Got burned by bad advice on a fridge compressor swap in Phoenix

Last summer a guy I met at a parts counter told me I could skip the start relay and just wire it direct on a Samsung fridge compressor. He said he did it all the time and it worked fine. I tried it on a job in Phoenix and the compressor kicked on for about 10 seconds then locked up tight. Customer was hot and I had to eat the cost of a new compressor and my time. Turns out that start relay is there for a reason to keep the compressor from drawing too much current on startup. I learned the hard way to double check every tip I get with the actual service manual. Has anyone else gotten bad info from a fellow tech that cost you money?

2 comments

2 Comments

riley_miller2517d agoTop Commenter

Man that's brutal. I had a similar thing happen with a home AC unit in Phoenix where a dude on a forum told me to just bypass the capacitor on a Goodman condenser because it was "overkill" for the system. Compressor ran maybe 30 seconds then started smoking. Had to replace the whole unit basically, cost me like $800 and a full Saturday. Now I don't trust anything unless I see it in the actual manual or a video from someone with credentials.

the_paul17d ago

Yeah I've seen that exact capacitor bypass thing destroy so many compressors. People forget those things aren't just for starting, they smooth out the power too. You skip it and the motor sees all these voltage spikes, cooks the windings almost instantly. If you ever run into that again, grab a 5-2-1 hard start kit instead, they're like 30 bucks on Amazon and actually protect the compressor. Also check your contactor points while you're in there, if they're pitted that'll kill a cap fast too.