Sears Kenmore Refrigerator 795.70323.310 No Longer Cooling

[AZ_Steve]

Neither the refrigerator nor freezer are cooling.

Things I have tried/confirmed:

Unit has power.
There appears to be no airflow blockages. I’ve pulled it out into the middle of the kitchen to eliminate airflow doubt.
Removed back panel. Coils/fan had some dust and dust bunnies, but I’ve seen worse. Anyway I blew everything out and vacuumed. It’s nearly new looking now.
Compressor hums, is warm to touch. I feel like my troubleshooting in this area is lacking, but not sure what to try.
Condenser fan is turning. I am not sure how fast it is supposed to spin.
Air vents closest to the refrigerator door push air. I believe than means the evaporator fan works, however I am again not sure of the speed at which the air should flow.
I briefly took off the panel to the mainboard. Nothing appeared to be fried. But I didn’t inspect it any more than that.

That’s all I can think of with my limited skills. If someone knows what might be the issue and can give me some pointers, I’d be eternally grateful.
Thank you

 

[havasu]

How old is the unit?

 

[PJB12]

You did a nice troubleshooting A-Z Steve!

People are quick to call out "Low Freon", but I very much doubt that your unit is low on refrigerant. It's rare for a house unit unless you keep open jars of acidic stuff in there. (Then the vapors eat the aluminum evaporator tubing.) Cars are a different story because they use permeable tubing.

If the unit is old or is in a very hot environment, the compressor valves could be worn. Testing for that is below in Item B, but this is a "guestimate" test. Service manifold gauges is the way to confirm.


FIRST-
Check around the back of the machine for a folded up paper. Sometimes they are taped in a plastic sleeve inside the panel over the condensing unit.

The paper will be the technician's service sheet. Failing to find it, these are available on line. An appliance fixing forum will probably have it. Appliancejunk.com has all of them free, but I could not get their home page to load just now.

This sheet will have a step-by-step diagnostic procedure in it. One pushes certain sequences of buttons on the control panel and the machine will test things one-by-one while you observe.


Some common items that caus eno cooling in a house refrigerator are below. A and B are items that have repeatedly stopped cooling on our Maytag (the king of breaking down):

A) When the compressor hums, does it start or is it trying to start?

I don't know if you're comfortable doing these tests, but they're here just in case.
The easiest way to tell is with an amp meter clamped around the Run wire to the compressor. First unplug the machine for 20 minutes to let pressures equalize. Next, connect the amp meter. Then, while someone plugs it in, watch the meter. it should rise, then fall part way down in a a second or two. If it falls part way down, check the reading versus the amp draw specified for the compressor. If amps are low, you may have worn valves. (Not uncommon on small sealed units)

If the meter stays at high amps after several seconds, most likely the start capacitor is bad. You can check it with a capacitance meter, risk a few dollars and swap it for a nee one.

Sometimes (rarely) the overload or start relay are bad. Testing these isn't something I'd be good at explaining.

B) Is the unit stuck in Defrost?
On our Maytag, when it is in defrost, the condensing fan does run. The compressor also runs, why I do not know. But, if the unit gets stuck in Defrost, the unit won't cool because the cal rods are heating.

Changing the thermo-disc is the most frequent cause for ours. They fail about every year on ours.

Another four times, the control board on ours made the defrost heaters stay on during refrigeration calls. A new board is required. (I rebuilt a bad board & keep it for a spare.)
The only way I can think to check if yours is stuck in defrost would be to find the evaporator (probably in the back of the freeze compartment) and feel if the panel over it is quite warm. (Or use a meter on the wires to the heaters.)


The Bad news Item:
If your unit is from the early to about mid 1990's and uses R-134a refrigerant (on the label of the box), the early oils would eventually develop wax and clog the capillary tubes. The unit will stop cooling. This takes several years to happen & only applies to those early R-134a units. A "cleanup" is a bit of a project. (By coincidence, last month had to do this on our 1996 Roper freezer. It took me about 3 hours, so it won't be cheap if you have to hire it.)

I was hoping to give you a quick solution, but these are the best I've got.

Paul

 

[havasu]

Outstanding response PJB!
All I'd recommend would be to unplug for 5 minutes, then plug it back in. You know, kinda like a reboot?

 

[PJB12]

Outstanding response PJB!
All I'd recommend would be to unplug for 5 minutes, then plug it back in. You know, kinda like a reboot?

Good Idea! (Wonder how many diagnostic hours I'd save by doing that!)

If Re-Boot fails, the tool I use to fix my TV is shown in the photo below.

 

[AZ_Steve]

How old is the unit?

 

[AZ_Steve]

Well, life is a blur sometimes. I've read it is 11 years old. I don't feel like we've had it that long. But I've probably had it in use for 8 years.

 

[AZ_Steve]

You did a nice troubleshooting A-Z Steve!

