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Frequently Asked Questions About Domestic Refrigerator Repair:

Refrigerator blows breaker

I got a used fridge. The freezer cools to 20 degrees and fridge at 48 degrees. I noticed the fan was not running to cool the compressor. I checked and found out the fan was bad and replaced the fan motor. The fridge worked fine for about 10 minutes and then threw the circuit breaker. I disconnected the fan wires and it still threw the circuit breaker. Could it have caused the 3-in 1 (where wires plug into the compressor) to go bad? I am trying to save money by doing it myself. Thanks,

Yes, it sounds suspicious that now it blows the breaker and before it didn't. However, if you had a short circuit in your wiring it wouldn't take ten minutes. Something is amiss here. You mention a 3 in 1. Is this a separate piece that has 5 wires coming out of it?

Yes. 3 wires go into the compressor and the other two go to the power.

Okay, so if you have the power wires that go to the compressor 3 in 1 going to the two wires of the fan motor, then your wiring is right.

Try an isolation test. Hook the compressor and the fan motor directly to line current and see what happens. (without the refrigerator plugged in) Perhaps the short is in the refrigerator wiring somewhere.

To further track it down, try just the fan or just the compressor.

Or another thing, perhaps your circuit breaker is weak, try a different circuit. Are you using a thin gauge or long extension cord? This could cause it too.

Or, if it still happens, the only thing I can suggest is replacing that 3 in 1. Before you do that though check the compressor windings to ground (one of the copper pipes leading into it). All windings should be open to ground so if you get any continuity at all then one of the windings inside the compressor case is shorted. This could be why the breaker is blowing.