Old fridge popping the circuit breaker.

[alchemysa]

Thanks gentlemen. I'll check out the fridge again when I'm at the shack this weekend. I'm certain it has no fan but i'll look closer. And I'll look closer for a thermal cutout switch. I'm guessing its in that little black box attached to the side of the compressor?

 

[Thomas]

Tallyhoe8 said it the best.

 

[MikeD74T]

As for the breaker tripping I suspect the defrost heater is the first half of your problem. It is shorted out. Some are metal tube, some glass. I suspect the defrost timer as (or will soon be) second 1/2 of the problem. A bad heater will eventually burn out a timer.
Heater change requires removing the icebox liner. Not as bad as it looks. Tougher when it's still frozen. Timer usually under the fridge near the front. Has a screw slot to advance manually. It's a plug in & usually not expensive. You can advance the timer past the defrost cycle to keep the fridge going but eventually (if not already) you'll see excessive run times as ice blocks airflow in the freezer box.
Both are not difficult or expensive to fix. Under $100 for both parts last time I fixed one a couple summers ago. Do a search for appliance parts by brand. Usually online parts diagrams are available.

Be wary of that fridge until fixed. You are only a breaker trip away from electrocution if a short circuited heater is energizing the entire frame & is waiting for you to provide a ground path. I'm guessing the ground cord is tripping the breaker for now, but both breakers & ground cords can fail.

20+ years ago my 125 lb wife threw a 40 lb microwave over her head with one hand & spent 3 days in the hospital for a short circuited defrost heater in an ungrounded fridge. She had one hand closing the fridge when she grabbed the newer grounded microwave with the other providing a discharge circuit. The fridge was repaired & a grounded cord installed & ran for another 15 years as a spare. The microwave didn't fare as well. Wife still has an inherant distrust of refrigerators. When the light bulb goes out she wants a new one - fridge that is. MikeD74T

 

[tallyho8]

It would help if you would let us know the model number.

 

[alchemysa]

It would help if you would let us know the model number.

I'll get the model number when I'm down there this weekend. The best I can offer now is a couple of pics. (It sat outside for a few weeks while we were rebuilding. But it has worked since.)

It would be good cheap fix if it was just a shorted heater. I could disconnect the heater. I usually only use it for 3 or 4 days at a time so a bit of ice build up shouldn't be a worry.


As a side note... It's raining here (at out suburban home, not at the shack). It's not much rain, barely enough to settle the dust. But people are ringing the local radio station to tell them that its raining in their area. A little bit of rain is big news! We've been in drought for a long time - coupled with extremely high temperatures. Most suburban lawns are dead, even the trees are dying. This little bit of moisture won't fix that but gee its nice to see.

 

[tallyho8]

Thanks gentlemen. I'll check out the fridge again when I'm at the shack this weekend. I'm certain it has no fan but i'll look closer. And I'll look closer for a thermal cutout switch. I'm guessing its in that little black box attached to the side of the compressor?

It should have a fan behind the back cover. The relay and thermal overload are under the little black cover on the compressor.

 

[alchemysa]

Gentleman, thanks to you the fridge is going again. (Turns out it was a Westinghouse, not a Whirlpool, sorry about that). I disconected the wires to the defrost timer and the defrost heaters and it has run fine for three day with no problems. MikeD74T, as you said, the timer and heater was behind the freezer liner. I got into it and disconnected and taped up the wires. Theres no fan under the fridge, but it does have a heater under the drip tray and I'm pretty sure it was this one (not the one in the freezer) than was shorting out, but getting into the freezer liner enabled me to disconnect everything to do with the defrost cycle.

I'm a happy man. Fixed for free, and no need to find a replacement for a fridge that only gets used a few days a month. Thanks again.

 

[irvingj]

Wow- another happy ending! Tallyho & MikeD74T, I spent 12 yrs in commercial refrigeration... good diagnosis, quite fun to follow the story.

Wish you were around here & still in business-- seems like a lot of new refrigeration techs these days are a bit short on practical knowledge- too bad there wasn't a convenient way for "old hands" to share their knowledge & experience. ("Visiting professorship"?)

alchemysa- glad you're getting at least a bit of rain! Have temps dropped at all?

 

[jinman]

I'm a happy man. Fixed for free, and no need to find a replacement for a fridge that only gets used a few days a month. Thanks again.

Woohoo! I was sure it was associated with the defrost cycle. That's the only thing that made sense with the symptoms you gave us. I'm thrilled that you got it fixed satisfactorily without spending a penny. Uh. . . does Australia still use pennies?

 

[dmccarty]

A M A Z I N G!

A bunch of guys fixed a broken fridge on the other side of the world!

Good Job!

Later,
Dan