[strath]

Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!

I have finally got around to fixing the problem I had with the clicking from the front panel when trying to dispense ice or water. Since the original fault showed up, the clicking had also appeared on the main board when the pump/compressor was coming on.

The main board (at the back of the machine):

This is really much easier than the front. The board is a single sided affair (circuit tracks on the backside only) so was much easier to de-solder. I used a de-solder pump and an 18W iron.

The capacitors I used were bought from Farnell and I had none of the reported problems with fitting. Everything went on the front side of the board and there was only the small matter of bending some of the leads since the pitch between the wires on the replacement caps was smaller than the originals. The caps from Farnell had plenty of spare wire length so this was not aproblem. The ones I used are as follows;

C1 – http://uk.farnell.com/jsp/search/produc … KU=1198302

C5/6/7/8 – http://uk.farnell.com/jsp/search/produc … KU=1198297

C26/27/28 – http://uk.farnell.com/jsp/search/produc … KU=1198295

All of these had to be bought in 5 part bags but the cost is so low it is not really a problem, plus it is only the 1uF that is the single part needed.

The front panel (the one that is part of the water and ice unit):

This was much harder to do. The sizing of the original capacitors and the limited space made this much harder to do. The electrolytic caps were fine but the plastic ones were much harder.

Sourcing anything that was close to the originals (to remove the need to locate capacitors on flying leads) was hard. The closest I came to this was on Mouser. I ordered the 0.68uF and 0.47uF caps from them but only actually used the 0.68. All of these were bigger in length and diameter. I managed to fit the 0.68uF in with some sleeving to protect the wires but the 0.47uF were just way to big. There are a couple of different manufacturers but they are all around the same sizes. This may not be a surprise, being bigger than the originals, since the originals are such poor quality. Maybe this is related.

The 0.68uF I used was http://gb.mouser.com/Search/ProductDeta … IVHoWX8{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d}3d
The real issue here is that they come from the US and there is a ridiculous postage charge. I gave up searching for something that would fit in the UK. I didn’t check if the 0.68uF was also wired in parallel as I think I’ve taken the panel apart enough times……. Also, maybe one of the Farnell type 0.68uF would fit on it’s side with the single 1.5uF replacement for the three 0.47uFs.

Three 0.47uF caps are all wired in parallel. Some basic thought indicated that I could get a 1.5uF and fit that. The 1.5uF cap from Farnell will fit if you add some extension wires and lay the cap on its side. Depending on your installation, you may need to trim some of the plastic strengthening spars on the panel. I didn’t mind doing this as I doubt my change was making such a change to the panel.

The de-soldering was a little difficult as this is a double sided PCB. My 18W iron was a little under powered (or just very old) but a 25W from Maplin did the trick.

Now the new caps are in place I have no problems with the ice or water. In the past, it seemed to depend on how many front panel leds were on. I can now have those max’d out, have the light switched on and be dispensing water and ice with no clicking or pulsing.

All in all, a pretty good fix for a ridiculous fault. Almost £400 for about £15 worth of parts (full retail) and about 1-2hrs labour. Whirlpool should hang their heads in shame.

[strath]

Re: Whirlpool S20BRSB21

Thanks for the advice but a cost of about £250 to fix what is essentially a nuisance fault is past my budget. If it had been possible to limit the source, based on the information, to one of the boards then I would have been able to do it.

The fault reminds me of another problem I had with central heating which would occasionally fail to heat the hot water. Always happened around the time when the yearly inspection was done and the engineers never could find a fault. They thought it was the three way valve, then the actuator for that but never wanted to replace anything since it never showed up when they tested it. I finally traced it to the control timer which would fail to turn on the hot water if the heating was already on. If you only turned on one of the other then the relay in the controller would click on but if the heating was on the water failed to energise. Looked like a tired coil in it.

I guess I hoped that the source of this fault could have been narrowed to one component.

[strath]

Re: Whirlpool S20BRSB21

Yay! Spot on and on the right of the unit behind one of the bins. 🙂

The number is 8586 151 15001

There was a second bar-coded number which I’ll include just in case it is relevant. 11 0407 021016

[strath]

Re: Whirlpool S20BRSB21

One other bit of info that may be relevant….

If the light that pushes me over the ‘threshold’ number of lights is the ice maker then there is also a loud click from the base of the machine, in the same region as the filter compartment.

Hopefully this makes sense to someone….. 😕

[strath]

Re: Whirlpool S20BRSB21

Hi Penquin45. Thanks for the speedy reply. Sorry to be a total dope but what is the 12nc number? All I have is the model number of S20BRSB21. Can you give me a pointer to what it is and where I’d find it.

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