LG Electronics review: faulty control board 36

I'm having the exact same issue. LG Refrigerator model LBC22520ST. LG Customer service has been extremely unhelpful every time I called them to assist me with this problem. Suddenly the refrigerator stopped working. No lights, no fan, no motor...nothing is working. The fridge is completely dead. I bought it July of 2008 from Home Depot.

Yes, I had purchased two refrigerators with the same model and they both broke within five to seven months of usage. Unfortunately, we too ran out of the warranty as our both refrigerators were purchased for the two houses that my husband built. The house were never sold and the refrigerators were not even plugged in for few months. We ended up using one for our own house and the other one was giving to a friend. They both were broken within a few months of usage and I have the most horrible experience of dealing with LG customer service and the repair company that represents LG in the greater Atlanta area. I am seriously thinking about getting together with all the fellow sufferers and contact Home Depot and return out refrigerators. LG will take them back through Homme depot but will refuse to work with us. You may contact me at gmail lipsonjennifer is my id. Another thing I was thinking about was to contact their world headquarter in Seoul, Korea and see if we can get anny help from them.

hello I also have the same problem with the freezer fan where did you order the fan from? if you don't mind and the cicuit board on mine is on top of my refrigerator I just followed the power cord thanks and did you find the fan? thanks...

We have the same problem with blown fuse. Why would you build a circuit board with a fuse that is soldered on? Because you want to sell lots of overpriced circuit boards. LG support (we are a few months beyond warranty) simply tells you to contact local repair shop. I have never heard of the place they want me to contact.

Here's an update on what I was able to do with the blown fuse on circuit board. From a local electronics store, I purchased a pair of fuse clips for 50 cents and a pack of 5 fuses for $7.50. I cut out the soldered on fuse, leaving as much of the wire as possible. After removing one leg from the new clips and folding the other out flat, I was able to bend the wires on the circuit board over the clips and solder them in place. I now have a circuit board with replaceable fuse. The local LG authorized repair shop wanted $150 for a new circuit board. This repair job is not recommended for anyone that is not pretty handy and able to do some careful soldering.

We have a lot problems with this LG frige LBC22520ST
first the fan star to make noises, Now it goes off, to make it work again i have to unplug it for a few hours. i'm afraid that i will lose my frige it is just 2 years old. Well if some body have any information how to fix this piece of junk i will really apreciate it. My email adress is
martin68@sbcglobal.net
Thanks

Had this LG refige LFC23760SB since 11/08. Quite (had power but no cooling)after 6 months 6/1/09 and took 9 days for them to repair. Said the computer/circuit board needed reset due to a power outage? They unplugged for a couple of minutes to reset (?) and plugged back in and it started to work again. Worked fine until 6/19/10 then everything quite. This time it only took 8 days for them to tell me they had to order a part (fuse blown in the circuit bd/computer)and that would take another 4 days to get the part. Repaired and working but we have NO FAITH in it. The only smart thing I did was buy the extended warrenty. Between the 2 times that it quite which was 3 weeks total it was a real pain with NO Refige. I would NOT reccemend an LG at this time.

We bought this refrigerator in August of 2008 from Home Depot. We've enjoyed it so far, but like has been mentioned, it stopped working. Luckily for us, we did some research and discovered this problem. Not wanting to have to replace the $150 part and pay another $100 just to have someone come and look at it, we called a relative and tried the fuse fix. Well it's working, but like someone else said, we have little faith in it. MUCHO THANKS to this message board and others we looked at. You saved us $250, at least. That just about covers the price of food that we lost.

Oh, and the power outage thing is bunk. There was no outage in our house.

I just had the same problem as many of you a week or so ago. The fuse is soldered on the PCB (Printed Circuit Board). I have a fair amount of electronics training and did have the tools to repair it myself but I understand that most will not. The easiest thing to do is to disconnect the board and bring it to a electronics store and have them solder in fuse clips that fit the fuse that you intend on using (125Volt, 15Amp) this way the next time it blows you will simply be able to pull out the fuse and replace it with your fingers. NOTE...if this is done pls make sure that the fridge is unplugged before you replace the fuse, as this fuse (that most are complaining about) is the main power fuse (F1 on the wiring diagram). Also from experience if the fuse continues to blow over and over, this means you have a problem somewhere else in the fridge. This is what a fuse is for, to protect the equipment from doing damage beyond repair. This would be the time to call a tech if you dont know how to troubleshoot more than a visual check. The fuses at a store should be fairly cheap ($5-10 and you will probley have to buy a pack of three). To have a electronic store solder in the clips should also be fairly cheap (this is dependant on who you bring it to and how honest they are because it should take no longer than 30 min to solder in the fuse clips) Then simply plug the connectors to the board back in and close everything up and plug the fridge back in. everything should be good to go.
My fridge is model number LFC23760SB and from what I gather this is a problem with many similar models. In LG's defence they cannot predict when a fuse will blow, sometimes it just happens or like I said before it may be doing its job and blowing because of an another problem with the fridge.
I hope this helps. I know it saved me $188 on a new PCB. Good Luck

i agree

I have a 2008 LG by Kenmore elite, fridge. I have lost all power. I suppose it's this fuse. Whatever happened to the days when, the manufacturer provided wiring diagram stickers ON the fridge?

