Rant: I wasted a full day on a fridge because I trusted a cheap thermal fuse tester

Just a heads up for anyone working on refrigeration. I had a Samsung fridge with a no-cool complaint last Thursday. My usual thermal fuse tester was broken, so I grabbed a generic one from a discount tool site for like 15 bucks. It gave me a solid 'good' reading on the fuse, so I spent the next 8 hours chasing my tail through the whole sealed system, checking pressures and looking for leaks. Finally, out of pure frustration, I did a direct continuity check with my meter. The fuse was blown open. That cheap tester lied to me. Lost a whole day's pay and had to eat the cost of the call because I couldn't charge the customer for my own dumb mistake. Has anyone found a brand of thermal fuse tester that's actually reliable and won't fail on you?

2 comments

2 Comments

park.joseph3d ago

What brand of tester do you trust now?

masonwood3d ago

That fifteen dollar tester is a perfect example of the cheap tool tax... you pay less up front but it costs you more later. I've seen it with knock-off multimeter leads that give ghost readings. @park.joseph, I stick with the basic Amprobe testers now, the ones without any fancy lights. It feels like everything is built to fail on purpose these days, so you have to buy it again. You just can't trust a single reading from bargain-bin tools anymore, they'll send you down a rabbit hole every time.