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My uncle said to never trust a multimeter reading on a fridge compressor without checking the overload first, and he saved me a $200 part last month.
I was ready to order a new compressor for a Whirlpool side-by-side until I remembered his advice, pulled the overload, and found it was just a bad connection on the relay.
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the_alice2mo ago
Maybe it's just me but chasing a bad relay or overload feels like a crutch sometimes. @eva_adams68 a clean terminal can get a compressor running again, sure, but if the compressor is actually failing those checks just delay the inevitable. Compressors don't just die from a dirty relay, they die from locked rotors or burnt windings, and a multimeter won't lie about that.
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sethhernandez2mo ago
My old boss at the appliance shop drilled that same check into our heads. He said a solid 30% of supposed dead compressors were just bad relays or overloads. That simple step saves so much time and money.
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eva_adams682mo ago
Absolutely, that's such a crucial step. I learned the hard way on my own fridge a few years back. I was getting a weird reading and almost called a repair guy. Took the overload off, cleaned up the terminals, and it fired right up. It's amazing how often it's just a simple connection issue.
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