Anyway, I suppose it's this fuse everyone is having trouble with. If my repairman goes to quote me a price on a new circuit board, I have no choice. I'm gonna have to go to radio shack and try to solder in a replacable fuse coupling. You have to be very careful to NOT apply too much heat to that board when soldering in those fuse clips. If you are not familiar with soldering circuits, I would not recommend it. I'm only going to have to try this out of poverty.
Why the brainiac engineers didn't provide an easy fuse replacment to save this board is beyond even me.

thanks to everyone: I fixed this thing. SOlDERED my own new fuse in there, , (it was tricky, had to design my own clips to clip the fuse to) I DONT KNOW HOW TO THANK THE POSTER OF THIS THREAD AND ALL THE CONTRIBUTERS! THANKS SO MUCH for helping me get this thing up and running for FREE! FREE! I LOVE IT!

this is the kind of thread that can save folks lots of money and time getting their fridge up and running again.

I have LG LBC22520ST fridge. No power problem as specified in complaints below. Steps to fix this, at least in my case was to replace the blown 125V 15 Amp fuses that is soldered to the board and perhaps uses a non-lead soldering so need to apply a little more heat. Bought the fuse housing and fuses at Radio shack for a total of $7.00. Use solder and solder sucker strip to remove excess solder. Solder a wire on each end, reinsert the soldered housing, fuse and it works like a charm. Perhaps you know a friend who can help. What is the loss? Or buy a new board on a site like this.
http://www.appliancepartspros.com/partsearch/model.aspx?model_id=5520875
Yours may be slightly different model. The board was easy to get to, it is on the back with 3 screws holding a panel of 16"X 12" metal panel that stick out. Good luck.

as a service provider of 26yrs this even scares me but lg and samsung tech support not educated they have no clue i am an honest servicer doing a job with a bad board and i would like to tell you the cord should be inspected due to bad design ori
no aginal longer vail

Hi, I have the same model of fridge except mine is black (LFC23760SB). I've had mine for 2 years and am having the same problem except my fuses seem to be fine. I have two fuses on my computer board and neither one appears to be blown. Is there anything else it could be or can a fuse be blown (maybe inside the sliver edge piece) and still appear to be completely intact?

I got it figured out. I had an LG tech in a few days ago and he told me that the board had failed. He tried to replace the board but the one he had with him was the wrong board. He called me the next day to tell me that the board I need is on back order (surprize surprize). So, I decided to check things out myself. I used my multimeter to discover that despite appearances, one of the fuses had indeed failed. I don't know how to solder electronics but a friend at work is very experienced and offered to help me. I picked up a replacement fuse (package of 5 for $2.49) and a pack of 10 fuse clips ($3.49) and he took out the old fuse and installed the clips and a new fuse. This afternoon I put the board back in the fridge and it sparked back to life. I'm pretty psyched that $6 in parts allowed me to save a very expensive repair and modify my fridge to now have a replaceable fuse like it should have been in the first place. I had asked the tech why LG doesn't make the boards with replaceable fuses because soldering them in place seems to defeat the purpose of the fuse. He told me that you don't get a very good connection with fuse clips. Riiiiiiight. That's why every other fused application on the planet uses clips. Anyhow, if anyone else finds this forum and is having the same issue, I highly recommend you do what I did. Even if you have to pay someone to do it, it's gotta be cheaper than replacing the whole board every time it happens and I have no doubt that it will happen again. I'm also going to go out and buy a surge protector for the fridge so hopefully that will help protect it from further power spikes.

Forgot to say a huge THANKS to the originator and posters of this thread. You guys just saved me 100's of dollars for just this one repair and what likely would have been multiple repairs every time we have a power spike. You guys rock!

We bought a LG Refridgerator LFC20745SW from Home Depot in 2008 and the circuit board keeps shutting down. We tap it - it sparks and away it goes again. Very disappointed with the lack of support from LG one year warranty pretty much indicates they don't believe in their product either! Never again...

Re: fuses. There are "fast blow" (also called "quick blow") medium blow and slow blow fuses, as well as glass fuses and ceramic fuses. All will protect a circuit (or an appliance) from a massive overload, the sort of thing that results from a "short" -- or, as we electronic technicians say -- a dead short. Fast blow fuses will sometimes blow because of the brief "overload" caused by a motor or compressor starting. Starting current isn't really an overload, but the wire in a fast blow fuse is designed to "melt" when the rated current (15 amps @ 125VAC, for example) is exceeded even momentarily. Both medium blow and slow blow fuses are designed to allow for a brief over current situation (the length of time varies by the specific type of fuse. Yes, there are lots of different medium and slow blow fuses of the same amperage and volt rating -- that's why the engineers make the big bucks!). Glass fuses have "poorer" vibration characteristics than ceramic fuses. So, if anyone continues to have the fuse blowing problem with an LG controller board, try a medium blow ceramic fuse and then a slow blow ceramic fuse. WHATEVER YOU DO! DO NOT EXCEED THE AMPERAGE RATING OF THE ORIGINAL FUSE. IT COULD HAVE FATAL RESULTS -- FOR YOU! And! As someone else said, unplug the refrigerator BEFORE removing the control board. Not to do so, could also have fatal results -- for you.

Hi i have an lg grl 206 cvqa american standard double doors. I have recently been having problems with the ice maker, it would go on and off with clicking noises (and ding dong electronic sound) at the top of the fridge. Managed to turn off the functions of both ice maker( hidden behind the ice box) and some other switch below the water dispenser. Anyway I have located a new pc board on ebay but the price is £120, so I will just wait it out to see what happens next as I can live without the ice maker!

Will keep you updated tahir.ranauk@gmail.com

p.s thanks to the person who started this blog.

I've had to do this service repair twice now and I've found that YES the fuse can appear OK but still be blown... Use a multi-meter to determine condition of the fuse. YES the fuse is soldered in permanently for liability reasons, you can bet somebody out there would replace the fuse with one rated at a higher amperage just to get their fridge working again. I've seen refrigerators after they've caught on fire, not a pretty sight.. DO NOT replace the fuse with one rated above 15 amps and be sure to look for a replacement fuse that's rated for the higher A/C voltage.. YES invest in a surge suppressor for any refrigerator with electronic controls and make sure it's one that has at least a 1000 joules rating.. I would recommend the same for other appliances.. I think it's time the appliance manufacturers build surge protectors into the power cord.. The reality is electrical power is not always 'clean' and there are too many variables that can cause surges... Retired ET John gave valuable info on fuses above.. cheers kooler

thank you for this forum. note the black spot on the fuse next to the needle nosed pliers. A shame that they feel the need to idiot proof the world and not let owners change their own fuses.

Let me try attaching the pic again.

I had both problems mentioned a couple months back, went out of town for a few days a came back to find everything in the freezer thawed. Unplugged and plugged back in after waiting a few minutes, everything worked fine until today. Woke up at 5 am on a Sunday to find a dead fridge, no lights, no sound. Got some dry ice and went back to bed. Found this tread, pulled the back cover off circuit board, found the 15 amp fuse blown. Quick trip to Fry's for a 5 pack of 15A medium blow fuzes, and a board mounted fuze holder, 30 min with a soldering iron (including finding the thing). and every thing is back and running.
This has been on a surge suppressor as of day 1, read the fine print in the warranty if its not protected by a suppressor the warranty is void. I also have a whole house suppressor in the main breaker box so it behind a slow clamp and fast clamp suppressor and still blew. Has to be a design problem where the unit starts up some times in a high current condition. Easy repair and even finding the dry ice on a Sunday morning at 5 am took about 3 hour total including calling and driving time. No lost time at work and a total of less than $20 spent. If i could have found one I would have replaced it with a resettable micro breaker and drilled a reset pinhole in the cover but the solder holes just wouldn't line up. Thanks for doing the leg work and saving me and over $300 on service cal, l a a fridge full of spoiled food and a weeks wait time.

I had the same problem with my fuses on my circuit board, the 15 v fuse didn't look burnt but it was I took the circuit board into the electrical supply house and the kind gentle man tested it with his militi meter and it had no signal so I was pretty happy because I had found my problem. So I bought a soldering iron kit and some fuses and instead of clips
I used something that has wires on each end with the peices of plastic that twist together to hold the fuse so the next time I just twist and take the fuse out
So thanks for the awesome post on this board it saved me from spending 250.00 on a new circuit board like I already did 3 years ago when the fridge was 18 months old
I was also shopping for a new fridge so this post saved me 1, 500 big ones

I have purchased a double LG door fridge, it working only on the deep freezer, and the fridge is not cooling things are going bad. what might be the problem? it is blank where it should indicate water dispenser. my email address is sharoldtshuma@gmail.com

i have purchsed a LG d/door fridge, its only working freezer part not working on fridge, its just stop showing on the water dispenser indication. what could be the problem? my food is going bad. please assist model number GR-B712YLP.

I bought LG Refrigerator Freezer Model GR-S702ALQ in which the circuit board & timer #6871JB1142 has been damaged and the local service center has not been able to repair or replace the same under the pretex that the same is not available. Could someone let me know where I can buy the same or a replacement number for the same. The unit is out of service for a long time. Please help.

I also purchased an LG fridge in April. Control board problems right away. It has now been "being fixed" for longer than I have used it. After the control board was replaced, it became hotter! No, I told them, I bought a fridge not a stove!
Repeated calls to LG are a waste of time. "In two days, I promise I will call and have you a number for a replacement fridge." Well, three weeks later, and I am still 2 days away. This is garbage. Why would anyone buy LG just to spend all their time trying to get it fixed.
If you are looking for a fridge, buy anything buy LG. They do not care about their customers!