Why the refrigerator turns on and off immediately

During the operation of the equipment, such a problem may appear: the refrigerator turns on and off immediately. We will understand why this happens.

How to determine the effective period of work

Refrigerators work cyclically in two modes: compressor operation and rest. The ratio between these two modes can be different. Much depends on:

• room temperature;
• the number of loaded products in the camera;
• Ambient temperature
• characteristics of the refrigerator;
• other conditions.

For example, if the door seal is damaged or the door is opened too often, the compressor, trying to make up for the lack of cold, will work longer. The refrigerator can turn off for 10 minutes, and work 2 minutes, and can turn on several times per hour. This is normal. But it’s completely abnormal when the refrigerator immediately shuts down.

To determine the effective period of work, there are special coefficients of working time, by calculating which you can understand whether everything is working properly with the refrigerator, whether the temperature regime is set correctly.

To calculate the coefficient, you should listen to your device: how long it works and how much it rests. Knowing these data, make calculations using the following formula:

Coefficient of working time = working time / (working time + rest time)

Let's take an example: the refrigerator works for 3 minutes and is idle for 5 minutes, K = 3 / (3 + 5) = 3/8 = 0.375. This is a normal indicator. In general, a value between 0.2 and 0.6 is optimal.

The lower the better, but not less than 0.2. If the coefficient is 0.6 - an occasion to think. Perhaps the tightness of the chambers is broken or freon is released.

The scheme of the refrigerator

The reasons why the refrigerator turns off immediately after turning on

The refrigerator consists of many nodes and parts. Failure of any element of the node leads to disruption of the operation. One of the most important components of the system is a motor-compressor. It circulates the refrigerant in the system. The cost of the compressor is high, and replacement is a difficult job requiring knowledge, skills and specialized equipment.

There are two more reasons:

• malfunction of the control module;
• breakdown of the start-up relay.

Description of problems, their characteristics and solutions

Consider the main problems and how to fix them.

Start-up relay failure

Fridge start-up relay

Refrigerator Atlant, Indesit, Nord or other brands turned on, and immediately turned off? Do you hear a characteristic click? The start relay may have broken.

The start-up relay, as the name implies, performs 2 important functions: protects the device from overloads and controls the start-up of the compressor. Accordingly, if it breaks, the compressor will not start. The start relay needs to be changed.

Compressor malfunctions

Compressor in the refrigerator

If you turn on, the equipment disconnects with an interval of a couple of seconds, while at the start a characteristic clicking sound is heard, and the compressor is very hot, buzzing - most likely, the reason is in the motor compressor. This can be inter-turn winding closure, open winding, motor wedge.

To protect against overloads, the motor-compressor is connected via a start-up relay. Trying to protect the device, it works a few seconds after turning it on. It is his click that is heard. Repair or replacement of the compressor will be required.

If the windings are shorted, the unit is not repairable.Theoretically, the winding can be rewound, but finding a person who takes it is problematic. And, as practice shows, after such a repair the motor will not last long. But the jammed mechanism, you can try to wedge.

Naturally, if the compressor does not turn on, cooling will not occur. The cells will be warm. In 2 compressor units, the freezer can work, but there is no refrigerator, or it can cool the refrigerator, and in the freezer the hot summer will come. If both compressors do not turn on, there may be a breakdown in the control module.

Control board fails

Refrigerator control module

In case of malfunctions in the control module, the refrigerator can be switched off at intervals of different durations. The main reason why this breakdown occurs is power surges.

Sometimes restarting the equipment helps: the device must be turned off from the outlet for 10-20 minutes, and then turned on. If this does not help, you will need to replace or reflash the module. It all depends on the nature of the damage. It can be software or hardware. In the first case, the node is reprogrammed, in the second, the replacement or repair of individual components of the board is performed (if possible and appropriate).