How to confirm refrigerator fan is the problem?

The fridge decided that it was no longer going to keep things cold. :rolleyes:

It's a fridge freezer - this one in fact. I noticed that the fridge wasn't cool at all, and the freezer is nowhere near as cold as it should be. I've taken some of it apart; the cooling coils are behind the freezer section, with a fan sitting just above and in front of it. The fan is to circulate the cold air through air channels into the fridge and freezer.

I've taken the fan out to have a closer look - it spins freely. Next I looked at the power contacts for the fan. They check out; I plugged the fridge in and put a phase tester into the power contacts and the phase tester lit up.

Next thing I did was plug the fan back in, and leave it loose. Plugged the fridge back in and noticed that the fan "judders"; almost like it's "trying" to spin, but not quite able to.

So I'm not sure where this leaves me. The fan assembly is fine (like I said, it spins freely), but I think perhaps the transformer is gone? I guess there's enough current getting through to make the fan judder, but not enough to spin.

Really just looking for confirmation before I go drop £60 on a new fan.

CJhaughey

Deleted User wrote: »

The fridge decided that it was no longer going to keep things cold. :rolleyes:

It's a fridge freezer - this one in fact. I noticed that the fridge wasn't cool at all, and the freezer is nowhere near as cold as it should be. I've taken some of it apart; the cooling coils are behind the freezer section, with a fan sitting just above and in front of it. The fan is to circulate the cold air through air channels into the fridge and freezer.

I've taken the fan out to have a closer look - it spins freely. Next I looked at the power contacts for the fan. They check out; I plugged the fridge in and put a phase tester into the power contacts and the phase tester lit up.

Next thing I did was plug the fan back in, and leave it loose. Plugged the fridge back in and noticed that the fan "judders"; almost like it's "trying" to spin, but not quite able to.

So I'm not sure where this leaves me. The fan assembly is fine (like I said, it spins freely), but I think perhaps the transformer is gone? I guess there's enough current getting through to make the fan judder, but not enough to spin.

Really just looking for confirmation before I go drop £60 on a new fan.

Wire up a 12v supply from a battery charger and use a couple of scrap computer fans to check, these are commonly available from scrap PC's for nothing in the electronics section of a waste facility.

CJhaughey

CJhaughey wrote: »

Wire up a 12v supply from a battery charger and use a couple of scrap computer fans to check, these are commonly available from scrap PC's for nothing in the electronics section of a waste facility.

Actually, did something pretty similar to this.

Fan is bust, so ordered a replacement part off the manufacturer.

Worst time of the year for something like this to break. :rolleyes:

The Red Ace

ideally you should test the fan with a mains lead plugged in directly as I have only ever seen 220/230v mains motors, it will only run with the doors closed, when you had it dismantled had the evaporator coils much ice on them

The Red Ace

The Red Ace wrote: »

ideally you should test the fan with a mains lead plugged in directly as I have only ever seen 220/230v mains motors

That's exactly what I did; the motor itself had 220-240V written on it, so I plugged it directly. It just kind of "juddered", like it was doing when I had it in the fridge.

The Red Ace wrote: »

when you had it dismantled had the evaporator coils much ice on them

Nope - however that's more to do with leaving it overnight to defrost before I went at it. Very little in the drip pan next morning.

I've had the fridge plugged in for the last couple of days, with those coils exposed so I could keep an eye on them. Lightly frosted, not frozen over at all. I think maybe you're driving at the defrost timer? I tested that also - it's coming on/off as it should be.

Some more info, now that I remember...

A few weeks back, when we had that cold spell, I noticed there was a rattling noise coming from the back of the freezer. I don't get to spend a whole lot of time at home during the week, so I asked the Mrs about it. "Oh yeah, it's being doing that for a few days". :rolleyes:

I took the drawers out and noticed that two (out of four) of the air channels in the freezer compartment were frozen solid. At the time, I hadn't a clue about defrost timers, fans, etc. (learning all this as I go :eek:); I just put it down to the cold weather and that the fridge couldn't defrost properly because it's in the coldest room in the house. Naive? Abso-fcuking-lutely!

In hindsight, I think maybe the damage was done then. If there was ice in the air channels, there was ice on and around the fan. The rattling was the fan trying to spin against the ice and eventually the motor just gave in. Since then, I think it was working "just enough" to keep things cool, but the weather got warmer again and things in the fridge started to spoil.

The Red Ace

you are most likely ok with the new motor purchase, even with any of the doors slightly ajar for an overnight period can cause an ice build up which often needs a manual defrost, keep an eye on it for a while after fitting the replacement motor, to hear it running with the door open press the switch that operates the light

Quick update for anyone interested; new motor arrived, put it in and it all worked straight away. Tiny bit louder than it used to be, but it's working fine.