It did it again - Whirlpool Refrigerator

[whirlcool]

Our Whirlpool refrigerator gave us a wonderful new years gift. It stopped working again. We woke up to water on the floor in front of it, most of the food in the freezer defrosted and both freezer and refrigerator sections are maintaining 40F.
The motor is running, but the exhaust air coming out from the front of the unit is cool. Usually the air coming out is quite warm.

This unit has been a lemon for most of the time we have had it. Every other year something has needed replacing.

Is it time for a new refrigerator? This one's about 10 years old.

 

[petek]

Absolutely. The aggravation alone. Like ours we just replaced last year was dripping water somewhere which pooled up on the floor in front. Spent some good coin having it repaired only to happen again.. The time we spent with an old towel on the floor 24/7.. Why the heck we lived with that for a year or more was well, stupid's a good word LOL

And you know what.. almost every morning when I come downstairs and walk in the kitchen I'm still half expecting to walk onto a big wet spot and it's been months since we replaced it..

 

[cfz2882]

do you have good evaporator airflow-fan working?evap coil not froze into a wad of
ice or frost? thats the most likely cause of no cooling/cool air off condenser.
with compressor runnin otherwise refrigerant may have hissed out through a leak...
My 11 yr old WP built KM fridge has been 100% free of problems since new,but mine
pulls condenser air in the front grille and exhausts out the back so sounds like
different design/model from your fridge

 

[philr]

As cfz2882 said, check for airflow inside the freezer and refrigerator. Some models have a fan that stops when the refrigerator or freezer door is open so if there's no airflow, close the light switch with your other while feeling the air outlet for air flow from the evaporator fan.

If there's no or almost no air flow, either the evaporator fan motor doesn't work or the evaporator is frozen up. Then, you can remove the cover over the evaporator to see exactly what happens! If the evaporator is free of frost and the compressor and fan are running, the problem is probably more serious!

I am not an appliance specialist and I haven't worked much on Whirlpool fridges but the newer fridges I had to repair either had a bad evaporator fan motor (on a Whirlpool with electronic control from the mid-eighties and an Amana from the early nineties), freezing drain which locked the fan motor in ice on a 1998 GE Profile bottom freezer fridge (I had to install a drain heater on it), bad thermal limit switch on a Moffat (GE) top freezer which led to evaporator icing and no air circulation. All these were easy to do, inexpensive repairs!

 

[whirlcool]

Thanks for these tips.

OK, here is what we have.

The motor is still running and cold air is coming out from the motor exhaust part on the bottom of the front of the freezer.

Cold air is "radiating" out of the cold air inlet at the back of the refrigerator section. It is the same whether or not the door is open or closed. I don't hear that "purring" noise you normally hear when you open the door but you press the botton to simulate the door being closed. So it sounds like the fan that blows the cold air around has failed.

I turned the refrigerator completely off. Even though we have removed all the food from the freezer, there is still water coming out from under the refrigerator.

I seems that maybe the fan motor is out. Last time that happened (2006) the frame of the refrigerator got really hot, almost too hot to touch. That's not the case this time. Are there two fans in this refrigerator (one for cooling and one for the compressor?). The last fan we replaced was the compressor cooling fan and that was a $425.00 repair. The refrigerator was $1700.00 new in 2001.

The front door around the ice/water port is starting to rust through. The food is already ruined. Thank goodness there wasn't too much in it. One of our neighbors put the roasts/steaks we had in the freeezer in their freezers as they weren't defrosted yet. We lost about $50.00 worth of food due to this failure.

 

[DADoES]

 
Yes, there should be at least two fans ... an evaporator fan inside the freezer section to circulate air over the cooling coil and between the freezer & fresh food sections, and a condensor fan to blow air over the compressor and coil under the unit. If the compressor and condensor fan are running then the air blowing out the toekick should be warm, even if the evaporator fan is not running.

$425 for a condensor fan is o-u-t-r-a-g-e-o-u-s IMO ... but maybe there's something unusual/kinky about it. You haven't stated the model number so I can't look-up the parts and diagrams. I replaced the freezer evaporator fan and system motherboard on my GE SxS last year for $168 in parts.

 

[cfz2882]

no airflow

sure does sound like the the evap fan is not working(possibly jammed by ice
buildup)

 

[philr]

Remove the evaporator cover to see what's happening. I don't know where it's located in your model but with the model number, I'm sure someone here or a Google search will get you some info! If the fan wasn't noisy before it stopped working, there are chances it was locked by ice.

 

[alr2903]

Whirlcool, it's a tough call,  i don't think i would invest much more money in the fridge though. alr

 

[qualin]

You've already spent a lot of cash on that fridge and it is giving you lots of grief. Why bother fixing something which will break again soon anyway?

We have a BOL Roper which came with the house, it has given us 13 years of trouble free service, it does its job very well. If a BOL "Generic" fridge can do better, then what does that say about the quality of what you own?

If I were you, I eat the cost and buy something new from a boutique appliance shop. Just don't buy Whirlpool.. Read the reviews online and look for the quality of the warranty. I've seen Viking and Dacor products selling in the boutique shops. I don't know how good they are, but they certainly are high end products.

I have some friends of mine who are very happy with their Samsung Fridge. It's given them about three years of trouble free operation so far.

If you do decide to get your lemon fixed, good luck.

