Mini fridge cooler chest freezer stopped - start relay replacement, failure tips /compressor

Two failure scenarios:
1. compressor is worn and will overheat - have it run for 15minutes (buzzing) then carefully touch the top of the black sphere - if you cannot touch it (too hot) it means the compressor is worn. If you can touch for 10 seconds without problems, compressor should be fine. Note: modern freezers no longer have an access panel to the compressor compartment.
2. if the compressor is fine and the freezer stops randomly, you may want to replace first the start relay and if problem is not fixed, try replacing the overheat relay. if issue is not fixed, it may be the temperature sensor to blame, usually not accessible for replacement.
The compressor will wear sooner if you open the freezer door open or if you fill it often times with fresh items - compressor has to run often times long time to freeze the fresh items.

Tip: while waiting for new relay, manually plug freezer in for 20 minutes every 3-4 hours or so, it should be enough to keep items if not frozen, at least cold for several days. Use a timer with alarm, so you don't forget the unit running for too long (will wear off the compressor). This will not work for fridges (won't say cool enough).

Depending on the unit, a fridge/freezer may start right away after being plugged in, or after a 30 minutes delay (normal).

The start/stop relay on small "hotel room' fridges has either 1 or 3 connectors and is usually marked as QP2-4R7 PTC 4.7 Ohm 110V (for North America). The top smaller overload/overheat relay depends on the size of the compressor HP - my compressor has 1/2HP with part code 6750C-0005P. It is important to have the right overload relay, to prevent the compressor from overheating/damage in case the start/stop relay fails while the compressor is running. The overheat realy is basically a temperature fuse: if the compressor overheats, this relay burns the fuse and stops the compressor - this overheat relay then needs replaced with new one in order to restart the compressor.

When you start a fridge/freezer that is no longer cold, it may run for fairly long time. I suggest making sure the compressor doesn't overheat during this time. May want to place a room fan right in front of the compressor. Alternately, may want to stop the unit manually (unplug), and restart it until it reaches cold temperature without overheating the compressor. If the compressor feels hot after running from cold for only 25 minutes, it means the oil is degraded and the compressor is now quite worn.