Another Question About My '52 Kelvinator Fridge

[rp2813]

I've posted before that this fridge has been failing to kick in occasionally over the past several months, but I've been procrastinating over opening up a can of worms.  The issue has become more frequent, like it happens on a daily basis now, but time has perhaps provided a clue as to the source of the problem. 

 

The remedy for its non-running condition has been to open and close the door.  The thud of the door latching gets it running again.  Recently, I came up from the basement and firmly closed that door behind me.  The fridge, which is a few feet away from this door, immediately kicked in.  To confirm it wasn't a coincidence, I checked the freezer compartment and sure enough, it had defrosted, so the fridge hadn't been operating.

 

Since then, whenever I pass by the fridge, I give it a firm rap with my fist at the top of the door and it will usually kick in.  If it doesn't, it's because it's currently in proper operational mode.  This makes me think the cold control may be where the fault lies, as it's located at the top of the cabinet.

 

I'm hesitant to access the cold control in case I end up causing the fridge to stop operating entirely.  Does anyone have knowledge to share about the control and related wiring?  If there's a loose connection, it would be just my luck that I made it worse and ended up having to remove trim or something in order to make a repair.   Meanwhile, I feel bad for the fridge having to work so hard to reach temperature once or twice over a 24 hour period.  That just adds operating time to a compressor that's pushing 70 years old.

 

If I can safely pull the cold control with enough extra wire accessible to inspect and/or repair, that's what I'll do, but I want to be sure about it first.  Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[goatfarmer]

Sounds to me like the control.

 

[combo52]

52 Kelvinator ref

Yes it is most likely the cold control, Next time you open the door and find it defrosted try taking something like the plastic handle of a screw driver and hit the knob of the CC rather than slamming the door, if tapping the knob makes it start it is likely the CC.

 

This cutting off and defrosting and then running for a longer period of time is not hurting the compressor at all, common sense tells you that it is running less total time than if it was working correctly, you are saving energy and excess water and tear on the start relay with less starts.

 

Think of it as a set-back thermostat for your refrigerator, LOL

 

John L.

 

[rp2813]

Set-back

Yes John, it's like it's running its own defrosting cycles, but in a whimsical fashion.  I'll tap on the control next time I suspect the fridge has gone into sleep mode and report back.  After a rap with my fist around 11 AM today, it has been cycling fine.  Likely by tonight it will decide to take a nap, so we shall see.

 

It had slipped my mind when I put up the OP, but I now recall the first time I discovered the fridge wasn't cycling, I rotated the control knob to a colder setting and nothing happened (after being unsuccessful with that, closing the door triggered it to kick in, and the rest is history).  We'll see if tapping on it produces a different result.

 

 

 

[rp2813]

The Second Time Was the Charm

I realized I hadn't heard the fridge running for a while earlier tonight.  I opened the door and it kicked in.  Hours later, I tried again, this time holding the door shut while pulling on the handle to release the latch.  I got in and then gave the cold control knob a couple of taps with two fingers and the system kicked in (I walked right past the screwdriver).

 

I'm fairly certain now that the problem lies with the cold control, but I'm wondering how to diagnose it.  Once the fridge is running, tapping the control or opening and closing the door does nothing.  Operation continues until it reaches temperature.  This makes me think that rather than a loose connection somewhere, there's something getting hung up in the part of the mechanism that trips when cooling is called for.

 

I think pulling the control to check its operation is next.  I'll try to do that sometime this week.

 

[combo52]

52 Kelvinator ref

Hi Ralph, You need another CC, it is not a loose wire otherwise it would stop and start when you tap it.

 

The way a CC works is pressure slowly builds up in the capillary bulb to th point where a spring loaded contact flips and sends power to the compressor, this mechanism is either worn and sticky or just worn out.

 

It would certainly be worth spraying contact lube and cleaner into the old control, this often works.

 

CCs failing in this manor are very common, we see it literally every week, we often suggest customers do this when their refs stop running and often when I walk into a job with a dead ref I have to tap the control to get it running.  

 

There is nothing wrong with using your fingers but a tap with a hard object works a lot better in many  cases.

 

John L.

 

[rp2813]

Thanks John for explaining the mechanism that I was thinking could be causing the trouble.  I'll pull the control sometime this week and see what's up.  Meanwhile, the fridge has been cycling regularly since I tapped the control last night.  If it's an issue that lube may help, I may have caught it early enough for that to be effective.

 

I'd still like to find another GE Combination to replace this fridge with (defrosting would be so much easier), but the Kelvinator deserves to live on in another home if and when that happens, so I want to fix this problem both for my own purposes and to be sure it will perform reliably for someone else who appreciates it.

 

Pix included just to remind readers.