 

[whirlcool]

It sure does sound like that's what the problem is. The fan by the compressor is running as it is blowing air out from the compressor. Do you reach the other fan from inside the unit or outside on the back on the bottom of the fridge?

This is a Whirlpool Model Number ED25PDXFw01.

When the fan over the compressor was replaced, the part was $150.00 and the labor was $300.00. The guy earned every last penny on the labor. To get to the compressor fan motor he had to pull the refrigerator out all the way, then lay on his back with his rear end against the wall, legs going up the wall and then put his hands and arms about two feet into the bottom of the refrigerator to hunt around for the nuts and screws that hold the motor in place by feel only. It took him almost two hours to get the job done from start to paying the bill. I wouldn't have had the patience.

The neighbor across the street replaced a relay that shut the unit down around 2003 in 2004 he replaced another one, then in 2005 he replaced all of them. So we haven't had any more relay problems. Then the solenoid valves for the water & ice went out. Then the fan motor went out, then the thing in the freezer door that controls the ice/water paddles went out.

I finally told the refrigerator the next time you fail, off to the dump you go!
Right now one of our appliance stores is selling a 26ft capacity GE double door for $999, marked down from $1600.00. It's that touch free stainless steel look alike finish. We are seriously thinking of buying it.

Personally, I feel that this refrigerator was a lemon from the start. This is also the first refrigerator we had that has totally died on us, let alone loose all our food five times over the past few years. Previously the worst problem we had was that we had to replace an ice maker one time. So I consider ourselves quite lucky.

And tonight the door latch on our newer Maytag dishwasher decided to jam.

 

[whirlcool]

Since all of our food (except for what we took to our neighbors) was ruined and has been thrown away, we are just going to operate out of an ice chest for a few days here. I want to really look around at refrigerators. I don't think we'll be buying a Whirlpool/Kenmore again.

I like the looks of the Fisher/Paykel refrigerators, but I have seen that they are considerably more expensive than other brands and have read that the interior walls are eggshell thin. Several people have put their hands through the liner while cleaning them. Is this true?

I have heard that Maytag refrigerators suck too. So that really only leaves GE left. We've had GE's before and never had any problems. And the GE has that stainless steel look alike finish that doesn't get marks on it like real stainless does. We are forever wiping dog nose prints off the front of our stove and DW. Karen said that if we like doing this, think how much we'll like repeating this process even more frequently with a SS refrigerator with more surface area. She does have a point!

BUT I do realize that was back then and this is now and current appliances don't last as long. I'm just tired of losing food. We almost did a large grocery shopping trip last Friday, I am so glad we delayed it to Monday. Now, with the refrigerator screw up we won't be going at all.

Anyone have any recommendations?

 

[qualin]

To Whirlcool

A few things to consider when buying a fridge...
A few commercials on youtube from Appliance Direct put it in better words than I ever could. The salesguy demonstrates what makes for a good and a lousy fridge. Look for these things when you decide to buy....







To Summarize:

1. It should have Rubber wheels instead of plastic wheels.
2. It should have Solid Insulation, No screws or holes. (Best seen in the video)
3. Solid insulation inside the door. If you can squeeze the shelves, it's junk.
4. True Stainless Steel isn't magnetic.
5. The last one is up for debate, but the fridge should be shallow, not deep.

There is a big debate over electronic vs mechanical controls. Our Roper has mechanical controls. It has been working just fine without issues for years.

Good luck!

 

[whirlcool]

Those tips you have there do make a lot of sense. I agree about mechanical controls even though this refrigerator has them.

 

[whirlcool]

You know Karen must think that I am a glutton for punishment. We looked up the part for the evaporator motor and it's only $53.00 or so. Karen is pressing me to buy it and install it. Right now with taxes and home owners association dues coming due this is not the best time to hit us with the cost of a new refrigerator. So just for kicks, I'll look at the fan motor and check to see if there is voltage at the connectors.

And she reminded me that the agitator dogs are out on the Whirlpool again. We just replaced those back in 2004. This is NOT a good omen for us starting off 2012 this way.

 

[goatfarmer]

It can only get better.....

 

[DADoES]

 
I don't find a match on that model number.  Is it ED25PQXFW01?

I find the condensor fan motor listed for $77/$78.

Evaporator fan motor $43.

 

[philr]

I did find illustrations for a the model number DADoES posted above (google automatically replaced the "D" for a "Q"). Is it similar to yours? Look at the diagram 10, airflow parts.

http://www.appliancepartspros.com/p...model_id=250664&diagram_id=28262760#d28262760

 

[mattl]

From the diagram PhilR posted it looks very similar to my Whirlpool Gold model.  It's easy to get to the fan once the freezer is empty, as yours now is.  there are about 6-8 screws holding the back cover on, remove those and work out the metal cover, it's a little stubborn and you have to angle it a bit but it comes out-eventually.

 

Once it's off, turn the fridge on  and see if the coils cool. if they do you should be in better shape.  The fan may or may not run, if it cools and the fan is frozen you found your problem, if not it's new fridge time.

 

If you are shopping check out your local Lowe's, scratch and dent isle.  I've been working at Lowe's for a month now and am amazed at the mark downs.  At our store we have 4-6 Frigidaire side by sides in fake stainless marked down from $1200 to $650.  Some have minor dings on the side. one has a dent in front under where the handle goes.  There are some that are marked down due to model change and are priced a bit more but still well under $1000.

 

 

Good luck in either case...