I had some electrical problems in my apartment that killed the power to my refrigerator hundreds of times over the course of one night (zinsco breaker). I would hear the motor turn on, then get cut off, and turn on again. This continued for a while. Now the fridge is completely electrically dead. No matter where it's plugged in, nothing works. Its just a big, silent, dark object in my kitchen now.
Any ideas on what the problem part could be? If it's cheap stuff, I'll just start swapping parts out until it works.
Something simple, like broken connection in the plug?
If it's accessible, find out where the cord connects inside the fridge and check for voltage there. Since the light is out too, it doesn't sound like anything complicated. Jim
But don't just do that. Get a meter for 10 - 20 dollars, or 5, and learn to find a problem.
Rather than first checking for 110 at the end of the cord inside the fridge, first check for continuity (ohm scale) from the each prong of the plug to one of the two ends of the cord inside the fridge. If you find continuity in each wire, you'll still have to plug it in and check for 110 at the same place, but I think you shoudl go a step at a time. Move the fridge into the middle of the room so you don't have to be contorted while doing tests. Then it will be easier to put the probes where you intend to, and less likely to short something or get a shock.
There's usually a removable panel on the compressor-motor or near it on the fridge body or frame. This cover is where the cord enters. Open that cover and begin testing there. There could be a loose connection in there, or some sort of fuse/breaker. I know that the motors contain a load cutout, which cuts the power to the motor if it draws too much amperage or gets too hot. But that should not cut the power to the lights and such. Therefore I suspect you have a simply problem like a bad plug or cord. On the other hand, are you sure the breaker tripping was not caused by the fridge overloading the circuit. A failing compressor will begin to cycle on and off every few seconds and that plays havoc on a breaker. I had a fridge do that once and it would go on and off until it would trip the breaker. Then that internal load cutout protector began tripping. Thats when I did a stupid thing and bypassed that protector. That was a stupid thing to do, because it only took a few minutes before a large shower of sparks blasted out from under the fridge. The house breaker ended the "fireworks". After that, the fridge was completely dead. Of course it was dead when the compressor began cycling. It either ran out of freon or something jammed internally. I just invited the shower of sparks by letting it self destruct.
So, if your cord and connections are good, you may have a failing or dead compressor/motor.
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