Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!

[Shaun1878]

Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!

I would like to offer a belated and much appreciated thanks to John (Brodders) for all his help toward me, and giving his time and knowledge in regard to this thread.

The last time I posted here was before christmas.
I took his advice, and bought the capcitors and relays from Farnell.

However, I never fitted them at the time, as I had a full fridge and freezer, and didnt want to gamble on a few bobs worth of food on my soldering skills.
Since then, I have done 2 defrosts, but still hadn’t put the new parts in.

I can now say I have done the work (Friday).
I replaced the caps on the back board (all of them this time) and all of the relays.
I also did the repair to the front board, using 2 one micro farads in parallel.

Well, what can I say, for the first time in about 3 years, the unit is working like new again.

I know it will take a few weeks to know if the compressor relay has worked, but I have a good feeling about it this time. Fingers crossed 😉
Once again, thanks John, you are a star.
Shaun

[broddersbaldrick]

Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!

Hi Shaun1878,
thank you very much for the mention.
In Mid January I had a job offer in Kuwait helping the Americans with their comms; so couldn’t spend the time helping people as I had done.
I met some very nice and friendly people here.
I was disappointed to pop home to the uk and find I had been taken off the mailing list from this forum.
I was more disappointed to see that a guy whom I’d been helping for hours and hours over Christmas didn’t mention I was out of the country neither did he mention how he so cleverly found he had blown up 2 signal resistors on the edge of his front board.
I helped him because I felt partially responsible for him not knowing an electrolytic capacitor with a minus marked on it is polarity conscious and would blow up his board if fitted back to front!
I’ve also had private messages from a retail company asking for me to diagnose problems with a few faulty units in their workshop!
This forum wasn’t a trade forum was it?
For all these recent reasons I am stepping down and will let others have a go.
Thank you to all I have met.
Regards Broddersbaldrick

[kwatt]

Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!

Hi Brodders,

You weren’t taken off anything I shouldn’t think but, like most forums, if you don’t look in you don’t get repeated topic reply notifications. Basically the system sends one and, if you don’t view the topic after that it doesn’t send any more until you next view that thread.

And no, this isn’t a trade forum, it’s a publicly viewable one. 😉

K.

[justino]

Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!

broddersbaldrick wrote:Hi Shaun1878,
thank you very much for the mention.
In Mid January I had a job offer in Kuwait helping the Americans with their comms; so couldn’t spend the time helping people as I had done.
I met some very nice and friendly people here.
I was disappointed to pop home to the uk and find I had been taken off the mailing list from this forum.
I was more disappointed to see that a guy whom I’d been helping for hours and hours over Christmas didn’t mention I was out of the country neither did he mention how he so cleverly found he had blown up 2 signal resistors on the edge of his front board.
I helped him because I felt partially responsible for him not knowing an electrolytic capacitor with a minus marked on it is polarity conscious and would blow up his board if fitted back to front!
I’ve also had private messages from a retail company asking for me to diagnose problems with a few faulty units in their workshop!
This forum wasn’t a trade forum was it?
For all these recent reasons I am stepping down and will let others have a go.
Thank you to all I have met.
Regards Broddersbaldrick

Brodders is referring to me.

I’m a bit flabergasted with the comments as I had thanked him many times personaly over email. In fact on the 9th of Jan I ended an email saying ‘Can’t thank you enough for the help and guidance’

I hadn’t posted on the board he was going to be away abroad as it wasn’t for me to advertise this fact for obvious security reasons. If he had wanted to tell people this it would have been easy enough for him to do. Imagine if I had said he was away for 3 months, and his house had been broken into whilst away.

On page 40 I posted up my experience in the hope that someone else doesn’t make the same silly mistake. I wasn’t trying to claim any bragging rights that I knew what I was doing. I’m sorry I didn’t reference Brodders who guided me through this, and it wasn’t my intention to claim I had discovered all this my self at all. If I’m daft enough to forget about polarity of an electolytic capacitor, I’m hardly going to be able to work out which resistors need replacing, and which ones to buy.

[psybear]

Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!

