Montgomery Ward Chest Freezer problem

[ken]

So I thought Id run the 1980s era Montgomery Ward chest freezer a little today that came with my house. I cant remember the last time it was run. Maybe 9-10 years. Nothing happened when turned on. I could hear a faint sizzling and then smelled an electrical burning smell. The basement is damp. Could it be the start capacitor? Could the compressor be stuck from not being run for so long?

 

[arbilab]

Both are possible. Replace start cap and see what happens. Bear in mind, you can't smell anything happening inside a sealed compressor and if the cap is bad the compressor can't start whether it's "stuck" or not.

 

[thor]

Start switch

The start switch might be stuck due to lack of use. Remove it from its mounting socket, shake it to see if the inner contact is loose. You might have to replace it if it remains stuck.

Your compressor has two inner winding: start winding (much stronger) and run winding (much weaker).

If start switch is stuck open then it won't engage the start winding to kick the compressor into full rotation speed. If the start winding doesn't engage, then the run winding is too weak to start the compressor, and the overload switch trips within a couple of seconds.

I hope this helps.

 

[appnut]

An appliance, particularly involving refrigeration, shouldn't sit idle that long.  In addition to this potential problem, the refrigerant hose system could spring a leak.