refrigerator
Our fridge hasn't been cooling for about a day. It makes no sounds at all and everything has been warming up. There is power because the internal light comes on.
Our appliance guy told us to unplug the fridge for 24 hours and then plug it back in.
How would this fix the issue?
Your compressor is going to look something like this
To test the windings, you'll first have to remove the "box" where the wires connect.
WARNING: There's likely a capacitor in here. Take care not to let the capacitor discharge into you.
Once you've go that out of the way, you should see three pins/terminals. They'll typically be arranged in a triangular pattern.
One terminal will be start, one will be run, and the other will be common. To determine if the windings are still good, you'll simply test the resistance between each terminal.
NOTE: Your readings may vary.
You should end up with something like this.
This tells me that the top pin is common, the lower left is start, and the lower right is run. It also tells me the compressor is still good. The reading from start, to run should always be the largest reading. The readings between start and common, and run and common should total up to the reading from start to run.
If the values are way off, or you get infinite resistance between the pins, replace the compressor.
If the compressor checks out, you'll want to make sure it's getting power.
After reassembling the compressor, plug the refrigerator back in. Set the refrigerator to a setting that should cause the compressor to come on. Using a multimeter set to volts AC (VAC), carefully probe the two wires connected to the compressor. You should measure ~120 volts.
If you get the proper reading, you'll likely have to replace the relay and/or capacitor. If you don't get ~120 V, the problem is in the control circuitry.
If everything checks out, there's still the possibility that the compressor is seized. In which case, you'll have to replace the compressor.
'sOne possibility is the heater strip that is in the air duct between the freezer and the refrigerator section. This strip warms the icy air to provide the cold for the top. If it fails then ice buildup occurs in the duct until it blocks off the air flow and the top gets warm.
When unplugged the ice melts. If this part failed or it's thermo sensor failed it is a cheap fix (around $30 not including service fees). I have had this happen on our old GE losing several hundred dollars of food in the refrigerator.
If you put doors on and plug it in and the top gets to the proper level of cold for several days until ice starts building up again you may likely have this issue.
A refrigerator/freezer thermometer is cheap and handy to see what the sections temperatures are really doing, even on a newer digital control unit.
Best Answer
The odds of that working are very low. The guy probably said that because he was too busy to come so he just said that to give you something to do in the hope that you would call again later when he had more scheduling availability.
The most likely possibility is that it is the internal overload breaker. Usually it is easy to reset with a screw driver. Here is a picture of a typical one:
The hole has a little slot where you insert the screw driver and give it a half turn to reset it.
Of course, it could be a range of other problems, like a broken controller or a broken temperature sensor, too, but the reset is an easy thing to try.