Refrigerator repair
Refrigerator Compressor and Sealed System Repair in Portland, Oregon
The sealed system is the part of a refrigerator that makes the cold: the compressor, the condenser, the evaporator and the refrigerant that travels between them. When it fails, the fans can run all day and the food still warms up. Mend My Appliance repairs sealed systems at home across the Portland metro area.
Not every repair service takes this work on. We do: compressor replacement, leak repair, evaporator and condenser repair, with the system pulled into a vacuum and charged by weight.
Signs that the sealed system has failed
- The compressor runs, the fans run, and neither section gets cold.
- Behind the freezer panel, frost covers only a part of the cooling coil instead of all of it.
- The compressor is hot, clicks every few minutes and does not start.
- The refrigerator runs without ever shutting off and still cannot hold its temperature.
- There is an oily spot on the tubing or on the floor of the machine compartment.
Most refrigerators that stop cooling do not have a sealed-system fault. A fan, a defrost part, a start relay or a control board is far more common and far cheaper, so we rule those out first.
Compressor replacement
The compressor pumps the refrigerant around the system. It fails in three ways: it stops pumping while it still runs, it seizes and will not start, or its motor windings short. A compressor that will not start is not always dead: a start relay, an overload protector or, on a variable-speed model, the inverter board that drives it gives the same symptom, and each costs far less.
When the compressor itself has failed it is replaced, never repaired, and a new filter-drier goes in with it every time. Leaving the old drier in is how a new compressor fails early.
Refrigerant leak repair (the "Freon" leak)
People still say Freon, which was a trade name for older refrigerants. Whatever the name, a refrigerator does not use its refrigerant up. If the charge is low, it has leaked out, and adding more without finding the leak buys a few weeks at best.
So the leak is found first: the system is put under pressure and the joints and coils are checked. A leak at a joint or in a tube that can be reached is repaired by brazing. A leak inside a part means that part is replaced.
Evaporator repair and replacement
The evaporator is the cold coil behind the back panel of the freezer or of the fresh-food section. It lives in moisture, and on many models a thin aluminum coil corrodes through after some years. The sign is a coil that frosts only where the refrigerant enters it. A leaking evaporator is replaced together with the filter-drier.
Frost over the whole coil is a different fault: the defrost system has stopped, and the sealed system is fine.
Condenser repair
The condenser gives the heat away, under or behind the refrigerator. Most condenser trouble is dust: a coil matted with lint and pet hair makes the compressor run hot and long. That is a cleaning, not a sealed-system repair.
A condenser tube that has rubbed through or corroded is a real leak, and it is repaired or the condenser is replaced. On some refrigerators the condenser tubing runs inside the cabinet walls, where a leak cannot be reached; we tell you when that is the case and what the options are.
A blocked capillary tube or filter-drier
Between the condenser and the evaporator the refrigerant passes through a very thin copper tube, the capillary tube. Moisture, sludge from a failing compressor or debris can block it. The compressor runs, the coil stays almost bare, and the refrigerator warms up as if the refrigerant were gone. The repair is a new filter-drier and, where the blockage is in the tube itself, a new tube or heat exchanger.
How a sealed-system repair is done
- Diagnosis: electrical tests of the compressor and its start parts, temperatures, and the frost pattern on the coil. No sealed system is opened on a guess.
- Recovery: the refrigerant left in the system is taken out first, by the procedure the rules set for that refrigerant.
- Repair: the failed part is cut out and the new one brazed in, with a new filter-drier.
- Leak test: the system is put under pressure and the new joints are checked.
- Vacuum: a pump pulls the air and the moisture out. This step takes time and cannot be hurried.
- Charge: the refrigerant is weighed in to the amount on the nameplate of your refrigerator. A few grams too many or too few show in the cooling.
- Test run: the refrigerator has to pull down to temperature before the job is finished.
Older refrigerators use the refrigerant R-134a. Most of those made in recent years use R-600a, held in a very small charge, which calls for its own tools and its own procedure. We work on both.
LG, Samsung and other brands
Two families come up again and again in sealed-system work: LG refrigerators with a linear compressor and Samsung refrigerators with a digital inverter compressor. On both, the compressor is tested before one is bought, because the board that drives it can give the same symptom.
Both makers sold most of these refrigerators with a ten-year parts warranty on the compressor. Check your paperwork before you pay for one: the part may still be covered by the maker even when the labor is not.
We repair the sealed systems of Samsung, LG, Whirlpool, GE, Frigidaire, Maytag, KitchenAid, Bosch, Electrolux, Sub-Zero, Viking, Miele, Monogram, Thermador, JennAir, Kenmore, Amana, GE Profile, Café, Fisher & Paykel, Dacor, Haier, Hotpoint, Bertazzoni, Smeg, Gaggenau, Liebherr, BlueStar and U-Line refrigerators.
Freezers, wine coolers and ice makers
A freezer, a wine cooler and a stand-alone ice maker each have a sealed system of the same kind, only smaller, and they fail in the same ways. The repair is the same work.
What a sealed-system repair costs
It is the most expensive repair a refrigerator can need, and we do not print a price for it, because the spread is wide. What decides it:
- Which part has failed: an evaporator or a filter-drier costs less than a compressor.
- The compressor itself: a variable-speed compressor costs more than a plain one.
- Whether the maker still covers the part.
- Access: a built-in refrigerator takes longer to open up than a freestanding one.
- The time: recovery, brazing, vacuum and charging take several hours, sometimes over two visits.
You get the exact price after the diagnosis and before any work on the sealed system begins. The diagnostic visit costs $90 and is applied toward the repair if you go ahead.
Is it worth repairing?
Not always. On an ordinary freestanding refrigerator that is more than about ten years old, a compressor often costs too large a share of a new machine, and we say so. On a built-in refrigerator, or a premium one, the numbers turn around: the replacement costs many times more and has to fit the cabinetry, so the repair is usually the better buy.
Credentials
EPA Section 608 Certified Technician
Section 608 of the Clean Air Act requires anyone who opens a system that holds refrigerant to hold this credential. Every repair on this page is refrigerant work, and it is done by a technician who holds it.
How the visit works
- Book online: choose the appliance, describe the problem and pick up to three times that suit you.
- We confirm one of your times by phone or text. You are not booked until we do.
- We come to your home, test the refrigerator and find the cause.
- You get the price before any repair begins. We repair it with your approval; if a part has to be ordered, we come back to fit it.
The diagnostic visit costs $90. If you go ahead with the repair, the $90 is applied toward it; if you decide not to repair, the $90 covers the diagnosis.
Our work and the parts we install carry a 90-day warranty. The terms are printed on your invoice.
Where we work
We come to homes across the Portland metro area in Oregon, among them Portland, Beaverton, Hillsboro, Tigard, Tualatin and Lake Oswego. Enter your ZIP code when you book and the form checks it right away.
Book a refrigerator repair
Tell us what is wrong and pick the times that suit you. We confirm your visit by phone or text.