Freezer attempts to start but after a few seconds trips out

The freezer has a compressor which will draw quite a lot of current in the first half-second when it starts.

Either: Your freezer has a electrical problem and needs to be fixed,

Or: there is already too much drawing on the circuit that you are trying to add the freezer to, and the freezer is more than the circuit breaker will allow.

First try powering the freezer from some other socket on a different circuit (use a long cord), or unplug a few things that are nearby (in most houses, there will be several wall sockets on the same wire in each area of the house).

If the freezer runs fine from a different socket, or when you unplug some other stuff, then the problem is you are overloading the circuit you were originally trying to add it to.

If you can't get the freezer to run on any socket without tripping the circuit breaker then probably the freezer has an electrical fault and best you get a real electrician to check it (safety first!).

My first instinct is to ask you, are you plugging this freezer into a GFI outlet, one which has a breaker switch as part of the outlet? If so, that is the culprit and not the freezer, as refrigerators and freezers will often trip this ground fault indicator because water can on occasion reach ground, which causes the breaker to trip on the outlet.

Test this by plugging the freezer into a non GFI outlet for longer than a few days. Nothing is broken and you dont need refrigerator repair service.

by the time you have fixed any faults,you might just as well buy a new(er)more effecient f/freezer.cost you less in the long run(got mine from a garage sale,owners were moving far away....)

your problem is likely the starting capacitor .. that is a metalic part (about the size of a fist) that is mounted on the compressor or near it .. it will have wires going to the compressor .. the capacitors are not very expensive and usually easy to change but make sure the unit is unplugged .. you can either write the numbers down off the capacitor or remove it and take it with you to a parts place to get a match ... take a photo or draw a diagram so you know where the wires go .(they usually just plug in) . .. you can order one from electrolux (might be higher price) .. dont allow the unit to continue running with the bad starting cap since the compressor can be damaged eventually ... if you call a repairman .. then make sure you tell him its a bad starting cap so he can bring one wiith him and avoild a second trip .. give him the model number and numbers off the capacitor if you can ... often the capacitor is actually two capacitors in one can ... one is for the compressor and the other is hooked up to the fan ... in that case replacing one would also replace the other ..

That's usually mounts inside the compressor. It could still last awhile so if you can put up with the noise just wait for it to quit before replacing the compressor or getting a new fridge.

If the compressor actually runs for more than a second or two its likely the compressor is bad. Some models had a 5 year warranty and some ten years on the compressor only. The replacement of the compressor is likely beyond your abilities unless you are a service technician.

A typical cost for such a repair can be more than the freezer may have cost you if nothing is under warranty. Good Luck.

Just fixed a similar model from Electrolux. It's not the fan that was faulty, but its transformer on the pcb. The fan has its own pcb, a small one on the left side and is controlled via 230V from the main board. It's easy to remove, turn around and measure.

If it started to cool again the compressor was running. Check the condenser and make sure it is clean. Provide as much air movement through the garage as possible . 100 degrees is a high temperature to be operating a refrigerator in.

actionsnax please remove the freezer from the GFCI. What is happening on this old unit is that if the compressor shuts off then tries to come back on before the pressure in the system equalizes, the compressor can pull 12 amps. This is normally higher than the trip point of the GFCI. I had this happen years ago with a brand new Amana SXS refrig, in that case no one knew the unit was on a GFCI. The manufactures require that this units not be on a GFCI.
Hope this helps

We had a Kenmore upright which worked fine but then suddenly was not keeping food frozen. Long story short, do not store anything on top of the freezer unit. It will insulate the coils that run across the top of the unit, and cause your compressor to work harder than it needs to, and eventually overheat and become ineffective. Says nothing about it in the user manual. We learned the hard way by losing food.