My undercounter freezer has suddenly ceased to work.
There's power there but when you switch it on it runs for about five second,
there's then a click and silence.
The power light remains on suggesting to me that it could be something
simple like a thermostat that's DIY replaceable, or are there any other
alternatives other than forking out for a replacement.
Ta.

On 5 July, 14:16, "Scabbydug" wrote:
My undercounter freezer has suddenly ceased to work.
There's power there but when you switch it on it runs for about five second,
there's then a click and silence.
The power light remains on suggesting to me that it could *be something
simple like a thermostat that's DIY replaceable, or are there any other
alternatives other than forking out for a replacement.
Ta.

The thermostat is a pretty common culprit, along with motor brushes,
maybe a motor overheat sensor. These are really just about all you can
do to d-i-y repair a fridge. Assuming it's the usual mechanical sensor
-- tube leading off to a bellows and microswitch -- you need to find
the switch and short out its contacts. If that gets the fridge going,
it's off to eBay for a generic replacement thermostat. Be prepared to
use a little ingenuity matching the new control shaft with the old.

See also the FAQ at http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php?title=Fridge
but its main advice seems to be that it's cheaper to replace (with a
secondhand one) than repair.

Chris

On Jul 5, 2:04*pm, wrote:
On 5 July, 14:16, "Scabbydug" wrote:

My undercounter freezer has suddenly ceased to work.
There's power there but when you switch it on it runs for about five second,
there's then a click and silence.
The power light remains on suggesting to me that it could *be something
simple like a thermostat that's DIY replaceable, or are there any other
alternatives other than forking out for a replacement.
Ta.

The thermostat is a pretty common culprit, along with motor brushes,
maybe a motor overheat sensor. These are really just about all you can
do to d-i-y repair a fridge. Assuming it's the usual mechanical sensor
-- tube leading off to a bellows and microswitch -- you need to find
the switch and short out its contacts. If that gets the fridge going,
it's off to eBay for a generic replacement thermostat. Be prepared to
use a little ingenuity matching the new control shaft with the old.

See also the FAQ athttp://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php?title=Fridge
but its main advice seems to be that it's cheaper to replace (with a
secondhand one) than repair.

Chris

It'll be the cutout on the compressor, which presumably has a partial
short. It is possible to get these working, but not worth doing due to
the cost of the resulting energy waste.


NT

wrote:
On 5 July, 14:16, "Scabbydug" wrote:
My undercounter freezer has suddenly ceased to work.
There's power there but when you switch it on it runs for about five
second, there's then a click and silence.
The power light remains on suggesting to me that it could be
something simple like a thermostat that's DIY replaceable, or are
there any other alternatives other than forking out for a
replacement.
Ta.

The thermostat is a pretty common culprit, along with motor brushes,
maybe a motor overheat sensor. These are really just about all you can
do to d-i-y repair a fridge. Assuming it's the usual mechanical sensor
-- tube leading off to a bellows and microswitch -- you need to find
the switch and short out its contacts. If that gets the fridge going,
it's off to eBay for a generic replacement thermostat. Be prepared to
use a little ingenuity matching the new control shaft with the old.

See also the FAQ at http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php?title=Fridge
but its main advice seems to be that it's cheaper to replace (with a
secondhand one) than repair.

Chris

The Wiki says:

RCDs can cause nuisance trips. If this occurs when out for the day the
fridge will warm up, making some of the food unsafe to eat. Food poisoning
claims orders of magnitude more lives than electrocution by fridge, so
ideally a fridge should be run from a non-RCD circuit. This is even more
true for freezers.


I thought this wasn't generally allowed? That all outlets had to be RCD
protected. Is there an exception the IEE regulations?

wrote:
On 5 July, 14:16, "Scabbydug" wrote:
My undercounter freezer has suddenly ceased to work.
There's power there but when you switch it on it runs for about five second,
there's then a click and silence.
The power light remains on suggesting to me that it could be something
simple like a thermostat that's DIY replaceable, or are there any other
alternatives other than forking out for a replacement.
Ta.

The thermostat is a pretty common culprit, along with motor brushes,
maybe a motor overheat sensor. These are really just about all you can
do to d-i-y repair a fridge. Assuming it's the usual mechanical sensor
-- tube leading off to a bellows and microswitch -- you need to find
the switch and short out its contacts. If that gets the fridge going,
it's off to eBay for a generic replacement thermostat. Be prepared to
use a little ingenuity matching the new control shaft with the old.

See also the FAQ at http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php?title=Fridge
but its main advice seems to be that it's cheaper to replace (with a
secondhand one) than repair.

Chris
When did you last see a fridge compressor with brushes FFS!!

Bob

On Jul 5, 9:21*pm, "Fredxx" wrote:
wrote:
On 5 July, 14:16, "Scabbydug" wrote:
My undercounter freezer has suddenly ceased to work.
There's power there but when you switch it on it runs for about five
second, there's then a click and silence.
The power light remains on suggesting to me that it could be
something simple like a thermostat that's DIY replaceable, or are
there any other alternatives other than forking out for a
replacement.
Ta.

The thermostat is a pretty common culprit, along with motor brushes,
maybe a motor overheat sensor. These are really just about all you can
do to d-i-y repair a fridge. Assuming it's the usual mechanical sensor
-- tube leading off to a bellows and microswitch -- you need to find
the switch and short out its contacts. If that gets the fridge going,
it's off to eBay for a generic replacement thermostat. Be prepared to
use a little ingenuity matching the new control shaft with the old.

See also the FAQ athttp://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php?title=Fridge
but its main advice seems to be that it's cheaper to replace (with a
secondhand one) than repair.

Chris

The Wiki says:

RCDs can cause nuisance trips. If this occurs when out for the day the
fridge will warm up, making some of the food unsafe to eat. Food poisoning
claims orders of magnitude more lives than electrocution by fridge, so
ideally a fridge should be run from a non-RCD circuit. This is even more
true for freezers.

I thought this wasn't generally allowed? *That all outlets had to be RCD
protected. *Is there an exception the IEE regulations?

Under 17th edition its ok if the cable to the socket is 2" deep or
armoured. There's much more flexibility on existing installs, which of
course most are.


NT