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Originally Posted by: richappy  You probably have a hard starting compressor that starts when the line voltage is high, but has trouble when the line voltage is lower.Probably damaged start winding. An amprobe would confirm this. Hi Rich. Thanks for the timely response. Ok, went to my local HD store and talked with the electrical guy-- he's a contractor too, so he has been helpful over the past few years. He showed me the different probes and meters, and those were all out of my budget. He then showed me a plug-in meter which tells the various electrical data. It's called a P3 4460 Kill-A-Watt EZ. My voltage is 121.6, the power factor is .96, the VoltAmps is 130, and the amperage was 1.06-1.07. It's still presently working-- no clipping/pinching (an electrical pinch is what the noise reminds me of) type noises-- so I'll keep an eye on it. what's next?
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I have a capture and hold amprobe that will display the starting current peak. This is the only way to determine status of the windings. Your measurements are "normal", it's only at startup you have problems.
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Originally Posted by: richappy I have a capture and hold amprobe that will display the starting current peak. This is the only way to determine status of the windings. Your measurements are "normal", it's only at startup you have problems. Hi again Rich. Ok, Please tell me what tester tool I'll need for this. I saw some testers, ammeters, voltimeters, etc.., and the price ranged quite a bit. I don't know any sparky's from whom I could borrow, or buy them some beer/dinner to come and test for me. The contractor/sales guy at the local HD showed me a amprobe, and it was $60.00. While that's less than a new compressor, it's still above my budget-- especially since I wouldn't use it more than a handful of times over the next few years. Thank you.
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Well, about 2 hours ago it did the "pinch" sound again, and when I realized what was happening, I ran over, had to turn on the light to read the meter, and just as it ended, I saw it read 0.20 amps.
There's been no episodes since.
Oops... I lied. It JUST now did one.
I got there in time, and the high amperage was 9.4-9.8, and upon finishing, it dropped back to the 0.20 amps.
Any ideas?
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You still have a hard starting compressor. For an R134A system compressor, there is not much you can do about it. A lower resistance start device might help, but you run the risk of it failing later.
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Originally Posted by: richappy You still have a hard starting compressor. For an R134A system compressor, there is not much you can do about it. A lower resistance start device might help, but you run the risk of it failing later. Ok, so are you saying that my compressor has gone bad? I don't know what the rerigerant used is. I know that for cars they changed over to 134a back in the 90's. But for freddies... don't know.
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I would measure the freezer temperature, in addition, you might have a refrigerant leak.
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Originally Posted by: richappy I would measure the freezer temperature, in addition, you might have a refrigerant leak. Hi. Ok, yesterday afternoon, after I'd turned it back on from Friday night's crash, my father in law came out around 11:30 yesterday morning, and said the freezer temp was 21. I just dropped our cooking thermo. in and the ice is still frozen, looks crisp- no rounded corners, as though it was melting... I'll post back in 10 minutes with the freezer temp. As far as refrigerant leaks, I know that that stuff causes serious respiratory distress, and as my wife has asthma, I'd think we'd already noticed that just because of her. Beyond her, how could I tell? Ok, it's been about 15 minutes-- 0.00F degrees. Give or take a degree or two. It's a commercial meat thermo. so I'll assume it's accurate (my father in law is a retired chef, and kept all his "tools.").
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Ok, seems like there is no refrigerant leak, and when the compressor runs, it's performing "normally", and will probably not waste a lot of energy, ie, good for a beer fridg. but not a primary one, could not trust it to preserve food.
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Ok.
This of course is not what I want to hear.
What else can I do to resolve this?
A replacement is not in the budget. Our last Freddie was 5-10 yrs old in 1977, and we replaced it with this one in 2004.
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