KRMF706ESS01 KitchenAid Refrigerator - PO Code every 10 minutes, resets and dings

[tamorgen]

Model Number

KRMF706ESS01

Brand

KitchenAid

Age

1-5 years

Good morning all,
Yesterday afternoon I started having problems with my Kitchenaid 5 door refrigerator. Actually, I've had problems with this fridge since I bought it, but specifically, I'm getting a PO Code (Power Outage) on the door, and I confirm it. 10 minutes letter, it seems to reboot itself, and gives me the same code over and over again. The fridge itself seems to be working, although it seems to have stopped making ice, which has been a problem on this fridge intermittantly. We had a technician come out about two months ago, and he told me this model was particularly problematic, in that water seeps into the control board in one of the drawers and the whole drawer needs to be replaced ($1000). He showed me how to check for water, and I'm not seeing any water in the board, so I don't think that is it, but just a reflection on larger issues with this model.

I googled the PO code, and one solution I found is that it could be one of two control boards. A power supply control board, or a main control board. One is about $200 and the other is $350. Is there any way to determine which one, or verify that is bad? I'm fairly handy, so I can usually fix things myself. I just don't want to order a $550 in parts to find out that I ordered the wrong part.

 

[Jake]

I just don't want to order a $550 in parts to find out that I ordered the wrong part.

That's exactly why its best to contact KitchenAid to have a AUTHORIZED KitchenAid Tech come out.

Contact KitchenAid at 1-800-422-1230.

I had one do this exact same thing in Quartzsite, Arizona and I replaced all 3 control boards and it still didn't fix it. So the only other part I assume that would make it keep going back to PO is the compressor being the culprit.

Jake

 

[tamorgen]

I was hoping to avoid that. I just had one of their tech’s come out two months ago for the fridge and a Maytag washer. Both issues were very simple and I could have avoided the the cost if I had done a little more research. This refrigerator has been nothing but problems, and it’s very frustrating when we spent $11,000 on a Kitchenaid suite for our home. This will be the third visit in less than 3 years for this refrigerator. When the tech came out last time, he basically said there is no way to diagnose other than replacing parts that “could be the problem”, because, unlike the Maytag washer, there is no interface to tell you what is wrong. As you said, you replaced 3 boards, none of which actually fixed the problem. So, did the customer end up paying for those boards, or did you put the old one’s back in?

Just very frustrated. The refrigerator came highly recommended from the appliance store...maybe because of past history with their units, but this one is an expensive piece of junk.

 

[Jake]

Nope, my customer paid just my service call fee, I did not charge them for the boards, I still have them and will use them on other machines as needed.

The customer bought another refrigerator and I haven't seen them since.

Jake

 

[tamorgen]

So, the tech came out last week. He replaced the evaporator motor. The coils in the freezer were all iced over, and he "believed" that the ice was shorting out the motor. Price tag on the box said $43.59, he charged $95.05 + $15.00 to ship something that was already in his van.

The issue stopped for about an hour an a half. It's been beeping ever since. This is was I was fearing. He threw parts at it that didn't fix the problem. I spoke with a supervisor at the "certified" repair place, and was told that "sometimes we have to put more parts in to fix the problem.", and wouldn't concede that the part they gouged me for didn't solve the issue.

 

[Jake]

Was it a Authorized KitchenAid Tech? You can't just call any tech.

You have to Contact KitchenAid at 1-800-422-1230. They will send a Authorized KitchenAid Tech.

Once the Authorized KitchenAid Tech is there have him or her call the KitchenAid Factory TECHLINE phone number from your house and they will tell him what what to order.

Jake

 

[tamorgen]

It was an authorized tech. I called Kitchenaid, and that’s who they sent. It’s the only authorized repair facility in the area (Baltimore/ Washington DC).

Today I called and spoke with their management. I was told that even though the part didn’t fix the problem, they can’t take it back and I’m stuck with it. In essence, I was told they can throw all the parts in it until something fixes it.

