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Post by andrewo on Jan 30, 2021 0:47:09 GMT
My house had a damaged wire coming from the power line, leading to a period of time which had electricity issues in my house such as decreased voltage, flickering lights, etc. My fridge (working) was on while I was away, and when I came back, the fridge was really hot on top, and was stuck in that sort of buzzing sound that happens for a few seconds before the motor kicks on. After that I turned it off and let it sit, but turning it on again would just lead it to stay buzzing, with the motor not kicking in at any point. I assume something electrical burned out, but is it fixable? I linked some pictures of it and a video showing what happens when I try to turn it on. Thanks!   IMG-0051.MOV (17.16 MB) |
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Post by turbokinetic on Jan 30, 2021 5:38:30 GMT
My house had a damaged wire coming from the power line, leading to a period of time which had electricity issues in my house such as decreased voltage, flickering lights, etc. My fridge (working) was on while I was away, and when I came back, the fridge was really hot on top, and was stuck in that sort of buzzing sound that happens for a few seconds before the motor kicks on. After that I turned it off and let it sit, but turning it on again would just lead it to stay buzzing, with the motor not kicking in at any point. I assume something electrical burned out, but is it fixable? I linked some pictures of it and a video showing what happens when I try to turn it on. Thanks! View AttachmentView AttachmentView AttachmentThat noise is absolutely vile. This is very worrisome because it seems like the overload breaker did not trip when it should have. Normally, if the compressor is stalled / stuck and can not start; there is at least one safety device which will power off the compressor and stop the current flow. Some CK machines have two overload circuit breakers. Others have only one. They all have a melting-alloy breaker in the control. This will cause the control to disengage and power off the unit. To reset this, you would need to switch the control knob to "off" and then back on. There are many CK units with a second overload device in the motor start relay. It will reset its self automatically after about 30 seconds; if the motor overloads. This will keep tripping and resetting over and over if there is a stalled condition. This type of overload device will "keep trying" over and over. The overload in the control is one-shot and then you have to manually reset it. If the compressor had been stalled for a long time, and none of the overload breakers were tripped due to a failure, then the motor is likely damaged. Did you have to switch it off and back on? Did it cycle off and on by its self? What was the longest time period it stayed on making the bad noise? The first thing to inspect is the start-relay. Are you familiar with this part? It is located in between the condenser drum and the compressor. It's between the cooling fins, towards the rear of the machine. The power cord goes directly to this relay. Can you get pictures of this part? Sincerely, David |
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Post by elec573 on Jan 30, 2021 6:26:42 GMT
I have the same fridge but on an older cabinet .
I saw your pictures but got no audio.
But from what u posted it sounds like you had some wild power fluctuations. They could have damaged the motor . I’d check the motor resistances to see how they
are .
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Post by turbokinetic on Jan 30, 2021 16:39:05 GMT
I have the same fridge but on an older cabinet . I saw your pictures but got no audio. But from what u posted it sounds like you had some wild power fluctuations. They could have damaged the motor . I’d check the motor resistances to see how they are . I re-uploaded the raw video file so that it's viewable on all platforms: |
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Post by ckfan on Jan 30, 2021 16:40:29 GMT
That almost sounds like the start relay is chattering back and forth rapidly.
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Post by turbokinetic on Jan 30, 2021 16:40:43 GMT
Hope Andrew will check back with us.
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Post by turbokinetic on Jan 30, 2021 16:41:08 GMT
That almost sounds like the start relay is chattering back and forth rapidly. I was thinking the same thing. |
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Post by andrewo on Jan 30, 2021 20:49:48 GMT
Hello guys, thank you all so much for responding! When i have time later in the afternoon, I will take off the start relay and take pictures. For some extra detail, I was staying over somewhere else for the night, and when I came back, that noise was going on, but a lot quieter, like the sound was weaker, and the top was very hot. I turned it off to let it sit and cool, and any time trying to start after that point, it would make that noise in the video. Yes, It did cycle on and off by itself, and didn't have any issues before that time period of power issues. I'd assume that it may have been making that noise up to possibly a whole day depending on at what point when I was gone it started having issues. Thanks again for all of your advice.
