On friday I noticed an off and on buzzing noise coming from our "new" fridge. On sunday morning when we opened the freezer the food was all defrosted. Both the freezer section and the fridge section were not cooling effectively. My husband unplugged the fridge and left it off over night. He plugged it in this morning and it is working again. The thermomator reads -10 degrees for the freezer. When we called the repair coompany for our kenmore fridge, they wanted to charge $219 for them to come out and fix it and give us a 12 month warranty. I mentioned it was working again and they said it could have been an electrical issue and unplugging it could have corrected the problem. Similar to turning your computer on and off. I do not want to spend $219 for them to tell me that it was an electrical problem that was corrected by unplugging it for 12 hours. Do you think this will be a recurring problem and is it worth getting fixed? Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.
From what you describe, it sounds like the buzzing noise was caused by the compressor trying to start up, but not managing due to either a fault in the electrical supply, which may now be fine, or the compressor itself sticking. If the compressor was sticking, then there are three possible causes; - the fridge is either low on refrigerant gas (this contains the lubricant for the compressor too), if this is the case then $219 is not a bad price, shop around though - any fridge repair guy can do it, doesnt have to be sears/kenmore guys, but the warranty sounds useful. - just that the compressor was being temperamental. (sometimes happens but is fairly rare). If it doesnt happen again in the near future then your fridge may be fine. Third possibility is that the starter capacitor/condenser for the compressor is failing - this is a small part, quick to swap and cheap, although usually these either work, or they dont work - not much in between. I would recommend leaving it for a few days or so, and keep a record of the temperature every now and again - if it keeps getting warmer noticeably, or colder noticeably (i know it sounds odd but getting extra cold is a classic symptom of low refrigerant). Listen a bit, and see if you think the fridge compressor is running more often than normal if you can remember how it was, and if it keeps getting more frequent. If so - get it fixed. if everything stays about the same - temperature/amount of time running/noise then you probably can just hope for the best and leave it running, the moment anything changes, post again and we can probably advise you if it needs fixing or not. If you can spare the $219 then with the warranty attached it may be better to get it done anyway, but if it lasts a week with no change then it is probably fine for now. Hope this helps :)
Posted on Apr 02, 2007
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