1997 Upright freezer has died!

This freezer is in excellent condition (no cracked drawers etc) and has been freezing perfectly but a 2-3 months ago I switched it off as it wasn't needed. Now I need it and switched it on as I have homekill coming in 2-3 days but nothing (no noise). What might have suddenly happened? I hate to say it but regardless of cost I'll have to get it repaired as it still looks brand new! (PS we do look after our stuff)

Thanks

Must add the cord and plug in point is ok.

Buggar

Sympathise Rod. Our relatively new Whirlpool side by side died between Christmas and new year. Bad time to lose the fridge, but we are coping with a small caravan fridge for the moment. What really bugs me is that the simple part to fix it will not be in Australia (parts supplied from there) until the end of February. By then we will have been without our fridge freezer for two whole months. Not good enough that big companies do not keep adequate supplies of parts.
Ours was a small part that is a starter which sits on top of the compressor. It burnt out and left the house stinking of electrical burning.

Could be anything, loose wire, thermostat, motor, no power into the plug.

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Nothing is loose, I don't have a multi-meter to check things (even if I did have I don't know how to use them). It might be the relay but then again I have no expertise. Like all of these things I get concerned I may get ripped off by tradesmen taking advantage of my ignorance!

just check that the circuit breaker or fuse hasnt popped that it plugs into in your electric box

I had checked that thanks muri the hot point still works.

Rod, since it seems that you don't know much about electricity (and 230Vac can kill you dead, just like that), I'd suggest that you try to find a reputable technician in your area (your neighbors or local friends may be able to help).

Upright freezers are usually "frost free" (self-defrosting). Many of them do this with a motor driven mechanical timer that stops the compressor & fan from running and energises a heating element on the evaporator (part that gets cold inside the freezer) to melt the ice, after a delay, it switches off the heater and re-starts the compressor. It is possible that you unplugged it while it was on it's defrost cycle, and when you next plug it in again, you will have to wait for the defrost cycle to finish before it starts refrigerating again.

Stikkibeek;483567 wrote: Ours was a small part that is a starter which sits on top of the compressor. It burnt out and left the house stinking of electrical burning.

I presume that part is the starting relay (which engages the start winding when the run winding is drawing excessive levels of electric current) - the good news is that those are very generic and you probably don't have to use the genuine part. Any similar compressor starting relay with the correct rating should do the job.

Most fridge manufacturers don't make their own compressors, they buy a ready-made compressor from someone that makes compressors (and usually sells the same model compressor to several different fridge manufacturers).

Cheers

usually thermostat gone bad, sometimes stick. You can try using a gas lighter to warm it up gently, it may coax it back into action. The stat is on the end of a @piece of wire@ that runs from motor area thru wall of freezer and is fixed somewhere inside the freezer. These are not hard to replace. Unplug the freezer before attempting any repairs!

Thanks for your advice spark, (your handle has connotations of you being electrically minded) Actually it is not frost free and I will be taking it in to a repair place tomorrow but I was looking for suggestions as to what might possibly be wrong so when talking to the technician I could show some semblance of knowledge on the subject.

spark;483580 wrote:

I presume that part is the starting relay (which engages the start winding when the run winding is drawing excessive levels of electric current) - the good news is that those are very generic and you probably don't have to use the genuine part. Any similar compressor starting relay with the correct rating should do the job.

Most fridge manufacturers don't make their own compressors, they buy a ready-made compressor from someone that makes compressors (and usually sells the same model compressor to several different fridge manufacturers).

Cheers

Thanks for that Spark. The fridge was made in USA but the compressor was made in Brazil. The part number we need is 2188835 (start device) but a search of Whirlpool's parts catalogue yields only a 220 volt one with that number, so probably not suitable.
Interesting that other parts should fit, as the techy who is in charge of fixing this doesn't seem to have thought of that; or, maybe he has, but can't get a suitable one.
All I know about it is that it is roughly2.5 inches square, is white ceramic and has wires sticking out of it with little pluggy ends on them and, it carries a dark brown burnt scorch mark where it fried!

Whenever our fridges have stopped working the problem has been the thermostat. Make sure you get the right one though. One electrical shop sold me the wrong thermostat once and turned my fridge into a freezer.

I had a similar experience some time ago and was told not to turn fridges and freezers off because it was possible for the coolant to evaporate and so make them useless. Tradesman told me to always leave them running on a low setting.

Freon is a gas and can't evaporate from the sealed unit of a fridge. Perfect example of a tech bullshitting someone that doesn't know any better.

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Aquila;483677 wrote: Freon is a gas and can't evaporate from the sealed unit of a fridge. Perfect example of a tech bullshitting someone that doesn't know any better.

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And yet it happens. My Dad turned off his big freezer as a means of defrosting the accumulation of heavy ice. When he turned it back on again it wouldn't even cool, let alone freeze. he couldn't get it fixed and it ended up as a bin for the dog biscuits.