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Post by andrewo on Jan 30, 2021 23:15:51 GMT
Here is a picture of the relay, it is pretty dusty   |
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Post by turbokinetic on Jan 31, 2021 0:25:14 GMT
Hello guys, thank you all so much for responding! When i have time later in the afternoon, I will take off the start relay and take pictures. For some extra detail, I was staying over somewhere else for the night, and when I came back, that noise was going on, but a lot quieter, like the sound was weaker, and the top was very hot. I turned it off to let it sit and cool, and any time trying to start after that point, it would make that noise in the video. Yes, It did cycle on and off by itself, and didn't have any issues before that time period of power issues. I'd assume that it may have been making that noise up to possibly a whole day depending on at what point when I was gone it started having issues. Thanks again for all of your advice. Thanks for the details and the relay pictures. So if I understand, the abnormal noise persisted for minutes or possibly hours before you intervened? The relay you have does not (I believe) contain an overload breaker. That would mean that the overload in the thermostat control failed to trip and allowed the compressor to stay energized even though it is stalled. This is a very serious incident and has likely resulted in irreparable damage to the compressor motor. The only way to know for sure is to take resistance measurements of the motor winding and see if it still looks to be intact. Once that has been verified, the next thing will be to see if the start-relay is at fault for the initial start failure. Regardless, there is a problem with the control where it failed to trip as it should. I'm sorry to give a bad outlook but I want to be sure you are prepared for that possibility. How much electrical experience do you have? Are you confident to take resistance measurements? Sincerely, David |
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Post by andrewo on Jan 31, 2021 1:10:01 GMT
Hello guys, thank you all so much for responding! When i have time later in the afternoon, I will take off the start relay and take pictures. For some extra detail, I was staying over somewhere else for the night, and when I came back, that noise was going on, but a lot quieter, like the sound was weaker, and the top was very hot. I turned it off to let it sit and cool, and any time trying to start after that point, it would make that noise in the video. Yes, It did cycle on and off by itself, and didn't have any issues before that time period of power issues. I'd assume that it may have been making that noise up to possibly a whole day depending on at what point when I was gone it started having issues. Thanks again for all of your advice. Thanks for the details and the relay pictures. So if I understand, the abnormal noise persisted for minutes or possibly hours before you intervened? The relay you have does not (I believe) contain an overload breaker. That would mean that the overload in the thermostat control failed to trip and allowed the compressor to stay energized even though it is stalled. This is a very serious incident and has likely resulted in irreparable damage to the compressor motor. The only way to know for sure is to take resistance measurements of the motor winding and see if it still looks to be intact. Once that has been verified, the next thing will be to see if the start-relay is at fault for the initial start failure. Regardless, there is a problem with the control where it failed to trip as it should. I'm sorry to give a bad outlook but I want to be sure you are prepared for that possibility. How much electrical experience do you have? Are you confident to take resistance measurements? Sincerely, David Yes, I have some electrical experience, though it is mostly with smaller voltage dc things. Thank you for the warning, I assume that replacing the motor is near impossible if it has burned out? I have the tools to measure resistance, I am just not sure how much resistance should be where. Thanks, Andrew |
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Post by andrewo on Jan 31, 2021 1:10:46 GMT
Thanks for the details and the relay pictures. So if I understand, the abnormal noise persisted for minutes or possibly hours before you intervened? The relay you have does not (I believe) contain an overload breaker. That would mean that the overload in the thermostat control failed to trip and allowed the compressor to stay energized even though it is stalled. This is a very serious incident and has likely resulted in irreparable damage to the compressor motor. The only way to know for sure is to take resistance measurements of the motor winding and see if it still looks to be intact. Once that has been verified, the next thing will be to see if the start-relay is at fault for the initial start failure. Regardless, there is a problem with the control where it failed to trip as it should. I'm sorry to give a bad outlook but I want to be sure you are prepared for that possibility. How much electrical experience do you have? Are you confident to take resistance measurements? Sincerely, David Yes, I have some electrical experience, though it is mostly with smaller voltage dc things. Thank you for the warning, I assume that replacing the motor is near impossible if it has burned out? I have the tools to measure resistance, I am just not sure how much resistance should be where. Thanks, Andrew Oh also, yes, it was likely hours before I was able to intervene sadly. |
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Post by turbokinetic on Jan 31, 2021 2:54:37 GMT
Yes, I have some electrical experience, though it is mostly with smaller voltage dc things. Thank you for the warning, I assume that replacing the motor is near impossible if it has burned out? I have the tools to measure resistance, I am just not sure how much resistance should be where. Thanks, Andrew Oh also, yes, it was likely hours before I was able to intervene sadly. The measurements can be made at the cable from the start-relay into the unit. Mark and document everything first, then remove the start relay. There will be a 3-core cable going into the unit. It will have a black, a white and a red or green core. Measure between all 3 cores, each way. Black-white; then white-red/green; then black-red/green; then finally from any core to the casing of the unit, to check for ground faults. For the core-to-core measurements, be sure to measure on the lowest scale, in other words the "ohms" scale. You are looking for a resistance in the 2 to 15Ω range. For the ground resistance, measure on the MΩ scale since this should be in the mega-ohms range. Let us know what you see! |
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Post by andrewo on Jan 31, 2021 3:33:47 GMT
Oh also, yes, it was likely hours before I was able to intervene sadly. The measurements can be made at the cable from the start-relay into the unit. Mark and document everything first, then remove the start relay. There will be a 3-core cable going into the unit. It will have a black, a white and a red or green core. Measure between all 3 cores, each way. Black-white; then white-red/green; then black-red/green; then finally from any core to the casing of the unit, to check for ground faults. For the core-to-core measurements, be sure to measure on the lowest scale, in other words the "ohms" scale. You are looking for a resistance in the 2 to 15Ω range. For the ground resistance, measure on the MΩ scale since this should be in the mega-ohms range. Let us know what you see! For the 3 wires I found 22 ohms resistance between the red and white wire, with nothing between black and white, or red and black. I couldn't find anything from the wires to the casing of the unit, though I couldn't find a bare metal spot. |
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Post by andrewo on Jan 31, 2021 4:05:32 GMT
The measurements can be made at the cable from the start-relay into the unit. Mark and document everything first, then remove the start relay. There will be a 3-core cable going into the unit. It will have a black, a white and a red or green core. Measure between all 3 cores, each way. Black-white; then white-red/green; then black-red/green; then finally from any core to the casing of the unit, to check for ground faults. For the core-to-core measurements, be sure to measure on the lowest scale, in other words the "ohms" scale. You are looking for a resistance in the 2 to 15Ω range. For the ground resistance, measure on the MΩ scale since this should be in the mega-ohms range. Let us know what you see! For the 3 wires I found 22 ohms resistance between the red and white wire, with nothing between black and white, or red and black. I couldn't find anything from the wires to the casing of the unit, though I couldn't find a bare metal spot.  h yeah, here is an image of the wires |
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IMG-0051.MOV (17.16 MB)
