Outlet or fridge problem?

[thestrangebrew1]

I have a 3 yr old Kitchen-Aid fridge that's plugged into the same outlet as our coffee maker. In November, I started having problems with the fridge shutting off (sort of). I wouldn't hear any noise from the fridge, and no lights would work inside, but our water and ice panel had lights, but wouldn't pump water into a glass and I couldn't get ice. Before pulling the fridge out, I looked at the coffee maker and still had power. Pull the fridge out, unplugged it and plugged it back in. Nothing kicked on and still no lights. I swap plugs with the coffee maker, fridge kicked on. Decided to plug the coffee maker into the outlet the fridge was previously plugged into, I get power to the coffee maker. I plug the fridge back into the original socket and the fridge kicked on. For about a week this happened on and off, so I replace the outlet. Everything worked fine until this week, when the fridge shut off. Same thing. I do the dance of plugging into the different sockets and the fridge kicks on, coffee maker never loses power unless it's physically unplugged. I was thinking of running the fridge off an extension cord to a different outlet to see if it happens again, but I'd need to get a high gauge extension cord. Any ideas as to the problem might be? I'm no electrician, but I know how to wire light switches and replace outlets. Just not sure what's going on.

 

[JEDIYoda]

You already answered your own question! Go back and slowly read what you described as happening...

 

[herm0016]

FRIDGE.

 

[tracerbullet]

Frig. Probably motherboard. Hope it's under warranty.

 

[Greenman]

Frig. Probably motherboard. Hope it's under warranty.

It's a little mindboggeling that a device as simple as a fridge needs a motherboard.

 

[Micrornd]

You may want to just try wiggling the cord, while the fridge is plugged in, since that is what you are essentially doing.
You may just have a power cord gone bad.

 

[Micrornd]

It's a little mindboggeling that a device as simple as a fridge needs a motherboard.

Haven't you heard, more complicated is always better

 

[JEDIYoda]

Haven't you heard, more complicated is always better

That is what I was thinking!
But I did a little research and he might have been referring to the main circuit board for the fridge!!

KitchenAid - No longer makes main circuit board for fridge Sep 08, 2019 @ PissedConsumer

KitchenAid review with 31 Comments: My side by side Kitchenaid fridge is only 7 years old and Kitchenaid no longer make the parts required to fix it!Cannot get hold...

kitchenaid.pissedconsumer.com

 

[tracerbullet]

Right, main circuit board, whatever. Mine is ~ 7 years old and has one. I guess perhaps not all do. It's not a motherboard exactly, no CPU and RAM, but it's quite the circuit board for sure. There's a lot of small bits and some kind of decision maker soldered onto it with a couple dozen leads.

 

[thestrangebrew1]

You already answered your own question! Go back and slowly read what you described as happening...

Uhh maybe I should just type my questions out and read them before I actually post them haha.

I'll start with the power cord and work my way up I guess. I'll pull it back out and see if the connection is loose, then maybe replace it it if it looks damaged somehow. I'll also check my warranty on it. I think it's 5 years, but I bought it a Sears.

 

[tracerbullet]

That's actually a really good idea, to check the power cord and path into the frig, as well as inside it a bit too if you gain access. If you can narrow down times it's not running, maybe hit it with a multimeter and see if it's indeed getting power or not.

It seems super common for the mainboards to go out, so that's the first suggestion, but there's a very real chance it's as simple as the power cord itself. I shouldn't have jumped to the main board conclusion so quickly.

 

[extide]

Probably the relays on the main circuit board. Could be fixed with probably about $20 worth of parts.

 

[Muse]

Haven't you heard, more complicated is always better

Hate to be serious, but will quote a bona fide genius:

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler. - Albert Einstein

PS: I don't know what he was thinking, if there was a context. Maybe yea, maybe no. Beyond revolutionizing physics, he was known for great quotes about a whole lot of stuff.

 

[Micrornd]

Any ideas as to the problem might be?

How about an update ?
What was the problem ?

 

[olds]

KISS. Always check the easy things first.

My fridge stopped dispensing water. Everything else worked. I started googling and there were posts about pumps, boards, filters, etc.

Turned out to be a plastic part that holds the micro switch for the water dispenser. $15 and 10 minutes and I am back in business.

AppliancePartsPros.com - Maintenance

 

[Scarpozzi]

Power plugs on these things are probably connected with lugs to the fridge. When the compressor is running, it draws a decent amount of current.

I would make sure that's not loose and making a good connection. Check for any corrosion, because that can cause electricity to do weird things. After that, the main board could definitely be the issue, but the most common failure on those boards are actually capacitors. If it's an expensive fridge, you may be able to find someone to troubleshoot the board.

What pisses me off about fridges these days are those crap temperature sensors they put in them. If one of those malfunctions, the board can act screwy too...and the only way to tell is to test the sensors to see what resistance they read back and know if that's in the correct range for the temperature... It's hard to test when you're not in its typical working temperature range (40 degrees, for instance).