3 ms·
In my experience, catastrophic failure is extremely rare. An overheating compressor starts burning its oil. That burned oil sludge then clogs everything intern
by Night_Thastus 3y ago
In my experience, catastrophic failure is extremely rare.
An overheating compressor starts burning its oil. That burned oil sludge then clogs everything internally, and eventually the whole system stops being able to work. It will generally get so hot it automatically turns off on overload at that point.
- pvarangot 3y agoSo first context: I'm not OP, and as a matter of record the Ghost Ship fire was not caused by a fridge compressor. Electrical appliance is the most likely cause but the ATF investigators ruled the fridge compressor out. That being said, sparking near relay blades is common enough and same for sketchy wire bonding. It's not a failure mode of the compressor as much as the relay or the wiring is true, but no other appliance is wired like that and turning on and off autonomously in the average household except maybe AC which are usually less modular and wired at the factory to higher standards than some old fridge or a repaired unit.
- sidewndr46 3y agoevery compressor I've looked at was thermally protected. If it gets too hot for any reason it just shuts off.
- jandrese 3y agoMight be a case where many of these fail every year, but sometimes they also have faulty thermo probe and catch fire. If a failed probe doesn't cause the device to stop working then it's entirely possible for both to be bad at the same time, especially if there is no indication that the probe failed.
- iancmceachern 3y agoExactly. Modern double sealed compressors are super reliable and safe. Same thing used in every fridge and ac.