People are quick to call out "Low Freon", but I very much doubt that your unit is low on refrigerant. It's rare for a house unit unless you keep open jars of acidic stuff in there. (Then the vapors eat the aluminum evaporator tubing.) Cars are a different story because they use permeable tubing.

If the unit is old or is in a very hot environment, the compressor valves could be worn. Testing for that is below in Item B, but this is a "guestimate" test. Service manifold gauges is the way to confirm.


FIRST-
Check around the back of the machine for a folded up paper. Sometimes they are taped in a plastic sleeve inside the panel over the condensing unit.

The paper will be the technician's service sheet. Failing to find it, these are available on line. An appliance fixing forum will probably have it. Appliancejunk.com has all of them free, but I could not get their home page to load just now.

This sheet will have a step-by-step diagnostic procedure in it. One pushes certain sequences of buttons on the control panel and the machine will test things one-by-one while you observe.


Some common items that caus eno cooling in a house refrigerator are below. A and B are items that have repeatedly stopped cooling on our Maytag (the king of breaking down):

A) When the compressor hums, does it start or is it trying to start?

I don't know if you're comfortable doing these tests, but they're here just in case.
The easiest way to tell is with an amp meter clamped around the Run wire to the compressor. First unplug the machine for 20 minutes to let pressures equalize. Next, connect the amp meter. Then, while someone plugs it in, watch the meter. it should rise, then fall part way down in a a second or two. If it falls part way down, check the reading versus the amp draw specified for the compressor. If amps are low, you may have worn valves. (Not uncommon on small sealed units)

If the meter stays at high amps after several seconds, most likely the start capacitor is bad. You can check it with a capacitance meter, risk a few dollars and swap it for a nee one.

Sometimes (rarely) the overload or start relay are bad. Testing these isn't something I'd be good at explaining.

B) Is the unit stuck in Defrost?
On our Maytag, when it is in defrost, the condensing fan does run. The compressor also runs, why I do not know. But, if the unit gets stuck in Defrost, the unit won't cool because the cal rods are heating.

Changing the thermo-disc is the most frequent cause for ours. They fail about every year on ours.

Another four times, the control board on ours made the defrost heaters stay on during refrigeration calls. A new board is required. (I rebuilt a bad board & keep it for a spare.)
The only way I can think to check if yours is stuck in defrost would be to find the evaporator (probably in the back of the freeze compartment) and feel if the panel over it is quite warm. (Or use a meter on the wires to the heaters.)


The Bad news Item:
If your unit is from the early to about mid 1990's and uses R-134a refrigerant (on the label of the box), the early oils would eventually develop wax and clog the capillary tubes. The unit will stop cooling. This takes several years to happen & only applies to those early R-134a units. A "cleanup" is a bit of a project. (By coincidence, last month had to do this on our 1996 Roper freezer. It took me about 3 hours, so it won't be cheap if you have to hire it.)

I was hoping to give you a quick solution, but these are the best I've got.

Paul

Thanks Paul. We decided that it was time to call it quits on this unit. We've always hated the ice-maker (I think it's junk, leaks, freezes upside down, small volume) so between that and this issue we decided on a new unit.

 

[PJB12]

Thanks Paul. We decided that it was time to call it quits on this unit. We've always hated the ice-maker (I think it's junk, leaks, freezes upside down, small volume) so between that and this issue we decided on a new unit.

Can't blame you for that decision, AZ_Steve!

Sometimes things aren't worth fixing, especially when you know more repairs are coming in the future. (My wife says that about me.) And, you guys can find one that has the features and design that works best for you. (My wife also says that about me.)

To Check Into:
It might be possible that there is an IRS tax credit for refrigerators. Also, the Inflation Reduction Act provided for refrigerator rebates, but I don't know if the program is still active. EPA.gov and IRS.gov will have the answers.

Your utility might also have a "bounty" on your old refrigerator. (Wanted Dead or Alive) Ours gives, I think, $100.00 and they pick it up.

Spring usually has lots of manufacturer incentives on major appliances. I guess spring is the slow appliance season.

Unsolicited Editorial-
And I May Get Grief For This, But...
I respectfully suggest looking up all of the brands that Whirlpool makes and avoiding them like the plague. Nothing, nothing, nothing that we (or anyone we know) has that came from Whirlpool was a good appliance.

Like dopes, 13 years ago, we bought a Maytag (Whirlpool) washing machine, a clothes dryer and a refrigerator at the same time. None worked on delivery.

The only way that I could get Whirlpool to fix them under warranty was to register the domain "WhirlpoolS ks.com" and "WhrilpoolIsJunk.com" & then sending a registered letter to the CEO advising that the web sites will go live in x-number of days unless the problems are fixed. He got things moving right away, but it was still several months until we had 3 working appliances. (There's no lemon law on appliances in our state, perhaps because Whirlpool is located here.)


All three of these still break down on a regular schedule. Sadly, less than 2 years after purchasing these "New Models", parts were made obsolete. Thank goodness for aftermarket suppliers.

I hope your appliance shopping is fun!
Paul