vja4Him wrote:We measured the Voltage for both Refrigerators, and it was 120 Volts for both. When I turned on a lamp, the Voltage did not decrease.
Turned on the portable air cooler, which dropped the voltage to 117 volts, which went back to 120 when we turned the air cooler off.
Oy vey! Power strips, eh. Are these the type of power strips that have surge protection built in? If so, these may well be the problem, and you can't measure it with an ordinary voltmeter. Here's what may be happening:
The surge protection limits current. A fridge compressor has a very high inrush current when it starts. If you limit that, the compressor will often trip whatever type of protective device it has (maybe high pressure cutout). Thus, you will have a fridge that seems to work (the light comes on, the fan may blow) but in which the compressor never runs or doesn't run for long. When you measure it, a digital multimeter won't be fast enough to show any change. An analog meter might, but it'll just be a quick dip. You would have to look at this with a peak voltmeter or a scope.
I still recommend to never, ever use an extension cord for anything except a portable appliance (power drill, etc), but I say that power strips should absolutely never be used for anything except devices that can stand to be floated off ground and can withstand low voltage - a computer, a desk lamp, a clock for example. Go get a real extension cord, no more than 15 feet long, 3 wire, and 14 AWG. If it's still running hot, you gotta put a wattmeter on it or just call the service guy.
Another possible culprit is the temperature sensor. Sometimes you can get to those, test them, and replace them. Sometimes you have to pretty much disassemble the whole fridge to get to the sensor, in which case you might remember that you can get pretty good used fridges for less than $200.