Blomberg KFD9952 XA+ compressor/condenser fan not working

Hi,

I have a Blomberg (aka BEKO) KFD9952 XA+ (side-by-side american style). It has been standing for a while and when I switched it on it gave me an error message (4E). With this message it still seemed to work, but the horizontal pillars of the freezer doors went very hot.
Then I found that the condenser/compressor fan is not working and the condenser grill together with the compressor is also getting hot. I tested the fan and this is working fine (when I disconnected and powered up from a different power source). So for some reason the fan is not getting any power. So I assume this can be the reason for the failure.

Can anyone help me troubleshooting further? Or has anyone got the service manual with wiring schematics and descriptions of how enter test mode and explain the codes there?
The main board costs quite a lot, so I dont want to order it just by hoping it will fix everything (if this is the cause at all).

I had a bit time to check further and I was doing some "blackbox" testing and measurements. Since the main board gets power and everything powers up this doesn't seem to be a problem.
But there is a bunch of relays soldered to the main board that apparently are switching on and off different parts of the fridge (fridge fan, freezer fan and including also the condenser fan). So I managed to find the relay that switches the fan. Unfortunately it is not switching to "ON" position. In my experience it is not very likely to have a relay failure, since it is a very simple device. But the signal to the relay to connect the switch is coming from the main CPU, so right now I am assuming it is the main boards fault after all.

Anyway... I would greatly appreciate diagnostic mode description so that I could go through all the possible cases. I found out how to enter the diagnostic mode, but since it is showing only some numbers and symbols on the display, it is still a black box to me. It got rid of the error message though.

Domestic Fridge / Freezers have a tendency to stall fan motors if they have been switched off for some time.

Test for power to the condenser fan Motor. Same for the Evaporator fan motor. ( Evap motor are often delayed until sensor reaches sub zero degrees C.) Check to see if your Condenser motor spins freely.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mikeref

Domestic Fridge / Freezers have a tendency to stall fan motors if they have been switched off for some time.

Test for power to the condenser fan Motor. Same for the Evaporator fan motor. ( Evap motor are often delayed until sensor reaches sub zero degrees C.) Check to see if your Condenser motor spins freely.

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I have tested that the condenser fan motor works - and it works when I apply power from a separate source. I tried shortcircuiting the relay for the fan motor also from the main board and then it also gets power. So the fan is not getting power from the main board because the relay does not switch. I haven't had time to test the relay if it works or not.
The rest of the fridge seems to work normally. Evaporator fan in the freezer works and comes on. Fan in the fridge works and comes on also after a while (like you say it is probably coming on after it reaches a certain temp on the sensor).

Wire condenser fan up together with compressor power supply and forget about it!

I found I think a nearly identical model of BEKO fridge. It is called GNE60520DX. Looks and functionality is the same. But it seems to be a bit bigger unit.

Those small relays are not foolproof and can fail.

I will have to take some time to test it more thoroughly, but the initial check showed that for some reason the relays are getting ~5V triggering voltage instead of 12V as for the specsheets of the relays are describing they need to work. The smaller ones seem to work with that, but the one driving condenser fan is not switching. Maybe on the weekend I will have time to solder them off the board and also go through the board step by step.
Expensive fridge, but the electronics seem cheap... :(
Anyway, my explanation-seeking nature doesn't allow me to leave it like this. And perhaps in someone else like me will have this thread helpful :)