That moment my fridge compressor seized up at 2am on a Saturday

I was just chilling at home after a night shift, grabbed some leftovers, and heard this weird hum from the kitchen. Opened the fridge and the temp was already at 50 degrees, food starting to sweat. Knew right away it was the compressor since it was hot to touch and the fan was running fine. Had to pull the whole unit out, check the start relay and overload, turns out the start relay was fried. Swapped it with a universal part I had in my van and it kicked on after 15 minutes. Has anyone else had these cheap start relays fail more often than the actual compressors on Samsung fridges?

2 comments

2 Comments

king.wyatt15d agoTop Commenter

Samsung had a bad batch of start relays in their 2019-2021 models. The plastic housing warps from heat then the contacts don't mate right. Had three neighbors with the exact same symptom, compressor hot but not running. Swapping that $8 part fixed all of them. The actual compressors on those are built solid, they just kill them with a bad relay.

gracewebb15d ago

Swapping an $8 part instead of dropping a grand on a new fridge almost feels illegal, like you're getting away with something. Samsung must be furious that fix is so cheap.