simon_carr•9d agoProlific Poster

I finally tried that freezer trick my coworker swore by

My coworker Dave told me to put a bad control board in the freezer for 20 minutes to fix a Samsung fridge that kept cycling. It actually worked and the board ran fine for another 3 weeks after that. Has anyone else tried this or was Dave just lucky?

3 comments

3 Comments

colethomas9d ago

Yeah I saw a YouTube video about this exact thing. Someone tested it on a few different boards and said the cold makes the solder joints contract and reconnect temporarily. It works until the board heats up and they come loose again. So Dave wasn't just lucky, it's a real thing but it's just a bandaid fix. You probably need to reflow the solder joints with a heat gun to make it last.

fionam119d ago

You know what I never see anyone mention though - the thermal shock from the heat gun might crack the board if you don't preheat it properly first. I've seen it happen to a buddy's TV where the whole area just shattered from the sudden temperature change. Just something to think about before going straight to reflowing.

zara_sanchez9d ago

Wait, hold on. Are you SERIOUSLY telling me that a heat gun can actually SHATTER the board from thermal shock? That sounds insane but I guess it makes sense if the material expands too fast. I've only ever used a heat gun on metal pipes at work, never on something delicate like a circuit board. Honestly that's terrifying to think about, especially if someone just watches a tutorial and goes for it without knowing.