blanket answer of no, never buy doesn't really address the issue.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pr...bG-MoiLVVZEClX

:D

We have a similar refrigerator in the garage. It is about 18 years old. Same problem as OP’s 3 years ago. Watched a repair guy do the defrost. I now do it proactively each spring. No other problems since the.