Refrigerator Compressor Repair Update

Update on the Amana Refrigerator post: I took a photo of the compressor and found that it has a Tecumseh compressor. This compressor has been known to have bearing issues. An Embraco compressor is supposed to be better than the Tecumseh. Despite having cleaned the coils under the fridge, the compressor was still overheating. It would run sometimes for several days, but eventually the compressor would fail to start. I tried placing a small fan near the front of the exhaust vent to help cool the compressor. This pushed cool air under the fridge. A compressor gets hot when the coils are dirty, the system is low on refrigerant, or the bearings are not lubricated. The coils have been cleaned, and when the compressor runs, it gets things cold, so something inside the compressor most likely is going bad. The compressor will restart after I unplug the fridge and wait for about an hour. 

I could install a fan that blows directly on the compressor. But that may only briefly extend the compressor's life. Before I bought a fan that could be mounted in the back plate, I needed to do a test by placing a fan at the back of the fridge and pointing it at the compressor. I found that this worked better than having the fan at the front exhaust vent. The fan I used had a high and a low speed. The low-speed setting was enough to prevent the compressor from tripping the thermal circuit. The fan needed to be a few inches from the compressor for best results. This proved that installing a fan in the back plate would work. 

I found a moisture resistant 92 x 92 x 38mm 12-volt variable speed fan on Amazon for $20. It came with a speed controller, so that it would be easy to adjust the air flow. Most of the newer refrigerators have cheap cardboard access panels, but the one on mine is made of steel. The fan came with nice long mounting screws and metal guard plates. The fan has dual ball bearings and is rated to last over 6 years. It seems like it was made for this application. As an extra step I also ordered some 25x25mm heat sinks with double sided thermal conductive tape. I had to put a slight bend on the heat sinks because the compressor is round. I was able to do that with a vice and a vice grip plyers. I attached 2 heat sinks on each side of the compressor.

This was a last resort type of modification. But the refrigerator has been running for a week without any compressor issues. The only problem is that the fan is louder than I would like. It needs to be set at 1/4 speed to get enough air flow. That's about 45 cfm, which should be around 29 dB. I used a phone app to get a dB reading and it shows 60 dB near the back. I made a noise suppressor out of packing foam and placed it around the fan, but that doesn't seem to help. They do make fans this size that are supposed to make less noise, that is an option. The fan solution is working for now and hopefully will extend the life of the fridge a bit longer.