"Refridgerator compressor has to be changed"
 

The Maytag died yesterday.
It was 3 years old. It cost $850.
The 1 year factory warentee had expired and I didn't buy an extended.

Apparently, a small discharge tube from the compressor which dips through a water catch pan rotted and/or broke. The pan was filled with a green film(copper oxydation I assume), and there was oil all over the lines.

Cost to repair: $740.

The repairman said the $330 compressor has to be replaced because it's a sealed system and water has contaminated it. It can't be flushed and reused.
Is this accurate?

Get a new fridge at that price.
There is probably a few reasons why the appliance guy wants to put in a new compressor.
R134a uses polyoester oil and it is highly hygroscopic. Hard to get moisture out unless the system is completely flushed and a new oil charge installed. The oil charge is in the new compressor. Since the old one pumped out (some/most/all/none?) running with a broken discharge line he would have to add oil. Too much = bad = Too little
There will probably be no warranty if you choose to repair the line and install a new pencil drier.
I am not saying that it isn't doable. If it were mine I would fix it and see what happens. If I had to pay someone to fix it, I would probably get a new fridge....
Ask him how much it would be to repair the line and change the drier.
Nasty that it failed so soon. I would contact the manufacturer and see what they have to say about it.

Buy a new one with a warranty. Check the warranty on the old one first.

Thanks for the explaination Bill. I went ahead and o.k.ed the repairs, but wondered about what was involved in the fix.
Good to know.

Lost a hundred bucks in food, that happens, but a new fridge to fit the location would have been much more. Just a little shocked at the price versus new.

There's no reason why a 3y.o. fridge should fail like that. I'll contact the manufacturer.
Are Maytags a decent brand in general?

Did you pay with a credit card?

Many cards double the manufacturers warranty - some add 2 years.

Worth a call to the CC company.

Never heard of using R134a in a refrigerator...

do they?

I would have just fixed the break, added valves and pumped it out for a day. Recharge it and you are good to go. I would have done that for 125 bucks. Paying 700 dollars for a repair on a 3 year old ,800 dollar refrigerator is not good advice.

They have been using 134a for almost 15 years.

Just some more info. some assumptions: The failure was the break. The unit stopped cooling as soon as the line broke. If these assumption are true then the compressor is good and there was little time for the system to pick up dangerous amounts of water, especially on the discharge side.

Yes sir. R134a is an R12 replacement.

well, you know the quote about a fool and his money....lol.


I understand the repair company's logic in not wanting to deal with unknown variables, but the compressor was running very quiet after the failure.
The serviceman even told his boss over the phone that he could barely hear it.
(I had unplugged the fridge so it wouldn't run dry pumping air. )

The company provides a 90 day warranty: Tail light guarentee.

Can the system/compressor be drained of oil and flushed, then the factory amount re-added? What is involved?

I have to make some hundred dollar decisions today. Thanks for the info.

Does a refrigerator have a low pressure switch or did the compressor run without oil for a long time?

Can't a vacuum be pulled on the system to get the moisture out ?

I doubt you lost to much oil. How much did you lose or wipe up? The unit just failed when the line broke, so the system has been open maybe 24 hours before you found the failure. You have nothing to loss by just repairing the line, pulling a vacuum for a few hours and recharging the system, approximately 5-5.5 oz of 134a. Based on the info..... I telling you that compressor does not need replacing or the oil changed, maybe add a little(depending on the amount lost) .
The refrig does not have pressure switches its a simple cap tube system. .

Not sure about the switch, I'm assuming it has one.

The fridge ran overnight and was unplugged the next day. We had both assumed the watery ice was from the freezer drawer left open.
The compressor ran very quiet as normal when restarted. I'm assuming this indicates the bearings/etc. are still o.k.

Update: Just got off the phone with the young serviceman. He handed me off to a senior tech who will call back tomorrow. The water in the system is not completely flushable so he said. I assume they'll want to sell me the $330 compressor to make sure their end is covered. But with a month or so guarentee, that doesn't much have legs a few years from now.

[/rant] thx for listening to this petty home appliance debacle.

Not much, I think.
There were a few tubes with oil on them, but the drip pan underneath only had the green film(looked like a dry powder at a glance).

Is there any way to tell how much oil is actually in the system?
Are all refridgerant oils compatible?

All domestic refrigs use 134a have for over 15 years. R12 was used before about 1992. R22 and R11 are used in air conditiors and dehum.

John, I can only represent my experience, I have worked on hundreds of these systems. These compressors hold 240ml of ester oil, if you just wiped off a little on the tubes and evap tray, you have not lost any significant amount of oil. At this point given the other two options this is a easy decision.

The only concern would be the water contamination issue and the nature of this failure doesn't make this much of a concern. I would fix the corroded line, add the low side service valve( adding a high side service valve would help the pull down, but is not necessary), insure good, leak free solder joints. DON'T USE SOFT SOLDER, USE SILVFLOSS OR SILVER SOLDER. Hook the system up to a good two stage vac pump. Let it pull down for a good 8 to 12 hours, longer the better. Every few hours knock on or shake the compressor, helps remove trap refrigerant and water. After the pull down add the required 134a refrigerant ( at the low side valve with the unit running), the correct amount will be listed on the model tag in the RC. If you can't find the amount add 5.5 oz.

Of course you probably do not have this equipment, but this is what any service guy can do technically, that is if he wants to .... Good luck.

Thanks romad.
I'll talk to the tech next morning. Hopefully the compressor won't have to be changed. I'd rather pay an hour or two labor than buy a new compressor that costs half the price of a new fridge.

If not, you got a 3y.o. decent compressor in the mail.

Good advice....
An occasional sweep with dry nitrogen to atmospheric pressure will help bring some moisture out. A couple of changes of vacuum pump oil will show moisture in the oil if there was moisture in the system.

Once wet pololester oil, will not release moisture contained in it but like one of the others here mentioned it would be unlikely that water would have gotten in.

Actually I do, but I can't sell it

An apology for the blog-like nature of this thread.
With my powerwasher going out: http://forums.pelicanparts.com/off-topic-discussions/613198-how-did-i-destroy-my-powerwasher.html, this has been my month of navigating incorrect data systems.
I'm hope other Pelicans can learn from this.

The repair company(which came yesterday) was refered to me over the phone by Maytag customer service.
He found the copper pencil line dryer had corroded and broken.
I confirmed.
"Whirlpool should never have run those lines through the water. I've seen a lot of similar repairs."

I'm unfamiliar with what constitutes proper refrigerator engineering, but this seems like an obvious design flaw by an experienced company.

I googled Maytag refrigerator recalls, and there was a 1.6 million recall due to fire hazard. None for my model.
This is not to pick on Maytag/Whirlpool, I'm sure other brands have had problems.

Whirlpool does have a 5 year parts-only warranty on most components within a "sealed system", but repairs have to made by an Authorized Service Agent. Getting the phone representative to verbally confirm this warranty was like picking teeth.

I was told that repair company wasn't authorized as of the beginning of this year.
Apparently Maytag's data system hadn't been updated, so that $70 service call was wasted.

Receipt in hand, I told her the exact purchase date(2008).
In their system they had my purchase date listed as 2007. I had purchased a Hotpoint(GE) from Lowes around that time, so perhaps that bad data got transfered to Maytag's system.
Whatever the case, having the original receipt was crucial.

I scheduled an authorized service appointment.
The earliest date will be next friday. Ten days!
At least the parts are covered.