Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!

[broddersbaldrick]

Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!

Hi Justino, I’m sure the 2uf cap is ok.
You have a faulty C3 too
It’s becoming quite common that this fails too.
C3 is like C2 on the rear board. 1000uf 6.3 volt 3.5 mm lead spacing.
Change that and all your flashing will stop (guarantee it)

Reddog, one can’t buy direct replacements for the front caps (unless you ship from China)

Buy a 2uf cap and wire that in place of C1, C2, C14 & C15
You may need to replace C3 the same as Justin.

Monday is the last day for first class mail so you may not get one before Christmas.
Special delivery is available up to the 23rd but costs more.

Hope this helps

Merry Christmas to all here and UKWhiteGoods specifically Mr K Watt 😀

Regards

Brodders

[reddog]

Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!

hi broddersbaldrick,
thanks for the message about replacing c1,c2,c14 and c15 with a 2uf capacitor. any ideas of a part no.
thanks again.
reddog

[broddersbaldrick]

Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!

Hi Reddog,

Farnell
Manufacturer: EPCOS
Order Code: 1200836
They are half price at the moment but you have to buy 2.

Just in case your C3 is on the way out, order a
Order Code: 9692738
Manufacturer: PANASONIC
Description CAPACITOR, 1000UF, 6.3V

This cap comes in a pack of 5, you can save some and maybe use one on the rear module too.

Hope this helps
Brodders

[raceboy]

Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!

Happy Christmas Brodders, I see your still helping fix Whirlpools left right and centre….

Mines still working as good as new thanks to you, once again a big thanks and have a nicely chilled Christmas and an ice filled new year. 🙂

[broddersbaldrick]

Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!

Hi Raceboy, wow, good to hear from you and it’s really nice that you have taken the time to write. 😀

Yes still helping many nice people; most are grateful and take the invaluable information from here and fix their Whirlpools.

You might have seen, some just want me to do all the work and seem to expect it of me. 😥

Anyway, thank you Raceboy, have a Merry Christmas and a Good New Year

Kindest Regards
brodders

[justino]

Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!

Just a word of caution to those replacing the electrolytic capacitors, C3 on the front board, and I think C2 on the rear.

Unlike some of the other capacitors which require changing to fix these Whirlpools, C3 and C2 must be fitted with the correct polarity.

I have found this out too late, only discovering the small printed positive on the circuit board and the ‘-‘ printed on the capacitor after I had made the swap and discovered a new fault. You have a 50-50 chance of getting it right if you don’t know this, but sods law I had mine the wrong way round having swapped C3 on the front board.

I have stopped the clicking and the ice maker etc now work fine, but after 3 or 4 minutes I get a CF display which Brodders kindly tells me is a communication failure between the front and rear boards, and the ice etc stop working.

I now have a new cap the right way round, but the damage may have been permanent. Fitting an electrolytic cap the wrong way round can cause a short circuit, and fry the power supply. I’m hoping this may be a simple fix of replacing a resistor, but if not I will have to live with the problem of no ice, not being able to vary the temperature from -18 or 5 (the default it goes to if communication is lost), but at least I don’t now have any clicking.

[woody30]

Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!

Hi Brodders,

Ex pat with a UK unit, had been doing all the noise carry on for a long while but I had just ignored it!!. Now as with others on the Forum the freezer temp alarm started and showed –.

I noticed that the compressor is not kicking in but the fan is running. I ordered the PCB repair kit but prior to it arriving I changed two of the 4 caps around and the compressor ran for a short time (1 Min) then stopped.

I have now fitted all the caps in the kit and again the compressor kicked in for less than a minute. You have talked about the Orange relay can you expand??, it looks like the compressor is just waiting for a signal to fire up.

40deg+ here tomorrow and my beer is getting hot……

[endor]

Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!

Hi,

I have a back and front board if someone wants it.
Its been in a whirpool side by side freezer.

I’m selling this since i didn’t want to risk being without a freezer if i would break it while repairing the caps. I bought a new samsung on sale.
The cards will most likely need replacing of the caps since i had problems with clicking.

