TIL the hard way that fridge compressor start relays can fail silently

Patricia Lee · 2026-05-08T14:30:03.827866+00:00

Wasted a full afternoon and $75 on a new compressor for a Whirlpool fridge when the real issue was just a $12 start relay that showed no visible damage; has anyone else been burned by those tricky relays?

alex_wilson795mo ago

The Whirlpool W10843856 part got me a few years back same way, no click or anything but multimeter showed it dead cold. Always keep one in my spare parts bin now.

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bell.felix5mo ago

Showed no visible damage" is the kicker. That's what gets you every time. Learned that lesson on a dryer once, now I test everything with the multimeter first.

4

tylerj225mo ago

@bell.felix nailed it with the multimeter advice, that's the only way to catch these things since they look fine but just don't work. I'd add that checking the start relay should always be step zero before touching the compressor itself, saves you from chasing the wrong problem.

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