First post, thank you all, richappy especially. For eight months, clicking, clicking; thought it was wife’s new coffeemaker. Refrigerator always running. In hottest August, cooling capacity greatly diminished, nearly quit. Occasionally sharp unfamiliar smells in kitchen, guessed to be hydrocarbon. When weather cooled, refrigerator operated better. Then last Friday, at breakfast we noticed nothing, by dinner everything was soup. Fan blowing ambient air.
Investigate as I should have long before, the condenser coils were completely
insulated in fur from our cats [who could fix it if they just had the thumbs].
I guess I’d last vacuumed them a year ago, as well as a shop-vac could. Way not enough. The vents on the back panel furred as well.
Conclude then that due to lack of maintenance I ruined the heat dissipation capacity. Clicking clicking was the overload protector. Smells were a sealed system leak? None apparent. Or the deterioration of the affected switches by heat. A few times on the day it quit it made a sharp, loud china-breaking crack. The capacitor?
So my operating assumption is the overload/relay, overtaxed, burned out. The sealed system is still intact. Getting close to this majestic relic, and having seen the new sports in the marketplace, I’m midway into saving it. HAve found the parts. But also Richappy’s post that it’s power usage still will be twice [prob more] that of a new. Certainly the condenser array and compressor are twice as large. Can it be saved and should it be.
As far as new, a simple top freezer, 22 cu. ft., no ice, no water. Best quality, efficiency, reliability, most elegant design. Top contender seems to be the Kenmore made by LG. We’ll pay for quality. And quiet.
So I got to the overload protector: It’s a bimetal disc like a drumhead or actually a cymbal; one pole in the center, the second on the perimeter. Enough heat, the bimetal bends, switch makes. With all the making, and scant cooling, the perimeter pole vaporized a bite from the disc.
No I don’t quite get it but it seems evident, replace this overload protector for a start.
Is it worth spending the $50. for the part to make the repair. Have never isolated the KitchenAid to measure electricity consumption, but bill-figuring
guesses $30/month. Cleaning the condenser will improve some of that. But the 424 KwH/year consumption of the 22cf Kenmore [as given on the yellow card], at Central Hudson rates, figures to $7/month. Is that true?
Is there a 22cf top-freezer superior to the Kenmore.
OK. Before asking so many Q’s, learning from these forums got me resolved. Thanks.
I do not like LG refrigerators. Parts hard to get and little technical info. If you still want to buy one ask if the schematic and technical info are supplied with the unit.
See the attachment for the tech sheet.
I cannot tell if the connector is the lockable type or not from the picture.
Hopefully someone else knows.
In any case it probably will not matter.
If this is the thermal fuse from the blower assembly then it would kill power to the motor.
To kill power to just the heating coil a thermal cut-off (fuse) is used. It is item 47 in the Bulkhead Parts section.
Before checking anything else I would check the power to the unit.
The heater requires the full 240 volts, everything else runs off of 120 volts.
Try flipping the breaker off/on slowly a couple times, sometimes you can loose half the line without actually tripping the breaker.
If this does nothing, check the voltage at the plug
L1 to L2 should be 240 volts
L1 to Neutral and L2 to Neutral, both should be 120 volts.
If OK
Unplug the unit and check the wires at the terminal strip in the machine to make sure none are loose or burned out
If OK
Check the power at the terminal strip.
Be careful as 240 volts is lethal !!!
About getting those wires off. Just use a flat tip screwdriver. Slide the tip between the thermal fuse and connector and twist it and it should pop off. But if your dryer still tumbles then that is not the problem.