My undercounter freezer has suddenly ceased to work. There's power there but when you switch it on it runs for about five second, there's then a click and silence. The power light remains on suggesting to me that it could be something simple like a thermostat that's DIY replaceable, or are there any other alternatives other than forking out for a replacement. Ta.
faulty freezer
Jul 05, 2009
5 Replies
The thermostat is a pretty common culprit, along with motor brushes, maybe a motor overheat sensor. These are really just about all you can do to d-i-y repair a fridge. Assuming it's the usual mechanical sensor
-- tube leading off to a bellows and microswitch -- you need to find the switch and short out its contacts. If that gets the fridge going, it's off to eBay for a generic replacement thermostat. Be prepared to use a little ingenuity matching the new control shaft with the old.
See also the FAQ at
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its main advice seems to be that it's cheaper to replace (with a secondhand one) than repair.
Chris
It'll be the cutout on the compressor, which presumably has a partial short. It is possible to get these working, but not worth doing due to the cost of the resulting energy waste.
NT
The Wiki says:
RCDs can cause nuisance trips. If this occurs when out for the day the fridge will warm up, making some of the food unsafe to eat. Food poisoning claims orders of magnitude more lives than electrocution by fridge, so ideally a fridge should be run from a non-RCD circuit. This is even more true for freezers.
I thought this wasn't generally allowed? That all outlets had to be RCD protected. Is there an exception the IEE regulations?
When did you last see a fridge compressor with brushes FFS!!
Bob
Under 17th edition its ok if the cable to the socket is 2" deep or armoured. There's much more flexibility on existing installs, which of course most are.
NT
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