The day I realized I was over-tightening everything on fridge compressors

I had a 3 year run of replacing compressors on Samsung fridges and kept getting callbacks about 6 months later for slow cooling. A mentor at a shop in Phoenix asked me straight up "are you using a torque wrench on the process tubes?" Nope, never did. Started using one on every job since and my callback rate dropped from 30% to maybe 5%. Has anyone else had a moment like that where you found out you were making a simple mistake for years?

3 comments

3 Comments

miles_burns23d ago

I read a study once that said something like 70% of compressor failures are from overtightening or undertightening the process tube connections. Makes sense when you think about it, a hairline crack from cranking down too hard is easy to miss.

robins8322d ago

Huh, those numbers feel kinda high to me, a lot of failures I've seen are from bad caps or dirty power.

lindag3322d ago

Read a tech bulletin from Copeland that said improper torque causes more early failures than anything electrical. Changed how I do them, same as you.