The day before Christmas and my fridge broke.

[Pommie]

I have an LG fridge which is ~16 years old. Got home tonight to discover it's not working. It's got power but no motors are running. The schematic is on the back and this is it.

I pulled the rear panel off and the compressor seems to be a self contained unit with the motor caps etc. not accessible.
Due to the time of year I'm unlikely to be able to get anyone around until new year. So I wondered if anyone on here had any thoughts.

We have been having record temperatures her and the fridge is in an alcove. Could some sort of thermal cutout have happened? What does FUSE-M(72°C) mean?

Any help greatly appreciated.

Mike.

 

[JimB]

What does FUSE-M(72°C) mean?

Sounds like a thermal fuse that blows/trips at 72 degC.

From experience of my own fridge, check out the thermostat.
If that is open circuit, that will kill the fridge.

What I did was put in a wire link to bypass the thermostat.
This of course made the fridge run very cold, so I put a timer in the mains supply and set the timer to to 10min ON, 10min OFF.
This let the fridge run at a sensible temperature until I could buy a new 'stat.

JimB

 

[Pommie]

11P.M. here so in the morning I'll start tracing wires and see if I can make any progress. I can only imagine a fuse getting to 72°C if my apartment was on fire but will check anyway. No hum from the motor so probably not a capacitor. I have a timer with 15 min intervals so shorting the thermostat may be a good bandaid.

Mike.

 

[ramondo]

Look online for appliance repair video. I had similar problem and it was defrost timer.

 

[MaxHeadRoom78]

I have an LG fridge which is ~16 years old. Got home tonight to discover it's not working.
Any help greatly appreciated.
Mike.

The old standby!

 

[Pommie]

Love it Max but it's mid summer here and mid 30s (C) so kinda no chance of snow.

Mike.

 

[MaxHeadRoom78]

Should have known by the handle!
Max.

 

[Tony Stewart]

If timer is stuck, that can be easily verified . Tap it or hot wire it

 

[Pommie]

These things are not meant to be fixed. Thermostat OK, resistor next to thermostat reads 73K - anyone know it's purpose - only thing I can think is to warm the thermostat!!! Defrost timer OK. Can't get at the thermal fuse - can't find it.

Just thought to check if the FIR (Far Infra Red) bulb was working with my tablet camera and, when powered up, the compressor started up - yippee. I'm thinking it must be the defrost timer as I rotated it manually before testing. We'll see in another 6 hours. Time to reassemble and restock with warm beer.

Mike.

 

[debe]

The Thermal fuse is part of the defrost circuit. It will be in the evap fins for protection if the defrost heater stays on too long & over heats. The resistor is taped to the thermostat to keep it slightly warm, this is common in frost free fridges with mechanical thermostats.

 

[debe]

This is whats in your average Frost free fridge. If the defrost timer or any of the Defrost parts dont function properly, the evaporator coils become one large block of ice. Same result if the fan stops working, then nothing gets cold. The fridge these parts came outof the fan had siezed, note there is oil lube holes in both sides of the fan which freed it up.

 

[Ylli]

Glad it started working for you. A stuck defrost timer is common. If it stops again, (should be cooling but no motors running) plug it in through a Kil-A-Watt (or other inline ammeter) and see if it is drawing current. If it is, it is likely the defrost heater stuck on.

 

[atferrari]

Here the elevator is not working.

In the ground floor preparing myself to start climbing. Just six floors. Merry Christmas.

 

[Pommie]

I'm fairly sure the problem is with the defrost timer but it's working so diagnosis can wait until next year.

Mike.

 

[DrG]

Not to be too seasonal, but you have a Christmas Story there....

Twas the day before Christmas, and all through the house,

Not a brew was chilled, not even a stout...