Kenmore Refrigerator

I purchased a Kenmore side by side refrigerator from Sears on 2/01/02. On 03/06/07, while in the Kitchen I began smelling electrical smells. After searching though the normal things that you would expect, like the dish washer, etc. I looked behind the refrigerator. To fully view this area I pulled the refrigerator out from the wall. At this time the room filled with smoke. Looking trough a small opening in the service panel I saw flames in the insulation. I removed the service panel and noticed the compressor was still running. I unplugged the refrigerator and put out the small fire in the insulation. It looked like the relay on the side of the compressor was in total melt down. Finally got the house aired out but as far as I was concerned the Kenmore Refrigerator was good enough to maybe be a 200 pound boat anchor.

So now the fun stuff starts. I called Sears in 2 or 3 different locations. Finally spoke to a Gloria in the National Customer Service office. After going through the above story with her she basically told me that it sounds like I had an insurance claim but since my warranty was over they would do nothing. I asked if they were even concerned to the point that they would want to look at it as a consumer safety issue. She said yes they could but that would be $69 trip charge plus whatever repairs were made. I said I wasn’t interested in repairs because I will no longer want the refrigerator in my house, even if it could be repaired. I finally told her that I thought warranties were to make sure the equipment continued to work—not to insure it wouldn’t burn your house down 5 years after you install it. I am certain that would have been the case had I not been standing in the kitchen when this happened.

Bill Richards

Email User

Fresno, CA

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I purchased my Kenmore side by side (model 106.54263300) in September of 2003. Yesterday, 12/1/11 I woke up to a burning odor. A repair man came and the relay was charred. It was pretty much melted into the compressor and the repair man said it was very close to catching on fire. I was lucky not to have my home burned down. Very disappointing that the fridge only lasted eight years. The inside is completely clean so it feels like a waste to throw the fridge out. I think the companies purposely produce poor quality product to force us to replace our appliances early. It's a completely different issue when the poor quality product is unsafe and puts the customer's property and health at risk. Although my fridge was unplugged and emptied yesterday, and the house was aired out, the smell is still pretty strong. Whirlpool/Kenmore should be held accountable.

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Had the same problem happen with our Kenmore Side-by-Side refridgerator this week (09Nov11). Wife called me at work saying she smelled something, luckily she works at home, she unplugged all out appliances (including fridge) until I got home to investigate more.

Eventually we narrowed it down to the refridgerator and found the relay that hooks to the compressor melting/burning, just like everyone else. The fridge got hauled away when we bought our new one, but I'm holding onto the relay for now.

If my wife didn't work at home there would have been a 2 hour window for the fire to actually get started before either of us got home and there would have been a good chance we could have lost our home and our dog.

I'm surprised to see so many other complaints about this same problem. I didn't bother to contact Sears, as there is no store nearby, the fridge was too old, and I definitely did not want another Kenmore fridge in my house after this event.

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I purchased a Kenmore side by side Model 51264103 in 2003 and on 1/13/2011 the same thing happened. The kitchen filled up with smoke and fortunately someone was home to unplug the refrigerator. I pulled off the lower service panel and restarted frig to confirm the smoke was coming from the same area ie, around the relay and from within the compressor. After reading the number of complaints I am appalled Sears has not at least notified registered owners of a potential hazard. This is a highly hazardous condition that can burn down a house and lead to injury or death! I will notify Sears to alert them to the problem

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Ours is a Whirlpool side-by-side ED5GTNXMQ00

Woke up this morning to hubby saying, "come in here and see if you can tell where this smell is coming from and if you see smoke". We are just getting down to it and can see the box connected to the compressor is melted. We unplugged the fridge once we saw this site until we could check it out, and when hubby plugged it back in for a second he said he saw fire coming out of it and immediately unplugged it again. This is really scarey that there might be a lot more of these potential disasters out there.

