Replacing the Starter and Overload in a Fridge.

My Fridge has been making loud noises when the compressor starts and it got so bad that the off grid inverter for my home struggled to power it. Investigating I found the startup current to be way too high. Using an aftermarket hard start kit I went about fixing my fridge.

Step 1: Accessing the Compressor.

I removed the cover for the oem overload and ptc relay then disconnected the 3 wires.

Step 2: The Bare Terminals.

You can see the oem ptc relay and overload. The 3 terminals are now exposed for the aftermarket kit. The top is common, left is start and right is run. This is easily verified using a multimeter. The run winding is approximately 3.3ohm and the start is 14.2ohm.

Step 3: Installing the Aftermarket Hard Start Kit.

Using the instructions provided for the kit, the red black and white wires were plugged onto the compressor. Nice use of my national colors!

I hardwired the live and neutral to the black wires of the kit. Either is interchangeable with the kit. I secured the kit and used electrical tape on the hardwired connections.

Step 4: Completion!

The fridge started up far quieter than it ever did and power consumption was slightly lower than usual. It cooled very well and I took a thermal image of the aftermarket hard start kit after half hour of operation. It was warm to touch but not hot which is great.

Hopefully this repair will last many years and all it took me was half an hour.