2018 Life Logs, Day 225—For the Love of Google and YouTube
Date: Monday, August 13, 2018
Weather: Overcast with Sprinkles, Gentle Rain Tonight; High 76, Low 70 F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
This morning, Heather and family left for a week and a half in Maine with Jed’s family, and they did arrive safe and sound. So I am now officially on vacation as well. But my first day of vacation from Camp Oma didn’t’ go exactly as planned. I was up early for a chiropractor appointment followed by a Monday morning class at the gym. Felt so good to exercise. So far, so good, But my plans for the remainder of the day were derailed. I had hoped to spend the rest of the day gardening and building a small brick patio for my grill. But while I was fixing lunch, my refrigerator started making very loud noises. And I mean VERY loud noises. At first I ignored it thinking it was just the stress of the hot weather. But it soon became apparent that it had to be dealt with. I know nothing about refrigerators, but I know this refrigerator is only three years old and shouldn’t be sounding like a jet taking off! So I turned on my computer and literally Googled, “Why is my refrigerator so loud?” My answer instantly appeared. “The evaporator fan motor is located in the freezer compartment and is responsible for pulling air over the evaporator coils when the compressor is running. If your refrigerator is making a loud noise that appears to be coming from the freezer area, a faulty evaporator fan motor could be to blame.” Okay. Then I searched for specific information on the evaporator fan motor in a Frigidaire. There was a link to a YouTube refrigerator repair video on Replacing the Evaporator Fan Motor Kit (Frigidaire Part # 5303918549) and that video showed me how to remove the panel in the back of my freezer. The first thing was to empty the freezer and unplug the refrigerator. Then I followed the directions for loosening two ¼ inch hex head screws anchoring the panel. That required a ¼ inch nut driver. I had no idea what a nut driver was, but I just went down to the basement and looked through Mark’s tools and until I found the tool that looked like the one in the video. I emptied the freezer and loosened the two screws, but I decided to plug the refrigerator back in to see if the noise persisted before removing the whole panel. Amazing. The noise was gone. So, I unplugged it again and tightened the screws. When I plugged it in again, there was still no noise. So, I am assuming that the air intake in the freezer was blocked causing the fan to freeze up. So for now, disaster avoided. I did then get outside for a couple of hours, but the jobs of planting the fall garden and building the brick patio will continue tomorrow.
