Whirlpool fridge freezer problems

Legacy_user

I've tried doing searches on the net for the problem we are having with our 4 year old American style fridge freezer but have had no success. It doesn't even feature as a problem in the troubleshooting section in their owners manual.

It was serviced under warranty about 10 months ago and a new control panel/circuit board thingy was fitted. It has worked fine up until a couple of days ago when the indicator lights for the temperature and ice/water dispsneser started flashing and making a clicking sound. The fridge and freezer are still working and maintaining the temperature but the machine won't dispense ice or water.

Of course the warranty has now expired and we are wondering if this is going to be more expensive to fix than replace. Has anyone had a similar problem with their appliance and if so what did you have to do?

I'm really disappointed that the machine has only lasted 46 months before it started causing problems. It certainly seems that nothing is built to last nowadays.

Ordep

May be an obvious question but, have you pressed the reset button on the door.

System

Yes we have, and switched it off for a few minutes but it's still ticking and flashing away

totalsolutions

Has the water feed / or parts frozen up solid / excessive ice build up somewhere?

System

totalsolutions wrote: »

Has the water feed / or parts frozen up solid / excessive ice build up somewhere?

The freezer is frost free and is continuing to make ice but with the lights flickering etc we can't get the panel to dispense ice or water.

meadowcat

I also have had one of these beasts for exactly 46 months. There are two circuit boards (brains) one at the bottom left (I think) at the back, and there is also one behind the water/ice control panel. I had the back brain replaced under warranty and then last year it started giving me all sorts of problems. I had water "judder" and lights flashing and clicking. Also the temperature in the fridge was warmer than it should have been. Have you checked that it says "OK" in green on the inbuilt thermometer inside your fridge?

Firstly we replaced the back brain and that solved some of the problems, so then we replaced the front brain and it has been working fine ever since.

Some service engineers won't touch these fridge freezers, so you have to go through Whirlpool who have an £80 call out charge. The brains are quite expensive, so if you have to replace both you are probably looking at £400 or more for Whirlpool to do it. But it is easy to do it yourself and they can be bought on ebay. I got mine from simon3034 although I have just checked and he has no listings at the minute, but I'm sure there's someone else selling them.

Just wondering what your model number is. Mine is S20B RBB20.

When you are ordering these brains, it is important to know your full model number and serial number as the back brain was slightly different for certain serial numbers.

You could try asking a question on this forum http://forums.partselect.com/refrigerator-freezer-repair/

Hope you get sorted out.

System

meadowcat wrote: »

I also have had one of these beasts for exactly 46 months. There are two circuit boards (brains) one at the bottom left (I think) at the back, and there is also one behind the water/ice control panel. I had the back brain replaced under warranty and then last year it started giving me all sorts of problems. I had water "judder" and lights flashing and clicking. Also the temperature in the fridge was warmer than it should have been. Have you checked that it says "OK" in green on the inbuilt thermometer inside your fridge?

Firstly we replaced the back brain and that solved some of the problems, so then we replaced the front brain and it has been working fine ever since.

Some service engineers won't touch these fridge freezers, so you have to go through Whirlpool who have an £80 call out charge. The brains are quite expensive, so if you have to replace both you are probably looking at £400 or more for Whirlpool to do it. But it is easy to do it yourself and they can be bought on ebay. I got mine from simon3034 although I have just checked and he has no listings at the minute, but I'm sure there's someone else selling them.

Just wondering what your model number is. Mine is S20B RBB20.

When you are ordering these brains, it is important to know your full model number and serial number as the back brain was slightly different for certain serial numbers.

You could try asking a question on this forum http://forums.partselect.com/refrigerator-freezer-repair/

Hope you get sorted out.

We contacted Whirlpool and they are charging £86 for the call out fee. They then tried to get us to pay £249 over 10 months for a 1 year warranty saying the replacement "brain" and the labour would be covered and we would get peace of mind for another 12 months. To be honest we are tempted to take it because it gets us to next August when we have a policy maturing and if needs be then we would buy a new one.

I think our fridge freezer is the same model as yours and having read your post I opened the fridge and the temperature indicator is black so it appears to be warming up. I'll try leaving it for a while and check later.

Thanks for the links to the other site. DH will have a look and see if he thinks he can sort it himself :eek: