Maytag PTB1553DRW compressor won't come on after power failure but then eventually does??

[murphysf]

Hi

I have a PTB1553DRW fridge.  Its about 20 years old

About a month ago there was a power failure for a few days and and when the power came back on the refrigerator powered back up however it never got cold, the compressor never kicked on.  There was power to the unit and the interior light was on and I could here the small fan spinning in the inside back of the refrigerator

I unplugged it from the wall and tried to plug it back in and also turned the right control knob all the way down to the off position ( can hear a small click), then turned it back up etc. After about 20 minutes of plugging and unplugging and turning the control down and off it all of a sudden started working.  Its been find since.

Now about a month later there was another power failure again and same thing, the power came back on however I was away for two days and when I got home the fridge was warm.  The compressor wouldn't come on although there was power to the unit and the little fan in the back of the inside of the fridge was spinning.  Did the same thing, unplugged and plugged back in waited about 5 minutes in between and also turned the knob down to off for a while etc.    After about 20 minutes I gave up and walked away.  About 30 minutes or so later the compressor came on.

So not sure what is going on here?    

Can someone please explain what is happening?

Is there a timer in the controls that needs some time to reset or re establish itself?

Part of me wants to just replace the refrigerator but if I can understand if there is a proper way to recover it quicker that might convince me to keep it.