westfielder
- Dec 7, 2022
- 11
- Joined
- Dec 7, 2022
- Messages
- 11
Hi all,
Hope this is OK to post here please remove if not
I am trying to save our (20 year old) fridge freezer from landfill by trying to repair (again) the main control board.
I have a Whirlpool model S20D FSS10-A/D Service number 8586 161 15000 Side By side FF – and after replacing many components on the rear board 13 years ago it has been running well.
However.... with two possibly related new faults I am hoping that the symptoms may allow someone to point me in the right direction. Not having a circuit diagram has been a hindrance.
Over last few years the front panel inside in the fridge in my model has been developing a display fault – it started with the LED display winking out briefly about twice a second. The mark/space of time for the 'winking out' changed slowly to 50% on 50% off twice a second to eventually become just flashing on briefly twice a second and finally off all the time. However, the default settings/functioning of the FF has been working fine so didn't need to use the panel. However, can't read any fault codes that might be there I don't think that the buttons are doing anything on the panel. It has 15v supply but I don't know what supply voltage from the rear PCB should be. Then...
A few weeks ago the house RCD tripped once and the fridge bulb had blown with a big stain on bulb interior and Relay RL3 was chattering randomly –
I took the board out and noticed a fried circuit track where it looped thinly either side of component hole that was unused. I soldered in a bridge over the gap. Restarted the FF.
From then the freezer cools to -32c and warms up to -2c and down to -32 etc.. The fridge varies in temp but does go as low as 0c and high as +9c. Alongside this, when the compressor is not running we can heard a ticking noise and identified that the compressor fan was turning slowly about ?100 rpm There's no ice build up, the freezer to fridge air louvres are opening and closing when you switch the FF on, and do seem to open and close at different times. The evapourator fan seems fine as does the compressor fan, the bottom of the fridge is dust free and the rear panels are all on to allow proper cooling of the condensor motor.
I pulled the board again, checked all the capacitors I have a slightly different board to many and all the capacitors I had used from one brand have failed again. I took all the caps out and measured them.
C6, C16 should have been 0.68uF and were in the order of a few nF
C14, 26, 27,28 should have been 0.1uF and were 0,.6nF, 2nF, 10nF and 38nF respectively.
All other film and electrolytic capacitors were within tolerance. I replaced all the faulty caps thinking that I had found the display problem (because I had found out in the past that C6 and C16 relate to the front panel) and the cooling issues and fan issues but NONE had been cured :- I checked the continuity to the front panel of all connectiions and they're fine. Also checked the 2 electrolytics on the front board.
So I am at a bit of a loss. I have checked the zener diodes in situ and all have about 6v forward voltage drop I cannot find a replacement board due to different connectors on my unit – so unless I can fix we will have to fork out for a new FF :-(
Many thanks for any suggestions
Here are pics of the board if it helps.

Nick
Hope this is OK to post here please remove if not
I am trying to save our (20 year old) fridge freezer from landfill by trying to repair (again) the main control board.
I have a Whirlpool model S20D FSS10-A/D Service number 8586 161 15000 Side By side FF – and after replacing many components on the rear board 13 years ago it has been running well.
However.... with two possibly related new faults I am hoping that the symptoms may allow someone to point me in the right direction. Not having a circuit diagram has been a hindrance.
Over last few years the front panel inside in the fridge in my model has been developing a display fault – it started with the LED display winking out briefly about twice a second. The mark/space of time for the 'winking out' changed slowly to 50% on 50% off twice a second to eventually become just flashing on briefly twice a second and finally off all the time. However, the default settings/functioning of the FF has been working fine so didn't need to use the panel. However, can't read any fault codes that might be there I don't think that the buttons are doing anything on the panel. It has 15v supply but I don't know what supply voltage from the rear PCB should be. Then...
A few weeks ago the house RCD tripped once and the fridge bulb had blown with a big stain on bulb interior and Relay RL3 was chattering randomly –
I took the board out and noticed a fried circuit track where it looped thinly either side of component hole that was unused. I soldered in a bridge over the gap. Restarted the FF.
From then the freezer cools to -32c and warms up to -2c and down to -32 etc.. The fridge varies in temp but does go as low as 0c and high as +9c. Alongside this, when the compressor is not running we can heard a ticking noise and identified that the compressor fan was turning slowly about ?100 rpm There's no ice build up, the freezer to fridge air louvres are opening and closing when you switch the FF on, and do seem to open and close at different times. The evapourator fan seems fine as does the compressor fan, the bottom of the fridge is dust free and the rear panels are all on to allow proper cooling of the condensor motor.
I pulled the board again, checked all the capacitors I have a slightly different board to many and all the capacitors I had used from one brand have failed again. I took all the caps out and measured them.
C6, C16 should have been 0.68uF and were in the order of a few nF
C14, 26, 27,28 should have been 0.1uF and were 0,.6nF, 2nF, 10nF and 38nF respectively.
All other film and electrolytic capacitors were within tolerance. I replaced all the faulty caps thinking that I had found the display problem (because I had found out in the past that C6 and C16 relate to the front panel) and the cooling issues and fan issues but NONE had been cured :- I checked the continuity to the front panel of all connectiions and they're fine. Also checked the 2 electrolytics on the front board.
So I am at a bit of a loss. I have checked the zener diodes in situ and all have about 6v forward voltage drop I cannot find a replacement board due to different connectors on my unit – so unless I can fix we will have to fork out for a new FF :-(
Many thanks for any suggestions
Here are pics of the board if it helps.

Nick