Sticky black pad on fridge compressor

sparky0138

I cleaned the back of the fridge today and found that a sticky black pad with thick dark glue had slipped down the compressor due to the heat and was resting on other parts. It won't stick back on for long before it's sliding back down again.

Does anyone know if I can leave it off without any issues or is it important? To me it looks like some kind of thermal pad or perhaps it's to reduce the noise of the compressor. Thanks.

Section62

sparky0138 said:

I cleaned the back of the fridge today and found that a sticky black pad with thick dark glue had slipped down the compressor due to the heat and was resting on other parts. It won't stick back on for long before it's sliding back down again.

Does anyone know if I can leave it off without any issues or is it important? To me it looks like some kind of thermal pad or perhaps it's to reduce the noise of the compressor. Thanks.

Sounds like the kind of pad used to fix the evaporation pan to the compressor... which raises the question whether yours was fitted with an evaporation pan, and if so, where has it gone?

We'll probably need the make and model number... but is there any sign of a drain tube which stops in mid-air just above the compressor?

sparky0138

Thanks. There's definitely an evaporation pan so the pad must have slid down further than I thought. I'll pull the fridge out again tomorrow and see if I can make it stick between the compressor and the pan, now I know exactly where it came from. I was trying to stick it back on the side and it just kept sliding off.

camel1959

Hi guys, my sticky pad has broken off from the underside of the evaporation pan, pad gone hard and broken into small pieces. The pan is now resting on the hot condenser, will this be ok or can you suggest a type of thermal pad to put in, thanks in advance

EssexExile

camel1959 said:

Hi guys, my sticky pad has broken off from the underside of the evaporation pan, pad gone hard and broken into small pieces. The pan is now resting on the hot condenser, will this be ok or can you suggest a type of thermal pad to put in, thanks in advance

If it's a metal pan it won't hurt, it might be noisier though. If it's a plastic pan I suppose the heat of the compressor could damage it, I suspect not though.