Dominic woke me up this morning to tell me that the refrigerator was off. He’s an observant kid to realize it, as the light inside has never worked since we moved in [and yes, we’ve changed the bulb] so he just noticed that it wasn’t humming and no cold air was blowing. The Coke was already warm.
I flipped the breakers and it came back on. 5 minutes later it was back off. I flipped the breakers again, but this time it did NOT come back on.
Crappycakes!!
I really can’t afford a repairman [my bank balance is currently in the negative :x]
I don’t have any advice to offer, but to just try to keep the door closed as much as possible. Maybe you could get some bags of ice and stuff the ice around the food.
My fridge crapped out on me a few weeks ago, I know how much it sucks.
I work for a refrigeration company, so you’d think I’d be of more help than I’m going to be…But our company does the big industrial units, so I don’t much about home units.
One bit of advice though: Service mechanics are expensive as hell. It may be cheaper to just get a new fridge. Especially if you can buy a used one somewhere.
You’re probably going to need help from someone who knows a lot more about refrigerators than I do, but . . . try this:
There is a very small chance that the refrigerator is causing the circuit breaker to open because it is working too hard. Try cleaning the cooling coils of the refrigerator with a vacuum cleaner. On most refrigerators, the coils are on the bottom of the refrigerator. There should be a grill across the bottom of the refrigerator. You should be able to just pull it off (or there may be screws holding it on). Clean the vents in the grill and clean those curved pipes behind it. Don’t remove the insulation between the pipes and the bottom of the food compartment.
Some refrigerators have the coils on the back. For those, you will have to pull the refrigerator out from the wall to clean them. Be careful not to push the refrigerator back against the wall too tightly.
Depending on how your house is wired, your problem may not be with the refrigerator at all. If something else is plugged into the same circuit, it could be shorting out and causing the circuit breaker to open. But I think most homes have a separate circuit for the refrigerator.
The fridge is on its own circuit… I just flipped the breaker again, and this time the fridge did come back on. So far it has stayed on. Cross your fingers.
I think we do need a new fridge though. This one keeps erratic temperatures and the magnetic seal thing around the door is torn. Well, when we win the lottery that is top of the list :x
I’m gonna blame this situation on it being a crappy, decrepit fridge. It’s from 1987, which isn’t that old, but from all the broken shelves, the cracked drawer, the torn seal, etc I think it was rather heavily abused.
This applies to a lot A/C equipment, possibly including fridges. They need an “off duty” period for the coolant to collect, etc. They can’t/won’t run continously. (The fan can, but not the coolant pump.) When an A/C kicks off a circuit breaker, and the homeowner quickly resets it, sometimes not enough “off” time has elapsed. This can actually cause the pump to lock up. A fridge trying to run almost non-stop is possibly nearing the same problem.
So, please wait a bit (5+ minutes) before resetting these things.
OpalCat, fix the door seal. Get thee to an appliance parts store and get a new one. It will pay for itself as well as help your current problem.
With any applicance that is doing things like that, I unplug for a full minute from zee wall. This causes it to reset inside & causes them to work again. Most of the time anyway. A full minute, not ten seconds …
Also, as they said, clean the coils in the back. Clean underneath & look for a pan down there, its where water drains to evaporate, it must be working. In other words, the water hole in the bottom of zee inside ref must not be clogged so the water drains into zee pan.
I once sublet an apartment for two months that came complete with crappy fridge. Obviously not worth paying the cabbage to replace the door gasket, right? So I got out the say it with me DUCT TAPE, shut the door firmly, and taped it. I just had to untape it every time I wanted something from the fridge, and replace the tape periodically. It’s not stylish, but it may hold you until you can replace the gasket.
(Oh, and if you do toss the fridge in the end, remember to remove the doors first! Otherwise, children or animals could become trapped in it.)
Prepare 4 double layers of heavy duty aluminum large enough to wrap shrimp and spices airtight. Arrange 2 slices of onion on each foil, then 5 shrimp.
Distribute salt, pepper, paprika, and chopped garlic evenly among the 4 shrimp servings. Place 2 lemon slices on each serving and distribute juice of second lemon evenly among the four servings.
Wrap servings tightly, folding edges as you would a package. Load packages on top shelf of dishwasher.
Run through rinse cycle. When cycle is finished, you will have steamed shrimp and amazed guests. This recipe is more than delicious. It is fun and it will amaze your guests. You can adapt the recipe, using white fish filets and various
vegetables such as tomatoes and zucchini.
Caution: Make certain foil packages are wrapped tightly and that your dishwasher is cleaned of soap residue.
You’ve been waiting a long time for the opportunity to post that, haven’t you tcburnett?
Opal, I once ate a pound of bacon in one sitting. Granted, it took me about three hours. I could probably help you from at least having to throw away all that food.
