Fridge Only Was Freezing Everything And Now Is Not Working

[kyleg]

So i bought a fridge a few weeks ago to use for fermentation. Its a kelvinator c380p i believe.

When i first pluigged it in a couple of weeks ago and put a glass of water inside so i could measure the temp, the water ended up freezing over night. so i then turned the thermostat dial right down to the minimum, still froze. so i thought, hey its not too big a deal as im going to be using it with an stc-1000.

so a few days ago i turned the fridge off, thinking there was no point having running freezing for nothing. got my stc-1000 the other day and wired it up last night, plugged the fridge in to the cooling outlet, set me parameters 18, 0.5, 3, 0 then left it over night to cool and hopefully sit on 18 by morning. then this morning i discover the temperature hasn't changed, its actually reading about 24 inside the fridge. the compressor is not chugging away, how ever the light still works inside the fridge.

i tried googling it and the most likely thing i could see was the it was stuck in defrost mode, however i couldn't find the defrost timer to o/r it out of defrost mode. (if that is what the actual problem is). Its a fridge only though, no freezer compartment.

can anyone shed some light on what the problem might be? has the compressor carked it? i hope not..

also i plugged a freezer into my cooling outlet on the stc box and it fired up, so im confident its nothing to do with the stc wiring.

thanks in advance for the help!

 

[matho]

to me it sounds like your thermostat has carked it, for it to be running so cold and adjusting it didn't make a difference. The problem is it is still in circuit and if it is now stuck open your compressor won't work, if your capable of doning it i would bypass the thermostat first to see if it is the problem.

 

[spudfarmerboy]

With the STC1000 still connected, turn the thermostat on the fridge all the way to the coldest setting and see what happens. If the setting on the fridge thermostat is higher than the STC100 setting, the fridge compressor will stay off. This is assuming the wiring of the STC is correct.

 

[kyleg]

to me it sounds like your thermostat has carked it, for it to be running so cold and adjusting it didn't make a difference. The problem is it is still in circuit and if it is now stuck open your compressor won't work, if your capable of doning it i would bypass the thermostat first to see if it is the problem.

hmm i will see if i can figure out how to bypass it (i am 4th year apprentice electrician so it should be do able)

i did take the thermostat out and test the resistance across the terminals, and both when the thermo was dialed down to as cold as it could go, and also the opposite direction i had open circuit. so i think it could be the thermostat. i thought of replacing it but apart from the 2 terminals with cables it also has like a metalic wire running straight into the back of it, which runs out around the fridge and im not sure how i would be able to replace it. so i guess seeing if i can bypass it would be the next best option and just have the stc controlling it.

 

[kyleg]

With the STC1000 still connected, turn the thermostat on the fridge all the way to the coldest setting and see what happens. If the setting on the fridge thermostat is higher than the STC100 setting, the fridge compressor will stay off. This is assuming the wiring of the STC is correct.

and if this is the case.. ?

 

[kyleg]

problem solved. it was the thermostat that was stuffed. after writing down that it was open circuit both ends of the scale, i realised if i just disconnect the terminals and join the cables, as to short out the thermo constantly. the compressor fired up once i turned the fridge back on, and now is only being controlled by the stc-1000. thanks for the help people. very happy chappy.

 

[peaky]

problem solved. it was the thermostat that was stuffed. after writing down that it was open circuit both ends of the scale, i realised if i just disconnect the terminals and join the cables, as to short out the thermo constantly. the compressor fired up once i turned the fridge back on, and now is only being controlled by the stc-1000. thanks for the help people. very happy chappy.

Nice work. It's probably beneficial to bypass the thermostat in a fridge anyway. At least now you can control the temp of the fridge without worrying about the thermostat crapping out