I hope I’m only posting for posterity and for the benefit of others who like me found this great thread after a Google search that to be honest I wasn’t that hopeful about.

I posted previously that my side by side Whirlpool FF starting doing this knocking noise a few months ago, as water was being dispensed, and the water itself came in pulses. It started as an occasional thing, then became much more common for it to happen each time the dispenser was used, and more recently, there has been a knocking coming from the rear of the FF even when not being used. I thought it was a water pressure problem, or a trapped pipe, and got as far as pulling off the bottom rear panel to check, before I read this thread.

My model is the FRSS36AF20/2A and service numbers are 858619015012 and 110704001802 – I mention these because almost everyone else here seems to have different models – mine was mentioned only as having a freezing problem somewhere in the thread.

Anyway, I ordered the repair kit from here, a solder pump and solder iron from Maplins and read all the posts. I managed to reove the wrong board initially – in this model there are two boards at the rear. The larger one (to the right as you face the rear) is the one to fix. Luckily the repair kit has very useful pictures and I could tell straightaway that the first board I pulled was not the right one. I removed the other one, and replaced the large C1 capacitor – my soldering skills aren’t great and I did find it fiddly (and nerve-racking!) but got it done and replaced the board.

I THINK that’s the problem fixed. Touchwood, but at the very least I don’t appear to have caused any short-circuit as everything has lit up the way it’s supposed to. The chattering normally goes daft now in the evenings, so time will tell. If it isn’t sorted, I now have a better idea of what I’m doing and still several more capacitors in the repair bag to try!

Thanks for all the advice here.

PB

[charlieboyy]

Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!

hello to all who have already posted to this thread.sorry for my ignorance if someone has answered this earlier and i missed it but i have some if not all the problems mentioned earlier(flashing temperature lights,cliking noises,spurting water etc) and im hopeful that someone may be aware of the model i have and if the repair kit from this site can fix the problem without having to purchace the backboard or as ive read earlier i need the front one aswell i think i purchased late 2003
my model is 8586 152 15001 11 0346 027797

many thanks charlieboyy 😆

ps. this is the first forum ive joined so be easy on me…………. 😳

[spencet1]

Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!

Lots of posts for replacing components on front and back boards – easiest if you are not competent is http://www.qer.biz/servReps.htm. Excellent and quick service and much cheaper than new pcbs….

[brucie24]

I was asked to look at a friends FF as the lights on front panel were strobing and had been for ever (though I didn’t know that at first.

I switched the machine off, changed the water filter as it had never been changed also. When switching back on the two green dots lit up on the display (standby mode?). Trouble is when pressing the stby button the display momentarily shows the temps and then immeadiately goes back to two green dots.

As you can imagine it now appears to them that I have totalled their fridge freezer!

the model numbers are:

8586 166 15000
11 0326 011771

Any advice would be very welcome. I dont want to have to tell them they need a new fridge or spend 200+ on boards. Am perfectly capable of changing circuit components but not sure if the ones mentioned in previous posts will apply to this problem?

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

Edit: Just to update I had a look at the rear board and from the pictures posted very early in this thread it’s a new type on ie caps are box type not round. After looking at that and switching on and off a few more times the FF seems to be working again just leaving the strobing/clicking as before I started. Something at least!

[Tommo50]

Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!

Okay, another frustrated Whirlpool American fridge freezer owner joins this very helpful thread! 😕 I suspect I have the common problem, but just need to check.

Model is a September 2006 purchased FRBB36AF20/2. Service number is 8686 158 15030.

The entire machine went dead at less than 12 months and had the PCB replaced under warranty. The repair man warned me about capacitor problems, and I might even still have the old board in the shed waiting for 4 new components.

It’s now started playing up again. The freezer temp alarm goes off and the food is softening. It tries, but cannot hold temperature. We’ve cleared it out and it can now hold -18C. The fridge side thinks it is holding 2C, but an independent thermometer says 10-12C. The fan is running and stops when the door is opened. I can’t hear the compressor, but it might be drowned out by the noise of the fan. If push comes to shove, I’ll pull it out of the alcove and check behind to listen what’s working and what isn’t. The water dispenser is working and (with the freezer empty) the ice maker seems to be squeezing a few out.

