Vintage Whirlpool fridge - could I have gotten lucky?

[Peabody]

It's a Whirlpool fridge model EET-172pk, simple model with freezer compartment on top. I bought it new in 1979, so it's barely broken in.

This afternoon it became apparent that it had just stopped running. It was drawiog 4 watts, so it really was dead. The compressor was not warm. Only the light worked. At first I tried moving the temperature control knob back and forth, but that didn't help. Then I turned the knob full counter- clockwise to the OFF position, heard the expected click when I did that, then turned the knob back clockwise. And the fridge started up, and has been running since then,

Is it possible that there is a physical on/off switch inside the control assembly, and it was cruded up after not being exercised in 40 years, but now will operate normally. Of course I know I need to see if it controls temperature properly, and deftosts, but I wonder if I just got lucky, And perhaps I should exercise that switch a bit more.

What do you think? My appliance guy said he doubted he could get a replacement thermostat for a model that old, and thought my money might be better spent on a new one. But I'm going to be moving soon to a place that already has a fridge, so buying a new one now would just be wasted money. I haven't found anything on Youtube that goes back this far.

Thanks for any help or expertise.

[hubops]

Keep the old appliance - find a new appliance guy. John T.

[Dean Hoffman]

?????

[TimR]

I suspect the fault is electronic rather than physical. I've had similar symptoms where a refrigerator fails to restart after a minor power glitch, but continues to work after being turned all the way off, for long enough that any caps discharge, and then turned back on.

I think there is a very good chance you can keep it working quite a bit longer by manually restarting it when it quits, but the quitting may become more frequent over time. I've had good luck with this.

If it were me, and I had anything i cared about stored in there, I would get an inexpensive wireless temperature alarm so I would know when it stopped working.

[Retirednoguilt]

I had a similar vintage (1982) GE fridge, self-defrosting, about 17 cubic ft, also a simple model with freezer compartment on top. Never needed servicing. About 10 years ago we decided that we needed a slightly larger capacity fridge and bought a new one. Can't remember if it was a GE or Whirlpool. Was about 19 cubic feet, same style, self-defrosting, with simple freezer on top. We were amazed that using the new fridge and changing nothing else that would affect our electric use, our monthly bill dropped about $25/month. Don't know if it's the better insulation, more efficient compressors and/or refrigerants, or what. But in our experience, the savings in electricity use paid for the new fridge in only about 3 years. Don't get sentimental about a fridge that's 40 years old. The new ones are far more energy efficient and should easily pay for themselves before they need to be replaced.

[trader_4]

That's what i was thinking too, I wonder what the cost to operate that beast is versus a modern one. I measured an 80s fridge vs a similar size new one that I replaced it with. The old one was drawing near

300W when running, the new one less than 100. I can't say I noticed a difference on the monthly bills, but then I wasn't looking at the time either. I did see a big, very noticeable difference when replacing the 80s furnace and AC with 93% and 14 Seer. Gas bills, summer electric bills were cut close to half. I think the winter electric bill dropped too, new system has ECM blower. There are probably tables or calculators online that would estimate the cost difference. I'd bet getting a new one would have a reasonable payback period. And picking up a used one that's five years old or so would be even faster.

[Peabody]

I was able to find the original parts list for my fridge, and found the original thermostat part number was 989277. Then I found a Whirlpool "universal replacement" WP819470 as Dean Hoffman also found, and the original number was listed as one of maybe 50 that it replaced. So I think that's the one. Nobody has it locally, but they can get it by tomorrow, so I'm going to order one today. I haven't been able to contact my appliance guy again, but if he doesn't want to do it, I may give it a try myself. Youtube videos on other models make it look pretty straightforward. The biggest challenge will probably be that "universal" may not mean it mounts the same as the old one.

If I were going to stay here long term, I agree that it would make sense to just get a new fridge. But I will be moving in a few months to a place that will already have a new fridge, so I'd like to make this one last that long if possible, then donate it if it's still working.