The manager I spoke with asked if I was technical, and said if I was, why didn’t I fix it. I am a very technical person. I’ve been in IT for 20 years, and 22 years military experience in a technical field. I know how it supposed to work. You try a part, and I’d it doesn’t fix it, (i.e., the old partwasn’t bad, you put the old one back in and move on your troubleshooting tree. Their approach is to bilk the customer. As I said, this is exactly what I was afraid of and why I was asking for advice before the technician came out.

I ended up calling back to Whirlpool and spoke with a senior advisor, and she actual did listen to me and told me they are going to cover the costs of labor and parts. She also informed me that the sealed part of the fridge is covered with a 5 year warranty, and was afraid the tech tried to charge me for a part that was part of that. The tech that came out told me if it was the compressor, that I might have to fight whirlpool, which doesn’t make any sense if it’s covered under warranty. Another reason I am skeptical of the service tech. It turns out that it wasn’t, but she did take the time to investigate, which made me feel better. I have no qualms with whirlpool/Kitchenaid. My qualm is with the only game in town to fix the problem.

 

[Jake]

Ok, got it!

My customer in Quartzsite, Arizona said it happened after they had a power surge when the power came back on and a power outage.

Did you notice a power outage before this happened at your house?

Jake

 

[tamorgen]

Not that I can say. We have a whole home surge suppressor on our circuit breaker. We do occasionally have brief outages, but none that I can recall recently. Only way around that issue is a backup battery bank, which we do not have. Even a generator would need a few seconds to turn itself on and take over power generation. Our house is new construction (3 years in August), and our neighborhood is all below ground power, but leading up to the development power lines are above ground, so we get outages with weather (trees and power lines don't mix).

We have essentially 8 Whirlpool (umbrella corp) appliances in our home. 6 KitchenAid appliances in the kitchen (fridge, wall over/convection oven combo, gas range, hood, dishwasher, and wine fridge) and 2 Maytag (washer and dryer). It's safe to say our appliance suite was close to $17,000. We had two issues with our appliances prior to this. First was within the first month of ownership. The ice machine didn't work. From research, I know there is an issue with the design of the auger motor. Water leaks down into it, and the motor isn't properly sealed, so it fills up with water, and freezes over. That was covered under warranty, but I know it's still a bad design flaw. When I was having problems a few months ago with it, I checked the auger motor, and we didn't get the revision that has a gasket around the drive shaft to supposedly solve the problem. If that goes bad again, at least I know it's only 8 screws to pop out and replace.

The other time was with our dishwasher. It was washing just fine, but we weren't getting the end of cycle light to come on. When that happened, it was just at the end of our warranty, and they replaced all 2 of the boards in the dishwasher, and it did solve the problem, but there really wasn't any troubleshooting involved. That was an eye opener, and again why I question the only game in town. That seemed wasteful to me. Sure, it solved it, but where was the diagnosis?

I had something similar happen to me about 17 years ago with a car i owned at the time. I had an extended warranty on it. I wasn't really technical working on cars at the time, but two bad trips to the dealer changed that. The first, car had maybe 40,000 miles on it. I just filled up with gas on post, and was headed down to Quantico, VA for work. All of a sudden, I significantly lost power, so I brought it to the dealership where I bought it 2 miles away. The gave me a loaner for the day, and I went on my way. They called me that afternoon, told me it needed new spark plugs, and the fuel system needed to be flushed out. I had just replaced the spark plugs a few weeks prior, and it had been running fine. They told me that service wasn't covered by the extended warranty, and that will be $800 please. I refused the service, since I didn't believe them. I went online to a major forum, scanned the codes, posted them. Right away, they said one of my coil packs was bad. A coil pack is a $25 part, covered under the warranty. I called the dealer, "oh, we checked those, they're fine". Long story short, it was one coil pack and they tried to get one over on me. I had one other bad experience, where they gouged me for $1200 and didn't fix the problem. I also figured that out on my own without their assistance. I've done my own work on my car ever since, unless it's tires or something on a recall.

It's not that I don't trust technicians, but I have certainly learned to question them, and not let them do things blindly.