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I purchased this same model. Loved how I could see the food in the drawers and the sliding shelves. It was manufactured in 5/2002. Not sure of the exact date purchased. Almost two yrs after purchasing this frig I was sitting in my den when I began to smell something electrical burning. I too went to check out the dishwasher, frig, etc. I began to think it was an electrical fire in the attic. I could see smoke near the ceiling. I called the fire dept. They checked out the attic and no fire. Closer inspection of the frig (even though it was running) revealed the compressor had began smoking and appeared to have burned (melted around it). So much heat that my floor turned yellow-brown from the heat under the frig. I contacted Sears and they offered the maintenance agreement because the frige could be covered and would cost only $200+ instead of several hundred for repairs and service call. Of course I took the deal. Sad thing is that it was no big deal to anyone I spoke to that it caught on fire. No telling what would have happened if I had not been home. We chose to replace the the compressor since the other frig we had was a Kenmore and had lasted over 28 yrs. Now we are looking for another frig because compressor is making noise. IT WILL NOT BE A KENMORE ESPECIALLY AFTER READING THIS REVIEW. AS THE SALES LADY TOLD ME WHEN I WAS "WINDOW SHOPPING" YESTERDAY, "I WOULD OWN SEARS IF MY HOUSE CAUGHT ON FIRE!" I just don't know what to purchase at this point. Too few reviews to be helpful on any one make/model.

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Any resolution? My side by side is in my garage. My husband went out this morning and there was an electrical fire smell. We realized it was from the refrigerator. It was purchased in 2002. Model # 106.51552104

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This is really scary that it has happened to so many people. My husband and I were watching TV and heard a zapping noise and saw smoke. We pulled the fridge away from the wall and it was smoking and I could see flames in the lower back panel. We called Kenmore and got the same load of crap about "no longer under warranty" blah blah. It was manufactured in 2002. Please, if anybody has any additional information on what to do in this situation please post on the board. For now I will be writing alot of angry letters until the repair man comes.

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Same EXACT description as above happened in our home on Saturday, Dec 12, 2009. Thankfully my wife smelled the smoke and contacted the fire department before it caught fire with our 3 year-old and 5 month-old at home!!!

I would be more than happy to participate in any class-action suit as I am beyond upset that my family's well-being was jeopardized.

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We had a fire Nov 19, 2009 in our side by side Kenmore that was purchased October 2003. We came home late from work to a house filled with a blue haze and electric/plastic smell. Couldn't find anything. Called fire dept who determined that it was the fridge. Sure enough, it was from the motor just like previous posts describe. We have had repair crews out twice in the past two months for ice maker problems. The last guy said that we just had a 'plugged drain' and squirted hot water to clear it and left. That was a week before the incident. We were very fortunate that the house didn't go. Sears is less than helpful.

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we have a Kenmore side by side that caught on fire last night. If my daughter did not come home when she did, things could have been worse. Called Sears this morning, got to talk to an Indian women who could barely speak English. She wanted to send out a repairman in 4 days and charge me to fix it. Can't believe that Sears doesn't care that their products catch on fire.

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I got the similar problem this evening. It is Kenmore 106.54563300 side by side. My wife heard the buzz noise, and then smell the strong electrical/plastic smell. The refrigerator is still working fine but I dare not to use it more being afraid of the possible fire.

Sears wants to charge me for $109 for exam only, or I have to pay $251 for a service up to $500 for 12 months.

Wait a moment, that is safety issue, and they have no intention for any safety investigation!

We do need to unite and act together on it before it is too late.

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Wondered on to this again. As the original complaint person I thought I would provide an update. After all my complaining I filed a state report regarding the safety issue. Kept the refrigerator for about a month and nobody showed up to look. During this time Sears called me back. They wanted to come to come look at it. I agreed but when the repairman showed up he was in the "i'll fix it for free mode. He replaced some parts and turned it on, it seemed to run OK. Since it had been sitting on my patio for a month and I had already had a replacement(I didn't desire to put the repaired one back in the house anyway), I needed to get rid of it. At first I thought I would sell it--advertised it on Craig s List and got several calls. I fully disclosed the problem to the buyer but then began to worry about it. I again fully disclosed the issue and gave it to the guy for free with a signature on a liability release. I guess I'm more responsible than Sears, but I sure feel better.