I know i would bought somthing like this if it was available, that way i could analyze the parts needed and do the job in peace without preassure..

I’m located in Sweden so you’ll pay the freight.

I’m not sure about the price for them but i guess we can work something out if you’re interested.

Notes on the back of the rear board:
ISPRACONTROLS
08032407R4
220-240V 50Hz
T55

Notes on the IC on the rear board:
ITW ISPRACONTROLS
LOT. 30159*AJ DATE: 2203
220-240V 50Hz T55 R1
CU800000 491950209763

Front board is included in the whole front panel (with buttons etc..) tell me if you wan’t the whole panel or just the card.

Service tags & Serial of the freezer:

8586 152 01010
110323 009850

Model: S20B RWW20-A/G

If you want any other spares than the boards from my freezer, let me now now since it’s going to the scrapyard.

Please mail me on jonas (at) floppy.nu if you’re interested, or if you need more info or pictures – i’m not likely to return to this forum/thread too often. All respect to this great forum, it’s totally awesome. 🙂

[siddy]

Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!

Hi everyone new user here, like so many google brought me to this fantastic post, I spent all yesterday afternoon reading it. I have a Whirlpool S20B-RSB21A/G American fridge freezer and every couple of hours I get the ‘- – ‘reading on the freezer temperature display plus the beeping alarm. I have seen the ‘CF’ come up briefly when powering on . I don’t know if the ice maker works or if it will dispense water as we don’t have it connected to the water supply yet, but I can here a noise when pressing the water lever. We have only just purchased the fridge/ freezer on eBay so I’m not even sure how old it is. I don’t hear the beeping too much but my wife does and every night has to go down stairs 2-3 times to silence it. I am not an electrician, I am a joiner, but I can solder but not if my life depended on it. I have ordered the rear board repair kit from this site and ordered and received the caps for the front board from Farnell. I ordered what Broddersbaldrick told Reddog to order
Farnell
Manufacturer: EPCOS
Order Code: 1200836
They are half price at the moment but you have to buy 2.

Just in case your C3 is on the way out, order a
Order Code: 9692738
Manufacturer: PANASONIC
Description CAPACITOR, 1000UF, 6.3V

I ordered the 5.30 yesterday and they arrived 9.30 this morning wow!!! And free delivery too!!
So I am waiting for the kit to arrive to sort out the rear board. Meanwhile
I have the front board in front of me and can see C1,C2,C14,and C15. now I am uncertain what to do . I thought I would just need to replace each Cap for a new one but reading again the thread between Brodders and Reddog it seems I only need to take out C1,2,14,15 and replace with just one of the Caps I ordered from Farnell? (I suppose I’m really directing this to Brodders) I have read the post about keeping the polarity correct with the Panasonic Cap and have indeed seen the positive + on the board and the negative – on the side of the Cap so I wont make that mistake. Could someone put me right as to the other Caps, if I do only replace the 4 caps with the one new one where do I put it ? I would have 4 sets of holes to choose from.
Wishing you all a very happy new year
Regards Siddy

[jimfishboy]

Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!

Hi, just a note i had the flashing –, unplugging and leaving for a few minutes would reset the fault, but it kept to faulting after 1-24 hours.
Ordered the capacitors and within 5 minutes replaced them. Now works perfectly. Many thanks

[siddy]

Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!

