fridge on blink following powercut

hairybadger

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Last year we had to replace our 10-year-old Bosch fridge since it was no longer cooling and parts of it (just inside the door) were getting ridiculously hot to the touch. We replaced it with another Bosch.

In this part of the world minipower-cuts lasting less than a second are not uncommon. I believe it is one of these (I heard the UPS alarms whinging) that killed the fridge: it no longer cools at all although it makes the odd clicking noise from time to time.

It's still under guarantee so is no drama but I've done a bit of research (banging a few terms into google counts for research these days, doesn't it? :) ) and it seems that modern fridges are particularly sensitive to dirty power, and that it wouldn't be a bad idea to put the fridge behind a surge surpressor *and* a delay, the logic for the delay being that when the power flicks on and off you don't want the compressor shutting down and starting up in rapid succession.

So: what to get to protect the fridge once the technician actually comes and performs the required rites to resurrect it? I'm having trouble finding something suitable. I'd be interested in hearing the views of others here (many of whom are competent enough to fix the fridge themselves with a soldering iron and a claw hammer) on the subject and likely sources for the device I'm after. I'd rather not have to put the fridge behind a UPS to smooth out the power, that would seem like massive overkill and sizing a UPS to handle current when the fridge sparks into life would be, er, expensive :)
 

2cvbloke

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Take a mallet, thwack the compressor when it's powered up, if that doesn't help, the compressor has either seized or the piston is stuck with too much pressure in the cylinder to start (leave it for a while and it should lose enough pressure to restart), the clicking is the PTC thermistor trying to kick the motor over and not succeeding, so, turn it off before you blow it...

As for the not powering up after a sudden shutdown, most modern fridges should have that feature built in already, but cheaper models don't, because of "That'll do" syndrome, one thing you could do is rig up a mains-powered relay that flicks off on power loss with a 10 minute timer that re-energises it, but that's a random thought off the top of my head (not to be relied upon!)...

As for smoothing the mains power out, that's pretty much a case of if you have to ask the price, you probably can't afford it, as UPS units and power conditioners aren't designed for inductive loads like motors, unless you go for really expensive medical-grade things which frankly cost more than the fridge & contents is worth, the other option is a generator if the power ever goes out for more than 10 minutes, but doesn't really help with smoothing power, just replacing one wobbly supply with another...
 

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We once lost a fridge freezer to a violent and adjacent lightning strike. It was obviously a more serious problem than a compressor as it was blowing the trip on that particular circuit.

Take a mallet, thwack the compressor when it's powered up

By coincidence we've just had to change our six year old fridge freezer (to a Liebherr) as it had stopped freezing. Strangely, I didn't think of the 'smart thwack' solution, despite repairing TV's for over 10 years....
 

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We once lost a fridge freezer to a violent and adjacent lightning strike. It was obviously a more serious problem than a compressor as it was blowing the trip on that particular circuit.



By coincidence we've just had to change our six year old fridge freezer (to a Liebherr) as it had stopped freezing. Strangely, I didn't think of the 'smart thwack' solution, despite repairing TV's for over 10 years....

Oddly enough that happened to me last Friday with our mini freezer in the garage, it was fine been there for 4 years and half full of stuff and it just tripped the RCD, I at first assumed it was the underground to the garage causing the problem but after carrying it to the house it tripped the house RCD, could not get it to go for love nor money and I left it on the pavement for our Romany scavengers from Bulgaria to take away. Lucky for me I have just finished the kitchen and the old main house freezer was in the garage having been made redundant by purchasing a fridge freezer 60/40 combo for the new kitchen.
 

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Strangely, I didn't think of the 'smart thwack' solution, despite repairing TV's for over 10 years....

It only works for stuck pistons, if the thing's degassed itself, then there's no hope without finding the leak and recharging with new gas (not much point as it costs about the same for a new fridge or freezer!!), and of course thwacking a compressor that's gotten stuck is just a temporary measure, as it's just a matter of time before the piston becomes one with the cylinder wall and becomes a lump of uselessness like the one out of the Haier mini-freezer I "rescued" & tried resurrecting last year...
 

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Thanks for the thoughts, guys. @2cvbloke I understand the point about the UPS, the timer thing is what I'm looking for but am having trouble finding one to *buy* as opposed to cobble together :) The fridge is modern and wasn't cheap, so it should have the necessary protection circuits but it did die on us at about the same time I heard the UPS warnings go off. Coincidence? Who knows? :)

I'll try the universal correction tool, aka Birmingham screwdriver, trick when I get home. Thanks for the suggestion.
 