Thanks for the responses.

[Peabody]

One more question. It looks like it's going to be Monday before the part gets here and the service guy can come out. So I'm wondering if the thing finally dies before then, can I just disconnect the two wires from the control and hook them directly to AC for, say, an hour or two at a time? This would at least keep the food from spoiling. Would this interfere with the defrost timer or cause other problems? It seems the control is basically just a switch, so this ought to work.

[Peabody]

I didn't really mean connecting the wires to AC. No, I didn't. Really. I meant just connecting the two wires together - manually doing what the control switch no longer does.

If I had a temp sensor, I could even rig up an Arduino thing to switch it on and off with a relay.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Figured that was the idea. I'd certainly try it.

[Dean Hoffman]

I don't see why not. Put some filled water jugs in the 'fridge if it isn't full. That should help keep the temperature more constant once the 'fridge has cooled.

[Peabody]

I need to ask another question about diagnosing this thing.

In theory there are two possible sources of the fridge shutting down - the temp control and the defrost timer. I concluded it was not the defrost timer being stuck in defrost because my Killawatt said the fridge was drawing only 4 watts, and I figured if it was stuck in defrost there would be current flowing to the heaters, and the current would have been a lot higher. But I didn't actually manually turn it with a screwdriver. Also, the first time it died I brought it back by turning the temp knob all the way to OFF, then back on. The second time it died that didn't work, but banging on the side of the temp control did, and it's been running fine since last night, including going through at least two defrost cycles.

Does it sound like I diagnosed it correctly? Of course if it dies again, I will try moving the defrost timer manually and see if that turns it back on again. But if it doesn't die again before it comes time to replace the temp control, I may be replacing the wrong part.

As I understand it, the timer only runs when the thermostat is on. So the timer may stop turning even if it's perfectly fine. And the only way to test it is to turn it manually. If the fridge stays off when I do that, then it has to be the temp control that's bad.

Anyway, was my conclusion about the lack of heater current correct? At least probably?

[Peabody]

The fridge died again during the night, and I was unable to revive it. But I did confirm that it's the thermostat that's the problem, not the defrost timer.

As I mentioned before, I've disconnected the two wires from the thermostat, and connected them together, and it runs again. But of course there's no temperature control, so I've plugged the fridge power line into one of those 24 hour timers that you use to have things turn on and off at set times during the day. YOu can set it to be on or off in 15-minute increments. So to kinda keep everything from freezing up, I've set it to

45 minutes ON and 15 minutes OFF. Plus I still have the defrost working, which is 21 minutes every 8 hours. This is all just to keep the food from spoiling until the repair on Monday.

[trader_4]

IDK, but if you're not sure about what's wrong and you're buying parts and have a service guy coming to put it in on a 40 year old fridge, it doesn't sound good. You could probably have found a working ten year old one for the same cost on Craiglslist.

[Ralph Mowery]

I agree. I understand the person is moving soon and will not need a new fridge. I would go to a used appliance place or as you say Craiglsilist or some other local list to find a used fridge. It may be difficult to find a used fridge now as new ones are difficult to come by in many models that people want so they are hanging on to the old ones a lot longer if they work.

[Clare Snyder]

I like the arduino idea - or better and simpler (and likely cheaper) is the universal temperature controller module

for $5.95 fram the USA or

for $7.29 from China - with WIFI!!!!! Make it into a "smart fridge"

[Ralph Mowery]

I bought a few of the controller modules like this to play with. It would take too long to get frim China, but I seem to remember getting it from Amazone in a few days. Bought either 3 or 4 of them for almost nothing as a set.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Seems like too much "on" time but you can tell if things start to freeze.

[Ed Pawlowski]

You also have to haul it in and the old one out. I'd rather pay a repair bill than do the labor

[Peabody]

Yes it was. The temperature in the fridge section got down to almost 32 degrees overnight. So I've changed it to 30 minutes on and 15 minutes off. In a few hours I'll see how that works.