Hi again, thought I would update.
I received rear PCB pack and installed all the caps and now I have C/F flashing all the time, all the fans and compressor work but door open L.E.D., ice crusher and water dispenser don’t and the infra red L.E.D. never did and as it isn’t hooked up to water don’t know if ice maker works. Freezer is keeping things frozen and fridge is keeping things cold but have no idea what the temp is, fans do cut in and out so something is doing something but not really sure what.
I have not replaced anything as yet on the front PCB and wont till I understand more as I don’t want to compound the problems I already have.
I keep reading through this post and it is very helpful in realising what functions the front and rear PCB’s control but don’t know where to go from here, I am tempted to buy a new rear PCB but experience tells me to learn more before I start throwing serious money at it.
I hate that feeling of complete understanding just after an irreversible decision has been made. And when you look back at the problem you wonder how anyone but a complete idiot could have missed it.
Besides that I now know that the rear board was made in 2002 and am worried about firmware compatibility with the front board.
I am now wondering if relays are part of my problem but that would not explain why I now have flashing C/F when before I simply had flashing –every now and again, I fear I may have damaged or accelerated the death of another part of the board.
I tried putting back all the original caps but still the same.
I have included pictures of rear board and as you can see it looks like every man and his dog has had a go at it in the past, and someone has even written in felt tip pen ‘possible C/F fault on it.
I noticed on my front board that I have the same type orange cap as on the rear board so that man or his dog has been sniffing around there too.
On a brighter note my good wife thinks I’m great because she no longer has to get up in the night to turn off the beeping noise because it always displays the flashing C/F and once silenced remains silenced.
Can these boards be easily tested by someone who knows what they are doing or would it have to be done by someone with specialist equipment, as I see there is a socket on the edge of the board which looks fit for this very purpose and can be accessed from the Tupperware container via a flap which I suppose a whirlpool technician would plug his tester into

[siddy]

Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!

pictures didnt upload, could someone tell me how to upload them and i will do it.

[creamytash]

Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!

Hi guys,
I have just created an account on here today – simply because I have a Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer and I have had some problems with it for a while – THEN – I discovered this fantastic site which I have been reading over the Christmas Holidays.
I have become aware from this site that on here are a couple of Masked Heroes who spend an awful lot of their own time helping others by way of sorting out problems with their fridge freezers thus saving them quite a lot of money and loads of grief and frustration.

I bought Whirlpool because I thought that they had a good reputation (you live and learn-and all learning comes with a cost). However – I am stuck with this beast having paid nearly £1,200. for it in 2007.

I don’t have any insurance on it – I did have but the company terminated it when they paid for a Whirlpool engineer to replace a ‘ Back Control Box’ and I then reported the ice maker had failed.
The model I have is; FR SS 36AF20/2A – the Product code is; 858619015012.

I have just spent Christmas day and Boxing day removing the interior back panel from the freezer side, removed the defrost heater element and the little fan from above the condenser (I am guessing at the names of these parts because I don’t know and I am just learning my way around). The heater element tested that it has a continuing circut and therefore should be working. The fan was also working.

I found the condenser – the bit that freezes- was a block of white ice from bottom to top – right up to the base of the fan.

My problem was that the freezer alarm kept sounding and showing the 2 hyfons in the display window while the fridge side was running an interior temp of 20 deg.
I defrosted the whole thing, mopped out the plastic tray underneath, put all the bits back together and fired up the power. Overnight the freezer has returned to normal temp -18, and the fridge is now running at 5 deg – but only just – seems to be struggling toget any colder.

In the past I remember the Fridge /Freezer unit used to make a lot of noise (like a motor running – growling ) but it now seems much more quiet – not sure if something within has stopped working.

The ice maker on the thing has not worked for over 18 months but the water dispenser is fine. The WP engineer told me at the time he replaced the back box that the ice maker needed a complete new unit at £500 and to wait 9 weeks from him replacing the back box before I reported the ice maker, that was when the insurance company cancelled my policy – hence it is still not working and by that I mean not delivering water to make the ice.
I must point out that I am not electrically minded and don’t undertand the lingo so I need the idiots guide and the baby words, so I can take it in.

My hobby is building and driving 2 seater Kit Cars but electrical appliances loose me.

On the positive side my son who is 29yrs is a switched on cookie with all that stuff and I am sure he will assist me and ensure that I don’t fry myself.
Thanks for reading this far and any help would be gratefully received.
Dave Ross ( Nottingham)

[woody30]

Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!

I think we may have lost all the guru`s………

Lets take a number and wait our turn……….damn it!! why do I always number 99.

Woody

[creamytash]

Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!

Het Woody – spin that number around mate – l@@k – you got 66 for a change – try and stay positive mate.
Creamytash

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