Fridge And Freezer Forum

I had an electrical fault on Friday in the box where the meter is outside the house, it appeared to be making an arcing sound and the lights were dimming on and off in the house and then it caused the RCD to trip on the downstairs sockets. I got EON out and there was a bad connection in the box. Anyway the next day I noticed that the fridge freezer had failed which was full of food  I thought I might get something from the insurance company but I do not have accidental damage cover. So before I scrap the machine I just wondered is there anything that I could look for.

The fridge freezer is a frost free Whirlpool around 7 years old and has been faultless up until now. This is a basic unit with no digital displays or control panels. Basically the compressor is just not cutting in at all and both the fridge and the freezer are not cooling. The circulating fan in the freezer is running more or less all the time. Obviously if the compressor has gone or some other major part then it is not worth bothering with at all. I have read a little on the internet and have tried to locate the thermostat. I took the control panel out of the fridge part that has the 2 dials in for setting the fridge and freezer temperatures. One of the dials is connected to a potentiometer I cannot remember which one probably the freezer as it has a fast freeze setting on it; the other dial is connected to nothing electrical. At first I thought that this was a thermostat but after looking on the net at spare parts I believe it is a thermostat potentiometer as I expected the thermostat to have a phial after further reading. From what I have read the thermostat should be inside the fridge but I could not find it. I just wanted some idea where it might be and how to check it with a multi-meter please? I have repaired a washing machine that I used to own numerous times but I am finding this a bit more difficult.
I just wondered if anybody had any idea before I scrap it and buy some cheap model that might be more trouble. Thanks for any help.