That LG fridge compressor that ate my whole Thursday

I got stuck on a fridge call in Columbus last week where the compressor was short cycling and I spent 7 hours chasing a bad start relay before I finally looked at the main board. Turns out the relay was fine but a cracked solder joint on the board was causing intermittent power loss every 20 minutes. Has anyone else run into a board issue that looked exactly like a compressor problem from the start?

2 comments

2 Comments

oscarm2413d ago

That 20 minute cycle you mentioned is exactly what I saw on a Frigidaire last year. I used to swear by replacing the compressor relay first thing, thought that was always the culprit. But after that job I started checking the board connections with a multimeter before even ordering parts. The symptom was identical: compressor would run fine for a while then drop out like a bad overload. Saved so much time since then. Do you look at the solder joints under a magnifier or just probe them while the unit runs?

matthew_morgan13d ago

Those five Frigidaire units I worked on last summer all had that same pattern. I remember one where the compressor would run for exactly 18 minutes then quit for about ten. I usually just probe the solder joints while the unit is running with a multimeter on AC voltage. If I see any fluctuation over 0.5 volts I pull the board and reflow the joints. @oscarm24 it is wild how many of those boards have cracked solder from thermal expansion. Honestly embarrassing how much time I wasted on relays before I figured that out.