Bill Richards

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I had the same thing happen with my Kenmore. Not a side by side but the house smelled like smoke all day. I have a 11 month old child, and my mom was here watching her while I had to go to work. I had a bad feeling all night. I came home, and it's like 3 in the morning, I'm still wired from work so I go to get a snack and the back of my fridge sparks and I see smoke coming up. Of course I unplug it, and the dog is staring at it, like she sees a ghost or something. I am totally freaked. What if I wen't to bed earlier? Would me and my baby and 5 dogs have burned in our sleep? Thank God I caught that, but now it's 4 in the morning and what can I do but let all of my food spoil, including my daughter's milk. I don't even have the side by side that you are referring to. Just a regular Kenmore with a top freezer. I'm definately going to look into this to see what I can do. VERY SCARY!!!

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Our Kenmore side-by-side refrigerator (Model # 106.53332300), bought in July 2003, caught on fire on Thanksgiving morning (November 2008) about an hour before we were to start our food preparation. Electrical burning smell in the kitchen; turned off circuit breakers; called the Fire Department; FD put the breaker back on and determined that the Kenmore refrigerator was the source of the fire. If it wasn't Thanksgiving, and we had all been at work, we would have come home to a burned down home with all the family photos gone, etc. I checked the owner's manual to see what type of coverage we might have. Everything runs out after 5-years. I called up Sears and they started to give me the "if you had only bought the service agreement line". I then asked how long they typically last; 1, 3, & 5 years was the answer. I pointed out that if I had bought the service agreement, I'd still be stuck because we had owned the Kenmore for 5 years, 5 months. She gave me a oh... yeah... right... My parents were always pro-Sears people because of the high quality they used to have. They're both dead now. How ironic and utterly sad it would have been if 80% of the photos ever taken of them had been forever destroyed because of a Sears product in the home.

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This same problem occurred with our side by side, Model 25354622406 this past weekend. We were alerted to smoke from the kitchen at five AM and called the fire department. Looked at the back of the refrigerator and we noticed a small puddle of water at the right rear. Water was leaking from a penetration just above the terminal blocks to the compressor housing. Two plastic water lines passed through the penetration. Apparently there was a leak above at some fitting and the small leak shorted the connections and caused heating of the insulation. The terminals and wires were damaged. Seemed like a bad place to put a water line penetration, and should have been relocated, or install a drip shield. A leak should not cause fatal failure of the unit and should not be fire hazard.

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The EXACT same thing happened to me on Oct. 4, 2008. It was a Kenmore side-by-side that I purchased in 2002. Thankfully, I was home and, like the original complaint, I caught it in time to limit damage. Sears and Kenmore should be made aware they have a defective product and start reimbursing people who has suffered from these incidents.

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We just had this very thing happen to us 4 days ago. Had we not been home we would have lost everything. What if anything did they end up doing for you?

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We had a fire in our Kenmore refrigerator this weekend. It destroyed our kitchen wall and smoked up the house. The fire dept was called and we are beginning to put things together. We had not previously heard about the recall for the Kenmore 3 door from CPSC which we found out about online, but if we had not been home, we would have lost our entire house from this fire.

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Our son came into our bedroom at 1:00 am saying he smelled smoke. When we investigated, we saw smoke coming out from behind the fridge and the smell was BAD. We pulled it out, unplugged it and took off the little cardoard backing. I then plugged it in and the little plastic relays (or whatever they are called) going into the compressor sparked and grew hot IMMEDIATELY!! I didn't see any dirt, water, etc - it was simply melting the plastic directly at the compressor.It looked like the insulation was scorched (or maybe black from smoke at this point). I am convinced it would have burned our house down (especially with Cardboard backing!!!)

Now I don't care about a service call, soemthing "going" etc., (even though yet agian we see how cheap "new" things are compared to years ago!), but this is a safety issue and Sears should respond/take responsibility!

When I "googled" this issue, this site came up and it sure doesn't look lie they have. Well, I'll take my "shot" and I can be quite persuasive (can someone say class-action lawsuit?) ...

Dan & Melissa

Sebring Florida

(bought at Sebring Sears)

SOMETHING needs to be done!

debono AT strato.net

863-441-2986

#106.5323 4300

Kenmore Coldspot Side-by-side

Model built 4/2004