Two questions. Firstly, is my problem the PCB, and will the standard repair work? If not, what is it? Secondly, if the old PCB was completely dead, can I swap capacitors on that and have a go, or was the original problem more serious and I should just chuck that board away and do a repair on the one in the fridge?

Grateful for any help and advice, many thanks.

[mikeyg1967]

Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!

Brodders,

I read sadly your last post, and felt compelled to join this forum and post a reply. I bought your kit and fitted it a few weeks ago and my fridge now works like a dream. I had a bit of a panic when I thought the fridge would not work when I turned it on, and called you – where you advised that this is normal and after 15 minutes the compressor will kick in – which it did.

As far as I am concerned you are an absolute star who saved me a fortune, and have provided an excellent service to me, and reading through this thread to many other people. I am saddened that your help has not been fully appreciated and you have become disillusioned to the point where you wish to give up. I hope that you do not, however respect your decision.

Many thanks,

Mike

[charlieboyy]

Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!

hi spencet1,
thanks for the reply, i have just received my repair pack with the various caps. i tried your link you suggest but it didnt seem to work.sorry to be a pain but are you aware of any others that i may be able to try.

many thanks…………… charlieboyy:D

[mikeyg1967]

Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!

Not sure what capacitors you have, I got my kit from Brodders which came with full instructions and all the parts you need for the front and back board. Here is the link:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Whirlpool-Fridge- … 4cedf61851

If you search on e-bay for “Whirlpool Fridge Repair” this kit comes up. Worked like a dream for me. I replaced everything as John advised me to as he said that it is just a matter of time before all the components would fail anyway.

Regards,

Mike

[charlieboyy]

Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!

hi mike,
my thanks to you for your reply to my post.
got the repair kit from this site. kit has all the caps for the back board which i have now replaced with a little(big) help from my dad.
fridge now quiet again with very low clicking when listening close to front panel. the only problem that seems to now exist is the constant flashing(bout 6 per sec) of the temp display.
from your link i found the repair kit that maybe will finally fix the bane of my life for last year an half(now believe the c3 cap on the front board may be my problem). have to say that having read all the posts(think atleast twice) and visiting my local app. repair shop think whirlpool should be offering alot more help than what they are…………
finally one last thing. glad to see the name of the seller of the repair kit you suggested. by all accounts (brodders) a very knowledgeable man on this subject and i have great hope that he will fix my problem. thanks again charlie 😀 😀

ps.wil post the results whatever they maybe…………………………………

[justino]

Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!

mikeyg1967 wrote:Brodders,

I read sadly your last post, and felt compelled to join this forum and post a reply. I bought your kit and fitted it a few weeks ago and my fridge now works like a dream. I had a bit of a panic when I thought the fridge would not work when I turned it on, and called you – where you advised that this is normal and after 15 minutes the compressor will kick in – which it did.

As far as I am concerned you are an absolute star who saved me a fortune, and have provided an excellent service to me, and reading through this thread to many other people. I am saddened that your help has not been fully appreciated and you have become disillusioned to the point where you wish to give up. I hope that you do not, however respect your decision.

Many thanks,

Mike

Mike

Brodders help was appreciated, I told him so in many emails. He has misunderstood my earleir post with photos above. He thinks I am trying to take the claim for fixing the blown resistors. The fact of the matter is I was daft enough to fit a capacitor in reverse polarity that blew the resistors, so I’m hardly trying to portray my self as a genius. I explained this fully in my last post and have emailed Brodders to explain further, but haven’t had a reply.

Nice link to the ebay advert!

I can do no more.

Justin

[mikeyg1967]

Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!

Justino,

I was not having a poke at you (or anyone else) so hope you are not offended, I just wanted to say thanks to brodders really.

I couldn’t have fixed my fridge without his help. I have no real electrical/electronics knowledge and am not able to diagnose faults on componenets as complex as the fridge boards but I can do a bit of soldering. He did all the hard bit working out the issues, getting the parts together and helping people like me fix their issues.

Top bloke.

Mike

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