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Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!
mike5058 wrote:Hi All
Hope you can help.
Have had same problem with clicking on fridge/frezzer but put up with it.
About 6 weeks ago display showed dashes, so got the kit from here to replace the caps. Done it and clicking gone and ice maker working fine.
Fridge and freezer were still not working correctly and found that cooling unit in aback of freezer was iced up solid. Defrosted and all was well for couple of weeks the unit was again block of ice. Freezer does not seem to be doing a defrost. Element is ok as I have tested what controls the defrost and can you manually turn it on to check it?
Any ideas would be greatThanks
Mike
Sounds like the Orange Compressor relay may be latched on.
Test it out of circuit or just replace it – it is the most likely culpritRe: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!
creamytash wrote: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)Hello Creamytash
You need to check that the motorised baffle is letting cool air into the fridge. If not, it may be faulty. (Check previous posts on how to check this) If you had to do a manual defrost, it suggests that the auto defrost is not working. Have you had to defrost again since the last time ? If yes then, there is a problem, although you say that the back board has already been replaced so it is unlikely that the Orange compressor relay has failed. When you say that the fridge is at 5 degrees, how did you meaure that ? The temp indicator on the front panel does not show the actual temp, only the temp that you set it at. You should be able to drop this down to say 3 or 4 degrees and then the fridge should get colder.
Remember that this may take a while though.
Hope this helps
RegardsRe: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!
woody30 wrote:Okay how about this for positive, spin only the first number round….yee ha!!!
Right enough of that, my beer is getting warm lets get back on topic, can anyone specifically help with the red relay function on the back board, all the clicking has stopped since the caps were changed and I can get the compressor to work (once after turning on the fridge), but it turns of at random times and does not start again.
Cheers, cheers
Hi Woody
I would replace the Orange Relay as it is the most likely cause of your problem, given that the compressor appears to be working.
The Fan next to the compressor should also be running when the compressor is on. If not, the compressor will overheat and stop.
You will find the details of this Relay in previous posts.
Good LuckRe: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!
Maybe a stab in the dark but I seem to recall mine doing something like that and the problem was the electrolytic capacitor on the front board.
After replacing it, the thru hole plating on the PCB had burnt off so there was no continuity between the front of the board and the back where the capacitor is mounted.
Soldering the front pads as well as the back fixed the problem.
Maybe worth checking ?Re: Westinghouse Wall Oven Flame Problem
Surely somebody has an idea of how high the flame should be ?
Anyone ………………..?Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!
Sorry Brodders – I did not mean to offend you.
I didnt know that Electrolytics needed a certain percentage of their rated voltage to operate correctly. Thanks for the lesson and maybe it will help others to understand the importance of using the right replacement parts.
RegardsRe: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!
Hi Brodders
Hope you dont mind, but I am puzzled by your comments about a capacitors working voltage.
I have never had any problems substituting capacitors with far greater working voltages in the past. Also a search of google shows no indication either that using a capacitor with a larger working voltage can be detrimental to the circuit operation. On the contrary, most references only state that the working voltage must be greater than the operating voltage by 50{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} or so. This depends on the application and the amount of AC ripple present.
Sorry, I dont mean to be argumentative, but I am concerned that people may assume that problems are due to the capacitor working voltage instead of something else.
RegardsRe: Whirlpool S26S5DF side-by-side
G’day
Not sure if you have already found this thread, but here it is anyway
http://www.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/modules.p … pic&t=6816
I have repaired my fridge using the info from these postings and can assist others in “Australasia” with the dreaded “clicking” problem in Whirlpool fridges.
Seems that we get put in the Australasia Forum because we dont live in the UK. Thats fine except that we dont get the feedback from the bulk of the refridgeration forum members.
So have a look at the link first and let me know if you need further assistance.Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!
Tested Orange Relay on the back board and found that the contacts had fused together, probably from all the years of clicking !
Replaced it and immediately, the defrost cycle began.
About 15 minutes later, the compressor started up with the condensor fan and all looks good.
Many thanks Brodders ! You helped confirm my suspicions about this relay and got me thinking that there may be other people out there with this problem and havent realised that the compressor is running continuously.
Because it is very quiet, people may assume that when the fans stop, that the compressor has stopped which is not the case in this situation.
Maybe a secondary fault to look out for ?
Anyway my fridge and I are happy now and I hope that someone else can benefit from this info too.
No thanks to Whirlpool, unfortunately, they have lost my confidence in their products after this unecessary saga.
Cheers to all.Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!
Hi there all
It has been quite some time since I first posted on this site regarding the Capacitor problem. It is good to know that others have been successful in stopping the clicking and spluttering faults too.
My fridge has been OK for over a year after changing the capacitors, but now I have a new problem with the compressor I think.
First sign was temp increasing and eventually alarm sounding.
After cleaning the fluff off the condensor coils and a full defrost, (there was a large qty of ice build up on the evaporator) all seemed OK for a few days.
Now I have noticed that the compressor is running continuously and getting quite hot. The freezer and fridge appear to be OK and at correct temps.
The compressor fan runs OK but switches off even though the compressor is still running. I thought it is supposed to run at all times the compressor is running?
The internal evaporator fan switches on and off as required but the compressor continues running.
Only way to stop the compressor is to switch off the mains switch.
After 8 minutes, it starts up again.
The standby switch also does not stop the compressor from running.
I am thinking that it could this be a sticking relay or has anyone got any ideas how to diagnose this fault ?Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!
Hey Natrod
After reading your post, I thought of one last idea.
When I replaced Capacitor C3 on the front Board, I had to also solder the front of the PCB as well as the back because the thru hole plating had burnt off while removing C3. Before doing this, I still had lights flashing and things clicking, even after changing the Capacitor. May be just a stab in the dark, but its worth checking. Best of luck.Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!
Solder an extra capacitor across the large capacitor is exactly what I did and it worked. No more Clicking etc.
