Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!

[eldar]

Re: S20B RSS31 A/G failing again.

eldar wrote:My trusty Whirlpool S20B RSS31 is failing again. The front panel is flashing about twice a second with a relay clicking, sounds like it is coming from the front board. Otherwise its working properly, cold enough and water and ice OK.

The front and rear boards were replaced a few years ago, together with the icemaker. Since then, I’ve replaced the capacitors on the rear board, as guided here with the kit on sale here, which fixed the last batch of problems.

Is this the front board, and can it be repaired, or does it need replacement?

Thanks.

Now fixed, required a replacement capacitor on the front board. Supplied, together with instructions by the ever helpful broddersbaldrick.

[upnadown]

Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!

Hi i have a Whirlpool fridge freezer Model no S20BRSB21-A/G the problem is the display has started to flash and click so i replaced the capacitors on the rear board but no change . Do i need to change them in the front board ? If so how do i remove it. I look forward to your replies.

[fridgedoc]

Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!

Hi you Friging engineers

Have now retired to France due to ill health but kept most of my tools, guy local to me has a Whirlpool S20E RWW2V-A/G which now blows trip, after power supply problems to house, most of my work was on commercial kit but I did repair a few american/canadian units but the build quality on this unit looks pretty poor, sorry I degress I checked the compressor all OK, ran a fly lead to it and it runs fine, went for the defrost heater but that seems OK tried to run unit with defrost heater disconnected it clicked a few times but did not run refitted the heater and it tripped instantly? I thought it strange it not running with the heater disconected but without a circuit diagram not easy to trace? I was going to ask if anyone had a diagram but after reading through these posts is it worth repairing?????? he has had 5years use out of it, he took out an extended warrany which has finished about a month ago and no one is interested in repairing it, if anyone has a circuit diagram just for my interest, to see if it is in the defrost circuit, I can see what I believe is a defrost thermostat (small plastic, square attached to evaporator)as well that could be faulty, but why did it not fire up when the defrost heater was removed???

Your answers on a postcard to:-

Only joking 🙂

[creamytash]

Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!

Hi, please read my thread 24/7/11 and you will prob want to contact brodders as I did.
creamytash

[crockett]

Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!

verry interesting reading

[broddersbaldrick]

Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!

Hi you Friging engineers

Have now retired to France due to ill health but kept most of my tools, guy local to me has a Whirlpool S20E RWW2V-A/G which now blows trip, after power supply problems to house, most of my work was on commercial kit but I did repair a few american/canadian units but the build quality on this unit looks pretty poor, sorry I degress I checked the compressor all OK, ran a fly lead to it and it runs fine, went for the defrost heater but that seems OK tried to run unit with defrost heater disconnected it clicked a few times but did not run refitted the heater and it tripped instantly? I thought it strange it not running with the heater disconected but without a circuit diagram not easy to trace? I was going to ask if anyone had a diagram but after reading through these posts is it worth repairing?????? he has had 5years use out of it, he took out an extended warrany which has finished about a month ago and no one is interested in repairing it, if anyone has a circuit diagram just for my interest, to see if it is in the defrost circuit, I can see what I believe is a defrost thermostat (small plastic, square attached to evaporator)as well that could be faulty, but why did it not fire up when the defrost heater was removed???

Your answers on a postcard to:-

Only joking 🙂

Good morning FridgeDoc,
You had the answer in your hand.
If the electrics didn’t trip with the defrost element disconnected, that is the fault.

It’s actually quite common on older units (5 to 6 years) and is the first thing to check if your RCD is tripping.
It’s 614 watts
85 ohms between contacts
SHOULD HAVE NO CONTINUITY TO OUTSIDE CASE!!!!!! Yours will have.

The circuit diagram won’t help, the defrost circuit is monitored by the Pic Processor as are 6 other circuits.

If the ‘defrost’ circuit is open circuit, it inhibits the compressor since it will only cause a rise in temperature in a few weeks if not working.

