On 8/31/2010 6:24 PM, Ignoramus20906 wrote:
I have an electronic Kenmore refrigerator 596.50013100. I bought it
from a private party over a year ago and it has been working great
until now. It seems very well made, overall.

Yesterday it started beeping and displaying a strange trouble signal:

http://igor.chudov.com/tmp/Kenmore-Trouble.jpg

It is right above the word "Kenmore", is red and looks like a crossed
lock and an exclamation.

The temperature in the unit has been rising since then and clearly, it
is not cooling anything. Right now both freezer and fridge are at 46
degrees F.

I tried calling Kenmore, but could only speak to dummies who are
forbidden to give any diagnostics.

My question is WTF does this sign mean? It is meant to tell me
something.

Thanks

i

Well it may just be the picture, but it looks like the freezer is set to
45 degrees.

--
Steve Barker
remove the "not" from my address to email

On 2010-09-01, Steve Barker wrote:
On 8/31/2010 6:24 PM, Ignoramus20906 wrote:
I have an electronic Kenmore refrigerator 596.50013100. I bought it
from a private party over a year ago and it has been working great
until now. It seems very well made, overall.

Yesterday it started beeping and displaying a strange trouble signal:

http://igor.chudov.com/tmp/Kenmore-Trouble.jpg

It is right above the word "Kenmore", is red and looks like a crossed
lock and an exclamation.

The temperature in the unit has been rising since then and clearly, it
is not cooling anything. Right now both freezer and fridge are at 46
degrees F.

I tried calling Kenmore, but could only speak to dummies who are
forbidden to give any diagnostics.

My question is WTF does this sign mean? It is meant to tell me
something.

Thanks

i

Well it may just be the picture, but it looks like the freezer is set to
45 degrees.


It is not "set" to 45 degrees, what was displayed is the current
temperature.

i

Here are my findings:

1) The condenser fan is running fine
2) The compressor motor buzzes, then overload stops it, to restart in
a few minutes
3) The compressor motor is HOT
4) Inside of the relay does not look burned.

I see four possibilities:

1) The capacitor is bad
2) Something in the relay assembly is bad (unlikely, since this seems
to be a run capacitor).
3) Somehow the compressor cannot pump, due to problems with cooling
coils or whatever other internal blockage
4) [the most dreaded possibility] the compressor is seized.

To eliminate 1-2, I have ordered a new capacitor and a new relay
assembly (since I broke some holding plastic lugs when removing
it). The cost was relatively small ($34.95 for everything with
shipping).

Hopefully, I will get that stuff around Monday (they are in CA, I am
in IL).

We can live with it, because it is our second (garage) fridge, and we
also have a upright freezer.

If that does not help, I would expect this to become an expensive
repair, and I would have to call a tech to replace the compressor, or
even junk the fridge.

i