So the Supco 3-in-1 starter came today.  Installed it in short order and the compressor fired right up!  Things are looking good – no smoke, no flames.  I blew out some dust bunnies and cleaned up the fridge innards as best I could.  Rolled her back into place and transferred a few items from the garage fridge.  Has been a couple hours and things are cooling down and the compressor is humming along.  Yee-haw!!

So Sunday morning I get up and following my normal ritual go to the freezer to get some ice cubes –  I like my Joint Juice on the rocks.  Pulling out the ice cube tray (no fancy through-the-door ice dispenser for me – no sirree, keep it simple) I find only water in the miniature pools.  “Oh oh”, I say to myself, “this is not good”.  Poking a nearby chunk of meat I find it a little soft.  Adrenaline kicks in to wake me up and I get busy transferring items to our 30+ year old refer in the garage.  Did I mention Paula was at the cabin?

As some of you know and can attest to Paula and I have not been happy with this refrigerator since it was installed 11 years ago during the kitchen face lift.  Thinking its’ life was past a search began online for a replacement.  A suitable unit was eventually found – do you know how difficult it is to find simple basic home appliances now days?

Then I looked to see if Professor Google had some ideas on what might be broke.  Found some YouTube videos for troubleshooting and determined that the compressor was OK.  That left the Start Relay Overload doohickey as the likely culprit for my not getting my daily Joint Juice.

Of course the part from a local supplier was $80.  Didn’t want to invest that much in case the compressor really wasn’t  ok.  A quick Amazon search found one for $40.  Then watched  another video that mentioned a Supco starter.  Found one of those for $12 (local guy wanted $34).  Figured the fridge was worth $12 to verify if the compressor did still have life.  So the order was submitted.

Unfortunately, there is also a lot of discussion in forums that this Supco device is not a permanent solution.  But I then found the OEM part for $24 – of course after the $12 part was ordered.  But, if the part works I will probably play it safe and get the $24 OEM part.  So for $36 bucks Paula and I may continue to get to listen to this fridge pop for a while longer.

The part should arrive Tuesday or Wednesday.

Stay tuned.

Laundry room project is over.  Time to celebrate.  See the update for photos.