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Hi all,
Last night my American Style Fridge/Freezer/Ice/Water despenser tripped the electrics. It now continues to do so whenever it is plugged in.
After removing the back and disconnecting certain wires to try to isolate the problem I have managed to get it to come on again, but it only ever lasts about 30mins until it trips the electrics again.
I found a little turn-switch underneath the freezer that needs to be turned (it makes a small clicking noise whilst doing so) until it makes a loud click. I need to turn this each time otherwise the when I get the fridge/freezer to come on only the lights come on and the condensor doesn’t operate, I assume this is some sort of resettable fuse device.
As the condensor does operate for some of the time, I’m assuming this is operating okay and that there is a power problem, however i can’t actually work out where the main circuit board (relays, triacs, whatever it is they have in them) is.Any advise on this problem will be gratefully received.
Thanks
AndyRe: Amana SRD5265S dead??
After a bit of investigating, I have narrowed it down a bit.
I disconnected both the compressor and the fan (the fan piggy backs off of this). It still trips the RCD. Also the compressor measurements are as follows:
Live->Motor run/start ~ 15ohms
Neutral->Motor run/start ~ 15ohms
Neutral->Live ~ 6.5ohmsSo with no open circuit, and the fridge still tripping the electricity I am certain the compressor/condensor is not at fault.
The switch that turns and clicks underneath the fridge that i mentioned earlier is a “kind of” relay. It takes a connection from both thermostats, and the live connection, and then outputs the live connection, so it switches the compressor on when it is required.
My next course of action is to test the motorun capacitor for leakage (it currently reads a constant 15ohms across the terminals, and then to inspect the relay switch I was just talking about, although this i assume to be fine because it shouldn’t trip the electrics if failed (there’s no ground connection for earth leakage and it only carries the live wire).
I doubt it’s going to be either of these, but if I can bypass the thermostat connections from the switch then I can eliminate the thermostats. If nothing is wrong with these then I’m going to have to take apart another part of the fridge and look at the controller board.
Does all of this sound logical? I have an electronic engineering degree so I’m fairly clued up electronics, especially safety when working with such.
Thanks,
AndyRe: Amana SRD5265S dead??
Hi Andy,
the lack of responses is probably due to the fact that we rarely see Amana in the UK.
As far as I am aware spares and service info is only available from Bradshaws (not a nice company to deal with from bitter personal experience in court) and they are very expensive to use for spares or service. But they’re about your only hope for info, http://www.bradshaw.co.uk/
Hope that helps
K.
Re: Amana SRD5265S dead??
I found a little turn-switch underneath the freezer that needs to be turned (it makes a small clicking noise whilst doing so) until it makes a loud click. I need to turn this each time otherwise the when I get the fridge/freezer to come on only the lights come on and the condensor doesn’t operate, I assume this is some sort of resettable fuse device.
This is the defrost timer… It will run the compressor for eight hour and then the defrost heater for 20 minutes. If the defrost timer was in the defrost position when you first found it, I would check the Main heater and Defrost termination stats for earth leaks.
I don’t recognise that model (not SRD526SS is it?), but on the 520’s a common fault was that the thermostat Capillary tube runs very close to the tags and can move slightly causing a short to earth. I have also seen the push block connectors (freezer section) melt and short while giving no external evidence that they have failed.
Re: Amana SRD5265S dead??
Hi,
Many thanks for the replies, I just worked out it was the defrost timer.
The fridge was tripping the electricity regardless of the position of the defrost timer. I disconnected basically everything one at a time and tested it, and found that the fault is definitely in the automatic defrost section.
The fridge freezer is now on and functioning but only with the 2 push block connectors removed from the system, the connectors connect what i believe is the 2 heater elements and the 2 capillary tubes (are these the tubes that go from wires into a black tube?).
This would suggest that your suggestion that the capillary tubes running too close to the tags and shorting could be correct, I will try this next. What are the “tags” by the way? 😀The heater elements don’t have an earth connection, but am i right in thinking that the casing is earthed with the tubes and if the elements fail they can short to earth inside?
It also could be the fan, I can’t test this on it’s own as it only runs when the defrost section is connected.The model is SRD526S/W if that helps?
I’m not really sure how this system works, before I assumed that the the heater elements simply heated up the pipes for a while and defrosted them, but the wires coming from the heater elements and leading into a ring of black tubing makes me think it’s a little more complicated than this 🙂
Many thanks,
AndyRe: Amana SRD5265S dead??
Hi again, last post i promise 🙂
I’ve read up a bit and now know how the defrost elements and thermostat capilliary tube works.
The thermostat capillary tube measures 119ohms across it, it also is NOT shorting to earth.
Of the 2 heating elements, 1 has a high resistance (in the megaohms), whilst the other measures 0ohms, neither seem to be shorted to earth.
I’m guessing from this that the element with 0 resistance is at fault (If it measures 0 how would it use electricity to heat?).Does this sound feasible?
Thanks,
AndyRe: Amana SRD5265S dead??
Okay, it looks like i was a bit confused before.
What i thought was 2 heater elements are infact 2 thermostats. 1 is a normal thermostat, the other is a safety thermostat. I assume both of them are supposed to close under roughly 50o mark. One seems to close only when the temperate drops below freezing, so I will add this to my replacement parts list just to be on the safe side.
What i thought was the gas filled capillary tube is infact the heater (it’s a wierd looking heater element). This measures 119ohms with no leakage to earth, but seeing as the freezer works with this disconnected, I assume it is at fault (I can’t see how this is tripping the electricity though when it still measures a resistance and there is no shorting to earth, although a shorting may occur when it draws the full 500watts).
Therefore I have also added this to my replacements parts list and I will get an engineer out to fit the heater element (does it really require an engineer?).
Thanks for this useful forum, it’s amazing how much you can learn about an appliance through a bit of research.Thanks,
AndyRe: Amana SRD5265S dead??
Elaar,
Thermostats are either open (infinite ohm reading) or closed (zero ohms reading), when split from the circuit. You need to do (or have done) an insulation test on the element. A multimeter cannot generate sufficient current to do this.The capillary should be completely isolated from any electrical circuit. The tube itself should not show any connectivity to anything else.
Regards,
Penguin45.
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