The little black box?
It’s a frost / ice sensor and 2 contacts close at minus 20 degrees.
If these are closed, the clock in the processor starts ticking.
The system will ‘defrost’ after 8 hours of compressor run time.
The heater switches on for 2 minutes, off for 2, back on for 2 until the frost sensor warms up to +3 degrees (+/- 3 degrees)
The black box also has a thermal fuse that blows at about 85 degrees C and will open the heater circuit.

Is a £1000 fridge freezer worth repairing after 5 years?
Yes of course; the heater only costs about £84 or less (see parts on this site)

http://shop.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/Refriger … eater.html
I hope this helps.

bb

[dorsetdrain]

Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!

Hi – I’ve got a Whirlpool S22DDSS23 american fridge freezer, which has the problem that both the fridge and freezer temperature LEDs flash and click about twice a second. (I can get them to stop flashing by pressing the “Vacation” button – but that only helped when we went on vacation!).
Other than that the fridge and freezer seem to work OK.

I can see that other people seem to have cured this type of problem by replacing capacitors (in the front board?) – but I’m not sure that they had the same model.

I do hope that someone can advise if there’s a simple fix.

P.S. – In case it helps, the two service numbers are 8586 160 15000 and 11 0442 005864.

[eldar]

Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!

The symptoms sound identical to mine – a different model number.

I suspect the boards are similar, if so a repair kit from ebay is about a tenner, assuming you are able to use a soldering iron.

Brodderbaldrick sells a kit with comprehensive instructions.

[Paulplumber]

Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!

Hi all, hope someone can help. I have had the usual problems associated with the s20brsb21 over the years and paid £100s having it fixed. This time I purchased a PCB repair kit (capacitors). The fridge has been spitting water from the dispenser, rear PCB clicking, freezer compartment icing up etc. Before I got the chance to change the caps, the freezer stopped working, defrosted and the usual alarm sounded. I changed over all the caps in the kit and refitted the board but the compressor isn’t working. It would appear the compressor stopped working before I changed the caps and suspect another part has failed? Both the internal and bottom fans are running. I have 240v to the compressor on L1 but nothing on L2. Any help gratefully received.

[admin]

Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!

Hi

Looks like the compressor has failed.dependent on where about in the country you live will determine the cost.

Bryan

[Paulplumber]

Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!

Bryan, thanks for that, I was thinking the compressor relay on the PCB. Do you know what voltage should be on the L2 terminal on the compressor?

[admin]

Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!

Hi

You should have live and neutral going to your compressor, live is through a overload.If the overload has failed then its normally due to compressor failure.

Bryan

[Paulplumber]

Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!

Hi Bryan, just proved compressor, it’s working fine. L1 is mains in, L2 is 240v from PCB to compressor.

[nandeve]

Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!

Firstly let me say what a really good forum this is, many worthwhile threads on issues and so much information. We too need help. We have a Whirlpool FRBB36AF/20/2 no. 858615815030 side by side fridge freezer that has developed the following fault over the last week;
The motor keeps running and the freezer temp displays flasshing – – then after about 12 hours the temp dislays -18 and the motor stops. After a little while, say an hour, the alarm is activated and the – – flashes again. The alarm can be stopped by pressing the OK button but the process starts again.
The dust has been cleaned from the grills and fan – not a lot as this is kept fairly clean anyway. As I write everything is now quiet, the motor has stopped and the temperature is reading -18.
Is this a capacitor problem or something much simpler or more sinister? Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks.

[nandeve]

Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!

An update on my previous post. SInce I wrote the fridge has defrosted and the freezer now has around 0.5mm of ice on the back panel. This has never happened before. We have also reduced the temperature on the fridge expecting that the motor would ‘kick in’ and the compressor start but neither has happened after around 1/2 hour. I’ll take the back cover off the freezer and clean, look at the tubes and clean any ice – will this cure the problem?

Thanks in aticipation..

[Author]

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