Power, controls and light
Will Not Restart After a Power Outage
The power is back and the cabinet is not. One reset, then the phone.
Viking Repair Service Los Angeleson site 8am to 8pm, every day of the weekcalls picked up 24/7
| What you see | Likely cause | Safe check | When to call |
|---|---|---|---|
| Silent since the power returned, and no light inside | Nothing is reaching the cabinet, or its breaker went out with the outage | Find the kitchen breaker and reset it once if it has gone | Today, if one reset does not bring it back |
| The panel reads, and the cabinet is not cooling | The control came back up without setting the cooling side going again | Give it an hour with the doors shut, then feel whether anything changed | Today. Say the panel is lit |
| It tries, makes a short noise, and goes quiet again | The components that start the compressor took the surge and no longer do it | Count how long each attempt lasts and how long the gap between them is | Today, before it keeps trying |
| Dead since a cut that took out other things in the kitchen | A supply problem in the house rather than a fault inside the cabinet | See whether anything else on that side of the kitchen has power | An electrician first, then us if only the cabinet is dead |
The table above sorts a built-in that has not come back by what it is doing now, an hour or so after the supply returned. Row one is the row to settle first, because it is the only one an owner can act on. Then call Viking Repair Service Los Angeles at (213) 799-7879 with what the cabinet did.
What an outage actually does to a built-in
Rows one to three are three answers to one event. A cut takes the supply away and brings it back in a rush, and a cabinet either picks up where it left off, comes up confused, or fails to get going. Only the first is something you can settle yourself.
Trying, and getting nowhere
Row three is the one to describe carefully on the phone. A machine that makes a short effort and stops has power and has been told to run, so what is left is the small group of parts that get it turning. Those are found on the visit, and the sooner it stops trying the better for the compressor.
Normal, not normal, and the line between them
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Normal
A cabinet that takes some minutes to settle once the supply is back.
Not normal
Still silent an hour later, with no lamp and no panel.
Time to call
Today, after a single breaker reset.
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Normal
A longer, louder run while it pulls the cabinet back down.
Not normal
Short attempts, a click, silence, and the same again and again.
Time to call
Today. Repeating that wears the machine out.
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Normal
A panel that has forgotten its settings and wants them entered again.
Not normal
A lit panel and a cabinet that has gone nowhere in hours.
Time to call
Today, before the freezer loses its head start.
After an outage the question is whether the cabinet is trying at all, and one reset answers it. Call Viking Repair Service Los Angeles at (213) 799-7879 and describe the row you are on — that sentence is worth more than a guess at the part.
Safe checks before the visit
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Find the kitchen breaker, put it off, let it rest a minute and put it back. Once. A second and third go tells you nothing the first did not, and it is hard on whatever is faulty.
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Leave the doors shut while you wait. A closed built-in holds what it already has for hours, and every opening spends some of that.
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Do not drag the cabinet out to reach the outlet behind it. A built-in is heavy, it is plumbed and it is trimmed into the joinery, and getting to the back is part of the visit.
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Stop there. Nothing further is an owner job on a built-in: the sealed circuit, the wiring behind the grille and anything that needs a panel off belong to the visit. Call Viking Repair Service Los Angeles at (213) 799-7879 and say which of the checks above changed anything.
Asked about this one
- Why only one breaker reset after an outage?
- Because the first one tells you everything the second can. If the cabinet comes back, the supply simply needed re-establishing. If it does not, something inside is holding it off, and switching on again only asks a faulty part to try once more. Call Viking Repair Service Los Angeles at (213) 799-7879 instead.
- Written by
- Ambrose Fitzwilliam
- Role
- Service technician — refrigeration and sealed systems
- In the trade
- 25 years in the trade