---
title: "Whirlpool-built Kenmore refrigerator signal PO"
description: "Whirlpool-built Kenmore refrigerator signal PO — pO is an indicator rather than an error."
url: "https://kenmoremiami.support/error-codes/whirlpool-refrigerator-po/"
date_modified: "2026-09-01"
Appliance type: "Freezers, Refrigerators"
---


# Whirlpool-built Kenmore refrigerator signal PO

### Whose code this actually is

Kenmore did not write PO, because Kenmore has never built an appliance. This one is Whirlpool’s, and it appears on the refrigerator that Whirlpool built and Sears sold under the Kenmore badge. Four different manufacturers built refrigerators under this badge, and several of them use an F with a number for unrelated conditions. That is the single most convincing way to reach the wrong component.

### What the appliance is telling you

Whirlpool's own wording: the power outage indicator tells you the supply to the refrigerator was off long enough to matter, and while it shows, the controls are disabled.

This one is an indicator rather than an error. It is published in the same table as genuine problems, and treating it as one is how a working appliance gets a service call.

### Which Kenmore models can raise it

The Kenmore refrigerator whose model number begins 106 — the three digits before the period on the rating plate. Those digits are Whirlpool’s, which is why Whirlpool’s table is the one that applies to PO and no other manufacturer’s does.

### Nothing is broken here

This clears on its own or after the appliance is restarted, and no part is involved. If it keeps coming back without anything obvious causing it, that repetition is the finding rather than the message itself.

### Worth trying yourself, in this order

- Clear it at the panel and the controls come back.
- The useful part is the food: it tells you the cabinet was without power, which the door does not.

### Where this usually goes

The job this most often becomes is [diagnostic visit](/services/diagnostic-visit/), and that page carries a starting figure and the reasons that move it. A Kenmore refrigerator in this humidity hands its defrost circuit more work than it was sized for, and in a Miami kitchen a floor-level condenser blocks well ahead of any published interval. Photograph the display before you cut the power: a reset clears PO, and on a Kenmore the characters plus three digits off the plate are most of the diagnosis.

### Where this meaning came from

Whirlpool’s own documentation: *Refrigerator display and indicator guide — Whirlpool Product Help*. Kenmore publishes none of its own, which is why every entry on this site names the manufacturer’s document instead.

What the machine is telling you

Whose code this actually is

Kenmore did not write PO, because Kenmore has never built an appliance. This one is Whirlpool’s, and it appears on the refrigerator that Whirlpool built and Sears sold under the Kenmore badge. Four different manufacturers built refrigerators under this badge, and several of them use an F with a number for unrelated conditions. That is the single most convincing way to reach the wrong component.

What the appliance is telling you

Whirlpool's own wording: the power outage indicator tells you the supply to the refrigerator was off long enough to matter, and while it shows, the controls are disabled.

This one is an indicator rather than an error. It is published in the same table as genuine problems, and treating it as one is how a working appliance gets a service call.

Which Kenmore models can raise it

The Kenmore refrigerator whose model number begins 106 — the three digits before the period on the rating plate. Those digits are Whirlpool’s, which is why Whirlpool’s table is the one that applies to PO and no other manufacturer’s does.

Nothing is broken here

This clears on its own or after the appliance is restarted, and no part is involved. If it keeps coming back without anything obvious causing it, that repetition is the finding rather than the message itself.

Worth trying yourself, in this order

Clear it at the panel and the controls come back.

The useful part is the food: it tells you the cabinet was without power, which the door does not.

Where this usually goes

The job this most often becomes is diagnostic visit, and that page carries a starting figure and the reasons that move it. A Kenmore refrigerator in this humidity hands its defrost circuit more work than it was sized for, and in a Miami kitchen a floor-level condenser blocks well ahead of any published interval. Photograph the display before you cut the power: a reset clears PO, and on a Kenmore the characters plus three digits off the plate are most of the diagnosis.

Where this meaning came from

Whirlpool’s own documentation: Refrigerator display and indicator guide — Whirlpool Product Help. Kenmore publishes none of its own, which is why every entry on this site names the manufacturer’s document instead.

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**[Read full article: Whirlpool-built Kenmore refrigerator signal PO](https://kenmoremiami.support/error-codes/whirlpool-refrigerator-po/)**