Refrigerator

[siscob66]

What is a hard start kit and how do you hook it up?

[Jack Frost]

Before I spent money on a hard start kit, I'd make sure all electrical wiring connections to the fridge are tight.

I'd also check to make sure the refrigerator receptacle is nice and tight when you plug it in.

Then I'd check the breaker panel connections to make certain they were tight as well. This check would include the breaker-to-bus connection as well.

And while the panel cover was off, I'd check the voltages of L1 and L2 to make sure they are within ~7 volts of each other.

Finally I'd check the refrigerator compressor's capacitor.

If all that is good, I'd go to Lowe's Depot and buy a new fridge.

[Iggy]

replying to siscob66, Iggy wrote: Jack Frost is absolutely right. A hard start kit (capacitor booster) will most likely not fix your problem and you should either Call-in an Appliance Repairer or get a new fridge. Today's appliances (of this decade+) are hit or miss and if you don't have a warranty or aftermarket extended warranty, you're playing with fire.

Even with the warranty, you're looking at a lot of wasted attempts and very much wasted disruption to your life. The other problem, as seen in the early flat panel TV DECADE, is that manufacturers are being allowed to NOT honor their warranty or Contract at all. It's silently been approved for you to keep buying new replacements until you finally get one that works as it should.

[Ed Pawlowski]

I agree with your assessment except for Lowes. We have a local appliance dealer with the same prices but much better service than any of the big stores can offer.

[Unquestionably Confused]

I'd also concur with Jack's assessment up until the last sentence.

The OP has to determine what to do after diagnosing the problem. Too often/too soon we relegate stuff to the junk pile.

Depends on what the refrigerator is being used for. In our case we had an older, but not ancient, refrigerator that crapped out. We figured it was getting about time and so bought the nice, new French Door refrigerator that SWMBO wanted. I did some checking and found out about the booster kit while attempting to find an OEM capacitor for the unit. I picked up the booster capacitor kit for about $20, installed it and got another six years of use out of that refrigerator as a garage refrigerator for beverages and food that we bought in bulk.

7 years service for a $20 investment was not bad. YMMV but depending upon the OP's particular situation it could be the deal of a lifetime. . . or not. ;)

[trader_4]

Maybe not, depending on what the problem is. But a kit can be had for $20, what's the cost of a service call or new fridge? If it's tripping the breaker occasionally when starting, that would be a sign that a HS kit could work.

[Bubba]

Sherbet old refrigerators are energy hogs.  Unless you got free electric from solar panel window panes, you might as well get a new EnergyStar model and start saving.  After all, you don't want the sherbet to melt.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Yep, if you buy a $2000 new refrigerator you can save up to $10 a month. My pencil is broke so I can't calculate the payback right now but I know is is there.

[Iggy]

replying to trader_4, Iggy wrote: Sure, a HSK might fix the problem today, but what about next month when the HSK fix fails or you discover it's not cooling or leaking water or not defrosting or not making ice, etc. $150 to for a Service Repairer's overall assessment and maybe install of the correct HSK would be well worth it.

[Harvey Wallbanger]

Oh good grief!  A refrigerator is a box that keeps food cold.  No need to spend $2k.

[Ed]

FWIW, put a Kill A Watt device on a 20-year-old garage fridge. Turns out the thing was costing $16/mo to run so I got rid of it. The old hog has not been replaced yet but see the new fridges use less than $4/mo.

[notbob]

Not worth much when you figure a "20-year-old garage fridge" can be repaired by most anyone, provided they can still find parts. Whereas, newer fridges are insanely difficult to repair or cost so much to repair, they are prohibitive.

When I left CA, 10 yrs ago, there were four 40-yr-old garage fridges working jes fine on our block. When I moved to CO, my mom's fairly new Maytag fridge went South. The cold xfer motor in the freezer quit.

Cost? $250USD fer jes the part!! This for an electric motor the size of a muffin fan. The repairman sed he could do it fer $150-USD cheaper, if only Mom would make out a blank check to the repairman. Will Sears screw you!? Count on it!!

BTW, how much fer that terminal screen on LG's $5K-USD fridge?

nb

[trader_4]

Maybe it's well worth it to you, I'd go with the $15 hard start kit, provided it had symptoms of a hard start problem. I did that with my previous central AC and got another 15 years out of it, no problems at all. And no reason to believe paying someone $150 to put one in is going to be any better. It also depends on the age of the fridge, if it's old, I wouldn't spend $150 to find out what's wrong with it.

[Ed Pawlowski]

some of us like the finer things in life

[trader_4]

I got a great deal at Lowes about 5 years ago. Bought a Kitchenaid side by side, stainless, that normally sold for $2800 for $1300, it was a floor model, had a couple minor scuff marks. Like you did, I put the KillaWatt on the old and new. I forget the details, but it was something like the new one was 90W running, the old one was ~190W. Plus the new ones are probably better insulated, have new seals, so they probably run less too.

[Ralph Mowery]

I have a Trane heat pump. Looking at the paper work on it, there seems to be some models that come with the factory installed hard start kit and some that do not. All are for the same basic unit but slightly different models.