 

[tamorgen]

Not that I can say. We have a whole home surge suppressor on our circuit breaker. We do occasionally have brief outages, but none that I can recall recently. Only way around that issue is a backup battery bank, which we do not have. Even a generator would need a few seconds to turn itself on and take over power generation. Our house is new construction (3 years in August), and our neighborhood is all below ground power, but leading up to the development power lines are above ground, so we get outages with weather (trees and power lines don't mix).

We have essentially 8 Whirlpool (umbrella corp) appliances in our home. 6 KitchenAid appliances in the kitchen (fridge, wall over/convection oven combo, gas range, hood, dishwasher, and wine fridge) and 2 Maytag (washer and dryer). It's safe to say our appliance suite was close to $17,000. We had two issues with our appliances prior to this. First was within the first month of ownership. The ice machine didn't work. From research, I know there is an issue with the design of the auger motor. Water leaks down into it, and the motor isn't properly sealed, so it fills up with water, and freezes over. That was covered under warranty, but I know it's still a bad design flaw. When I was having problems a few months ago with it, I checked the auger motor, and we didn't get the revision that has a gasket around the drive shaft to supposedly solve the problem. If that goes bad again, at least I know it's only 8 screws to pop out and replace.

The other time was with our dishwasher. It was washing just fine, but we weren't getting the end of cycle light to come on. When that happened, it was just at the end of our warranty, and they replaced all 2 of the boards in the dishwasher, and it did solve the problem, but there really wasn't any troubleshooting involved. That was an eye opener, and again why I question the only game in town. That seemed wasteful to me. Sure, it solved it, but where was the diagnosis?

I had something similar happen to me about 17 years ago with a car i owned at the time. I had an extended warranty on it. I wasn't really technical working on cars at the time, but two bad trips to the dealer changed that. The first, car had maybe 40,000 miles on it. I just filled up with gas on post, and was headed down to Quantico, VA for work. All of a sudden, I significantly lost power, so I brought it to the dealership where I bought it 2 miles away. The gave me a loaner for the day, and I went on my way. They called me that afternoon, told me it needed new spark plugs, and the fuel system needed to be flushed out. I had just replaced the spark plugs a few weeks prior, and it had been running fine. They told me that service wasn't covered by the extended warranty, and that will be $800 please. I refused the service, since I didn't believe them. I went online to a major forum, scanned the codes, posted them. Right away, they said one of my coil packs was bad. A coil pack is a $25 part, covered under the warranty. I called the dealer, "oh, we checked those, they're fine". Long story short, it was one coil pack and they tried to get one over on me. I had one other bad experience, where they gouged me for $1200 and didn't fix the problem. I also figured that out on my own without their assistance. I've done my own work on my car ever since, unless it's tires or something on a recall.

It's not that I don't trust technicians, but I have certainly learned to question them, and not let them do things blindly.

Latest update. The technician came out on Tuesday, and took a couple more temperature readings. Fridge still isn't working. Since KitchenAid is now covering it, he ordered every technician serviceable electronic component. He said he doesn't know what is causing the issue, but it's electrical, so he'll start replacing parts until it fixes the problem. He said if that doesn't fix it, it's likely a short in the non-serviceable area of the unit (harness related), and that they would have to get me a new unit.

At this point I'm not sure how to feel. One one hand, if they give me a new refrigerator, then I'll start fresh, but my fridge is less than 3 years old. I hate that we live in a throw away society, and that a $4000 fridge less than 3 years old will end up i a landfill somewhere.

How common is it for something in the harness or non serviceable area to fail?

 

[Jake]

How common is it for something in the harness or non serviceable area to fail?

On KitchenAid and Whirlpool it is extremely uncommon.

On the one I had in Quartzsite, Arizona we determined the compressor was the cause of the PO rebooting issue, but there was no Authorized Whirlpool techs within a 100 miles.

The old refrigerator goes to the metal scrap yard, not to the landfill per say.

Jake

 

[dadofnine]

Hello, I have a KitchenAid frig that is experiencing the same issues. PO every five minutes. Was your issue resolved, if so how?