It happens all the time: A frustrated homeowner panics and calls a refrigerator repair man to fix a problem on his fridge compressor, incurring a hefty bill on an issue they could quickly have fixed themselves!
Now here’s a cool idea: what if we show you how to troubleshoot a refrigerator compressor and save your food (and the money)?
Put on your DIY gear and let’s do this:
How to troubleshoot a refrigerator compressor
Try the following DIY refrigerator compressor troubleshooting tips the next time you’re having trouble:
Refrigerator compressor trouble shooting: The usual suspects
1. Fridge compressor running but not cooling
If your fridge compressor runs but will not cool your food, the culprit often turns out to be the fans- either in the evaporator or the condenser- or the evaporator coils.
How to troubleshoot a refrigerator compressor a compressor that runs but won’t cool
| Part’s location | Recommended action | |
| Check the evaporator fan | It’s at the back of the freezer’s wall. | Remove the fan motor and replace it if it looks like its not working. |
| Inspect the condenser fan | Bottom of cabinet (inside the compressor’s compartment) | Again remove and install a new condenser fan motor. |
| Look at the condenser coils (the issue is usually dirt) | Across the bottom or at the back of your fridge | Brush and vacuum the coils until you get rid of the mess |
Tip: You may need to clean the coils more frequently if you’ve pets in the house or if the refrigerator is located in a particularly dusty area, for example, a garage.
2. Fridge compressor not starting
Sometimes the compressor won’t start no matter what you try.
A great place to start troubleshooting is asking these questions:
- Are the fans running?
- Can you hear a click sound in there?
If you answered yes, then you could need to focus on the refrigerator’s overload/relay-start capacitor– it may have malfunctioned so it’s not sending the right compressor voltage.
Note: This part plugs directly onto the compressor’s side in the modern models.
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Troubleshooting steps:
Unplug the component and check the voltage reading with a multimeter (simply place the two probes onto the corresponding terminals on the overload capacitor/relay-start capacitor or both as appropriate).
Here is the thing: You have a bad or burned capacitor if the result doesn’t match from the manufacturer’s recommendation as per your owners manual and the good thing is that you can get a replacement swiftly.
Sadly, you may have to replace the entire compressor if the change doesn’t help.
3. Fridge compressor starts then stops
This No. 1 problem affects many models and—we’re happy to report—it’s the easiest to fix.
We introduce the potential offenders first then suggest a workaround:
· Wrong thermostat settings
This is one of the most common causes of this behavior.
What to do: Just go to the thermostat and specify a lower setting.
· Dirt/debris
We spoke about dirty coils earlier but we didn’t tell you that excessive dust may make the fridge not to stay on.
What to do: Back to the matter of cleaning and you’ll need to vacuum the coils thoroug