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Coincidence? Who knows? :)

Coincidence, not really no, some fridges often go belly up after a power failure, new or old, could just be a crappy compressor that slipped through the quality control net...
 

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Your fridge has been hacked by russians. Content is encrypted and held for ransom, the door is permanently locked. Send 10 bitcoins within 48 hours to recover access and decrypt your milk, cheese and beer.
 

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I remember ten years ago my girlfriend at the time, her fridge stopped working, so she asked me to go round there and see if I could fix it.

I took one look at all the water on the floor, opened the fridge door and said 'no, it's broken'. She said, 'I know it's ****ing broken. Can you fix it?!' I repeated 'no', so she told me to get out the house, and also to get out of her life.

I was a bit annoyed by this so I said, in a bit of a temper, 'it's a good job your fridge is broken, all the pies, burgers and bread in there will go to rot.' She said, 'are you saying I need to lose weight??' I said, 'In a word, YES.'

She then told me to get out again. And I got out. Completely. Never saw her again. :D
 

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This might help revive the dead fridge.

As its presumed empty now take out the shelving, stand the fridge on its head ( upside down ) overnight, turn it right way up next day turn thermostat to max, plug it in it will usually start.

Used this method numerous times but not guaranteed.

Good luck

Regards
 

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so she told me to get out the house, and also to get out of her life.

Sounds oddly similar to something recent on the plusnet forum, 'cept it was a blocked toilet... :-rofl2
 

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This might help revive the dead fridge.

As its presumed empty now take out the shelving, stand the fridge on its head ( upside down ) overnight, turn it right way up next day turn thermostat to max, plug it in it will usually start.

Used this method numerous times but not guaranteed.

Good luck

Regards

Done that and yes, fridges of the 80's era will recover quite nicely after a few hours 'belly up'. :-clap
 

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The problem of new refrigerators are its electronic control circuits, pretty good and cheap.
a4540.gif

They are "easy" to damage when we have power outages (slightly longer than a micro cut, flashing a light bulb filament less than 1 second), returning the "light" we have a major peak (the cause ?? fall ray on the line if aerea, possibly electric substation in own or other problems of circuit switching).

If these cuts are frequent, you would need a UPS double converter, the offline do not protect these cuts, or peaks, interactive more of the same.
The joke is expensive, because you have to calculate the power output for peak x 3 starter when an engine and under pressure.
For a 400W engine, it calculates a minimum 1200vatios, those of 800vatios nothing.
The other option is to look for appliances without control electronics increasingly difficult.

If under warranty you get budget, the engine usually hold better than electronica, also is "frien" but hold up better.
Put a surge at the entrance of the house can be a good idea.
PS: It offers everything how the movie ends.
------------------
El problema de las nuevas neveras son sus circuitos electronicos de control, buenos bonitos y baratos.
a4540.gif

Son "faciles" de averiar cuando tenemos cortes de luz (algo mas largo que un micro corte, el parpadeo de una bombilla de filamento de menos de 1 segundo), al volver la "luz" tenemos un pico importante (la causa?? caida de rayo sobre la linea si es aerea, en la propia subestacion electrica posiblemente u otros problemas de conmutacion de lineas).

Si estos cortes son frecuentes, necesitarias una UPS de doble conversor, las offline no protegen de estos cortes, ni de los picos, las interactivas mas de lo mismo.
La broma es cara, pues tienes que calcular la potencia del motor x 3 para el pico de arranque al ser un motor y bajo presion.
Para un motor de 400W, calcula unos 1200vatios minimo, las de 800vatios nada.
La otra opcion es buscar electrodomesticos sin electronica de control, cada dia mas dificil.

Si esta en garantia que te den presupuesto, el motor suele aguantar mejor que la electronica, tambien se "frien", pero aguantan mejor.
Poner un supresor de picos en la entrada de la vivienda puede ser una buena idea.
PD: Ya nos contaras como termina la pelicula.
 
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hairybadger

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If under warranty you get budget, the engine usually hold better than electronica, also is "frien" but hold up better.
Put a surge at the entrance of the house can be a good idea.
I've put surge protectors on every fuseboard (is this the word? despite being a native speaker of English I've spent a long time in France and subsequently some of my vocabularly, principally concerning houses and babies, is primarily French :) The tableau éléctrique in any cse). Sensitive equipment (not the fridge! :( ) is further protected by local surge protectors. The tinfoil hat helps as well :)
 

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My uncle still uses my grandmother's fridge from the 60's at his dacha. Has never skipped a beat. Everything made these days is pure brown tosh.

This one, actually....

13a.jpg
 
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