Refrigerator start relay: why the checks continue
The team arrives with a start relay and capacitor based on the job prep. The compressor starts after the relay is replaced, but the refrigerator still does not cool. That changes the next step.
Field notes: a running compressor with no cooling
Bring the suggested start relay.
The GuildUSA prep points the team toward a start relay. They bring it and get the compressor running.
Check for cooling after the compressor starts.
After waiting, they still find no heat exchange. They do not call the job fixed just because the compressor starts.
Explain the suspected sealed-system fault.
The team suspects a sealed-system leak. The clip ends with that finding, not a completed sealed-system repair.
Refrigerator start-relay diagnosis transcript
Read the video transcript
Good morning from Finds Fair American in the GuildUSA App. Another day, another dollar, man. The first one this morning is with a repeat client. She's also our banker, great lady. And she has an old school, top freezer, whirlpool, refrigerator. You know, the kind we love to work on that the compressor isn't even starting. So we're coming prepared with what it says in the GuildUSA App as the number one symptom which you all know.
If you have any experiences, probably
a start relay with its related capacitor and surge protector built into it. So hopefully we can knock that out pretty quick and then we'll get a little bit of recording on there and show you. You can see here, I did a screen recording showing the gig in the app. What do you got to say, Jacob? This might be one more of a part monkey repair. Might not even pull out the voltmeter to show if it's getting power.
It might be faster just to throw in the new part. See if the compressor turns on or not. It's either not getting power or the compressor's bad. So we'll start with the part. I don't even think we'll have to make sure that we're
going to take a look at the compressor. Part, monkeys. Get out and get it. The compressor's cold so it's probably not getting power which means the start device is probably not giving it power. If the compressor's locked up, the motor will still be trying to turn and we'll just start generating a bunch of heat. Okay, so we're going to check that. It's receiving power from the board first, right? I don't know.
We may just throw the new part in. Well, you want to be a full part monkey or you want to? Yeah, they're going to be a lot quicker. Okay, go for it. Yeah, we have a lot of water.
Working church. Let's go around front super cool there. It might take a minute, right?
All right, so we went right to the start relay device and the capacitor and we got the compressor
kicking right away. We let it run for 15 minutes. There was no heat exchange going on. So you had
no heat on the condenser coils and no cold inside on the evaporator. There was getting
a little cold in the upper right hand corner but not to the rest of the evaporator. So we concluded
that they had a leak because the compressor was kicking nice and smooth. Like I said, there
was no nothing in there to create any pressure at all. Anything to add to that, Jacob?
We tried to call the client beforehand the best surfer asked her if she could hear the
compressor running. She said she couldn't. It was actually one of the more silent running
compressors. Normally you have the little humming noise. It was turning and it just had nothing
to turn her compressor on which might have been why it was so quiet. There was no gas to
actually give load to the motor. So bad HVAC system, bad steel system.
Yeah, so we recommended a local guy here that sells some used ones because it is their secondary
garage refrigerator. And he's got some good deals on some top freezer Kenmore in there.
So she's all taken care of and we're off to the next job.
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