refrigerator on the blink

My refrigerator will stop running and the freezer will thaw. If I turn the breaker off on back on it starts cooling again. It never throws the breaker and always has power. Just turning power off gets it going again.
Anyone had this problem?
Its a coolmatic by Waeco or thats whats on the door.

Can't help you with your fridge problem, however I was intrigued by the thread title 'Refrigerator on the blink'.

I had assumed it was an Ozzie member posting as I have never heard that term used in America before.Mind you it 's not used much here nowadays either. When I read the post I immediately thought of my dad, he was always using it.

I feel your pain! Dam refrigerators!

Andy G said:

Can't help you with your fridge problem, however I was intrigued by the thread title 'Refrigerator on the blink'.

I had assumed it was an Ozzie member posting as I have never heard that term used in America before.Mind you it 's not used much here nowadays either. When I read the post I immediately thought of my dad, he was always using it.

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Hummm, from afar- it was a common term and usage all through my youth

fishpcb said:

My refrigerator will stop running and the freezer will thaw. If I turn the breaker off on back on it starts cooling again. It never throws the breaker and always has power. Just turning power off gets it going again.
Anyone had this problem?
Its a coolmatic by Waeco or thats whats on the door.

Click to expand...

Coincidentally, I am meeting my frigo (Oz for fridge tech), at the boat tomorrow as my Waeco powered fridge has once again dumped its gas. The welds at the compressor joins seem to let go from vibration. Could the cutting out be your fridge's way of telling you the refrigerant is getting low..? Just a thought...

Could be high pressure cutout from dirty coils.
Is there a manual around with a trouble shooting section?

Sounds to me like a drop of water is in the refrigerant.

It will freeze , plugging the system , until it finally melts and refrigeration resumes.

A dryer can be replaced , or installed in the system to catch any moisture.

Was the system given gas or opened lately?

The fridge has never had any work on it from what I know. The owner before put the fridge in new and never touched it.
I will check on the dryer.
Thanks

If your fridge is an AC/12VDC unit it could be the switching relay that changes the operating power source. I have ran into similar problems with a boiler in one of our apartment houses. I my case, a relay's contacts were not making properly and simply cycling the power reset the relay temporarily correcting the problem. It was a stinker to trouble shoot because when it was working there was no faults present.

fishpcb said:

The fridge has never had any work on it from what I know. The owner before put the fridge in new and never touched it.
I will check on the dryer.
Thanks

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How do you check the dryer? Isn't that in the refrigerant circuit?

Turned the fridge off and back on. Been running good for the last 24 hours.
Will see how long it goes before shutdown.

On the Blink


Often used in my family also.

Peter B said:

Coincidentally, I am meeting my frigo (Oz for fridge tech), at the boat tomorrow as my Waeco powered fridge has once again dumped its gas. The welds at the compressor joins seem to let go from vibration. Could the cutting out be your fridge's way of telling you the refrigerant is getting low..? Just a thought...

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Brief update. No leak found. Puzzlement all round. Topped up gas. One week later still fine, holding 5.6 deg C on first setting of 5. (Ie least cold). Keeping fingers crossed.

Peter B said:

Brief update. No leak found. Puzzlement all round. Topped up gas. One week later still fine, holding 5.6 deg C on first setting of 5. (Ie least cold). Keeping fingers crossed.

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My fridge is still running fine. If I don't open and close it a couple times a month it will shut down.
This tells me I'm not on the boat as much as I should be.

I think you have the Danfoss BD35 or BD50. Waeco - I have a freezer unit.

NO gas leak. Likely electrical. Check ALL the connections for tightness and cleanliness.


I would also be suspicious of the breaker. I could see it not outright tripping but opening enough, the internal contacts, to shut off the fridge. You flipping it would reset it even the the lever was showing it not tripped.

Check the connections at the breaker as loose or dirty connections could create enough heat to cause it to goof up. I've seen that before.

I once had similar symptoms from temp control relay contacts that needed cleaning.

I will check the breaker. I just replaced 1 breaker that was doing the same thing.

Breaker is good on fridge.
After a couple weeks it stopped working again.
This time all I did was turn the thermostat from high to low a couple times and its back working fine.
I guess it may be the thermostat going bad. Going to watch it this week and see what happens.
Can you replace just the thermostat ?

Should be able to. Contact Waeco or the dealer. You also should be able to download a parts manual.
They are actually just a switch that is temperature sensitive but the size might be needed to keep from eating up too much space.

Peter B said:

.. No leak found. Puzzlement all round. Topped up gas. One week later still fine, holding 5.6 deg C on first setting of 5. (Ie least cold). Keeping fingers crossed.

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I`m thinking: No leak = no top up. Top up = leak. Is there another possibility?

BruceK said:

I`m thinking: No leak = no top up. Top up = leak. Is there another possibility?

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That is normally what you would think, but the interesting thing is that the first time it happened, it was a broken solder joint, presumably from prolonged excess vibration, because it had been running fine for years, left on all the time, but with minimal run time when not being opened all the time. Then, when a boat tyre-kicker left the fridge door open so it ran continuously for weeks, it suddenly leaked and lost gas. That was repaired, and it was running ok, but when this second time occurred it was after working fine for some time, I got nervous about the possibility of the first problem of the door being left open happening again, and because we weren't using the boat much, I left it turned off. Then with no warning of trouble, when I turned it on to get it cold to go out for a weekend, it would not cool. So I'm hoping keeping it running is the solution, but not exactly holding my breath. I have a warning note on the bench re clamping the door shut properly if opened to inspect. Fingers crossed.