Changed my mind about universal refrigerator start relays after a call in Arlington

I always used OEM start relays on fridges, figured the universal ones were junk. Then a buddy named Greg showed me how he's been using the 3-in-1 hard start kits on older Kenmore models for years with no callbacks. He walked me through a install on a 2005 model and it's been running solid for two months now. Anyone else had good luck with those universal kits or am I asking for trouble?

3 comments

3 Comments

jessicac281mo ago

Two months isn't a long track record to base a whole change of procedure on. Give it a year or two of steady use before you start calling them reliable. Plenty of guys have had those universal kits burn out compressors after a few months.

jordan_anderson901mo ago

Man I read a tech bulletin about this exact issue last week. Apparently some universal kits have different superheat specs than OEM parts. That mismatch can kill a compressor real quick if the install tech doesn't compensate. I know a guy who lost two systems to those cheap retrofit boards. He switched back to OEM and problems stopped. So I'm with you on waiting it out. Two months isn't enough to know if they're actually safe long term.

parker_park81mo ago

Buddy of mine tried those universal kits on a few fridges in his rental units. First one died after eight months, compressor locked up hard. He had to replace the whole unit and swore off anything that wasn't OEM after that.