Kung Fu Maintenance Shows refrigerator compressor buzzing won't start fridge freezer stopped cooling repair video.
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Oh, man. What such a nice, comforting sound. Now, all of the sudden, what's that buzzing sound? Not good, and it's feeling kind of warm in the fridge. I still have some ice cubes but it's like they're starting to melt. I'm going to pull out the fridge and have a look. It sounds like the compressor is not starting. Okay, if you're hearing that sound and what it is is the compressor in the fridge has stopped running so you're going to want to unplug it, pull off the back panel here.
This cardboard here is actually useful to the function of the machine, so you don't want to throw it away, or you don't want to tear it off, or anything like that. You really do want to take the screws off and save it for putting it back on because it aids in the energy efficiency of the refrigerator. So I'm going to pull out all of the screws here and then, we're going to look at what is the relay and the common start and run terminals on the compressor. What I have is these starter packs. I'll be taking it out.
If you're taking care of multiple fridges, it's a good idea to keep some of these starter packs on hand in case the fridge goes down especially if you have multiple varieties of types of fridges. If you have all the same brand, you can kind of stock the correct capacitor relay for your fridges, and you can just change that. If not, you can use these starter packs. The starter pack is kind of nice. It's a three-in-one starter pack, and they come in different horsepower sizes. There's a one-third to one-fourth horsepower. It’s a common size. And, I find that works for older refrigerators.
The black and the blue hot wires are another size. It's a one fifth to one twelth horsepower, and this works, in my experience, better for newer frigs. What I usually do is stock both of them and if I have a fridge that goes out, then I'll use the lower horsepower, one first, and I try that. And if that doesn't work then, go with the higher one. A lot of times, if the situation is kind of you've got nothing to lose, you can, again, get the DR manufacture design relay for these. But sometimes, in a situation where you don't want the food to spoil or you need it right away, it's definitely nice to have these starter packs so you can get it going.
The design on these is not that easy to get into. As you can see, it's pretty cramped quarters, pretty tight, a lot going on with the refrigerant tubing and everything, but it's enough to get in there and get it done. The starter pack comes in two different sizes. As I was telling you, those are the most common and generally, will get you through just about anything you come across. So again, I like to stock one of each here. I'm taking off the little clip that holds the compressor cover on, holds this capacitor in place, and the wiring, the relay. There's the capacitor. Pull the capacitor out, and again, you could just replace that. I've had some luck here and there with relays for air conditioners where I've been able to smack the relay and put it back in, and then it work pretty much. I haven't had it go down since I did that, but I don't have that much hope for this one here. I went ahead and tried it here anyway, but of course, it didn't work out. But, it's me. Putting it back in.
You'd think they'd tell you the horsepower rating on the compressor itself or inside the frig, but they actually don't. You really have to know what's going to work out for you. And like I said, on newer fridges, the lower horse powers tend to work out, the one twelve to one fifth horsepower, the three-in-one starter pack; and for older fridges, the one third to one fifth.