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Home Repair - - If it ain't broken, don't fix it. Otherwise look here.
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Posted by on July 16, 2006, 12:24 pm
Hello alt.home.repair -- I'm trying to repair a KitchenAid refrigerator
(freezer on the bottom).
I'm fairly certain the problem is the defrost system. Periodically the
fridge compartment starts to warm up. Cold air comes from the vent in
the freezer section, but little or no air reaches the fridge. It stays
warm until I unplug it and let it sit for a day or two. Then it works
fine for a few months.
The third time this happened, I pulled off the rear panel in the
freezer section. As expected, it was very frosty. It looks like the air
intake in the freezer section is eventually getting plugged. I assume
this is why the fan is unable to blow much air up to the fridge, though
it does circulate air in the freezer.
So... I've tried to isolate the broken part, but they all seem to be
working, at least to the untrained eye. If I manually turn the timer,
the heater comes on. If I then wait 20 or 30 minutes, the heater turns
off and the cooling system starts. To see if the timer was initiating
the defrost cycle I made a tiny wax peak and stood it up on a bit of
aluminum foil next to the heater. Checking it about 10 hours later, the
wax hadn't melted, however it was tipped over in a pool of frozen water
in the bottom of the foil. So something melted the frost.
I'm a bit stumped now. Could one of the parts be working
intermittently? If so, any idea how I would identify it? I could
replace all three, the timer, heater, and thermostat, though it's a bit
more money than I'd like to spend.
Alternatively, perhaps the kids are leaving the door open, and more
frost builds up than the defrost cycle can remove. If the door is left
open very occasionally (say once a month, for 30 or 40 minutes), should
that be enough to overwhelm the defrost cycle?
Thanks.
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Posted by Jeff on July 16, 2006, 3:17 pm
Hello
As you may already know there are only 3 things that need to work
correctly for it to defrost. The defrost thermostat, heaters & the
timer.
So if you start having ice buildup in the freezer, make sure the
defrost timer is working. Most of them you can manually over ride
(older units) as you found out. So if you turned it and the freezer
started to defrost then you can say that the Heaters and the thermostat
are ok for now. I would get something and mark the part that you turned
on the defrost timer. Then check it after a few hours and make sure
it's moving on it's own.
My guess is that your defrost timer is bad (it's common).
Good luck,
Jeff
craft.brian@gmail.com wrote:
> Hello alt.home.repair -- I'm trying to repair a KitchenAid refrigerator
> (freezer on the bottom).
>
> I'm fairly certain the problem is the defrost system. Periodically the
> fridge compartment starts to warm up. Cold air comes from the vent in
> the freezer section, but little or no air reaches the fridge. It stays
> warm until I unplug it and let it sit for a day or two. Then it works
> fine for a few months.
>
> The third time this happened, I pulled off the rear panel in the
> freezer section. As expected, it was very frosty. It looks like the air
> intake in the freezer section is eventually getting plugged. I assume
> this is why the fan is unable to blow much air up to the fridge, though
> it does circulate air in the freezer.
>
> So... I've tried to isolate the broken part, but they all seem to be
> working, at least to the untrained eye. If I manually turn the timer,
> the heater comes on. If I then wait 20 or 30 minutes, the heater turns
> off and the cooling system starts. To see if the timer was initiating
> the defrost cycle I made a tiny wax peak and stood it up on a bit of
> aluminum foil next to the heater. Checking it about 10 hours later, the
> wax hadn't melted, however it was tipped over in a pool of frozen water
> in the bottom of the foil. So something melted the frost.
>
> I'm a bit stumped now. Could one of the parts be working
> intermittently? If so, any idea how I would identify it? I could
> replace all three, the timer, heater, and thermostat, though it's a bit
> more money than I'd like to spend.
>
> Alternatively, perhaps the kids are leaving the door open, and more
> frost builds up than the defrost cycle can remove. If the door is left
> open very occasionally (say once a month, for 30 or 40 minutes), should
> that be enough to overwhelm the defrost cycle?
>
> Thanks.
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Posted by Stormin Mormon on July 17, 2006, 9:12 am
Just a WAG, the timer is running slow. The timer comes on at less
frequent intervals. So it's not defrosting enough hours in a day /
week. So, the frost is building up.
Could also be a slow evaporator fan. Not pushing enough air through
the evaporator.
--
Christopher A. Young
You can't shout down a troll.
You have to starve them.
.
Hello alt.home.repair -- I'm trying to repair a KitchenAid
refrigerator
(freezer on the bottom).
I'm fairly certain the problem is the defrost system. Periodically the
fridge compartment starts to warm up. Cold air comes from the vent in
the freezer section, but little or no air reaches the fridge. It stays
warm until I unplug it and let it sit for a day or two. Then it works
fine for a few months.
The third time this happened, I pulled off the rear panel in the
freezer section. As expected, it was very frosty. It looks like the
air
intake in the freezer section is eventually getting plugged. I assume
this is why the fan is unable to blow much air up to the fridge,
though
it does circulate air in the freezer.
So... I've tried to isolate the broken part, but they all seem to be
working, at least to the untrained eye. If I manually turn the timer,
the heater comes on. If I then wait 20 or 30 minutes, the heater turns
off and the cooling system starts. To see if the timer was initiating
the defrost cycle I made a tiny wax peak and stood it up on a bit of
aluminum foil next to the heater. Checking it about 10 hours later,
the
wax hadn't melted, however it was tipped over in a pool of frozen
water
in the bottom of the foil. So something melted the frost.
I'm a bit stumped now. Could one of the parts be working
intermittently? If so, any idea how I would identify it? I could
replace all three, the timer, heater, and thermostat, though it's a
bit
more money than I'd like to spend.
Alternatively, perhaps the kids are leaving the door open, and more
frost builds up than the defrost cycle can remove. If the door is left
open very occasionally (say once a month, for 30 or 40 minutes),
should
that be enough to overwhelm the defrost cycle?
Thanks.
|
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Posted by Jeff on July 17, 2006, 9:07 pm
The fan in the fridge has nothing to do with the defrosting stage and
the fan for the compressor runs when it does.
It sounds like you might need the thermostat (this will be mounted near
the heaters) or check to see if the doors close like thy should. Like
you said before maybe the door is staying open.
Just my thought.
Stormin Mormon wrote:
> Just a WAG, the timer is running slow. The timer comes on at less
> frequent intervals. So it's not defrosting enough hours in a day /
> week. So, the frost is building up.
>
> Could also be a slow evaporator fan. Not pushing enough air through
> the evaporator.
>
> --
>
> Christopher A. Young
> You can't shout down a troll.
> You have to starve them.
> .
>
> Hello alt.home.repair -- I'm trying to repair a KitchenAid
> refrigerator
> (freezer on the bottom).
>
> I'm fairly certain the problem is the defrost system. Periodically the
> fridge compartment starts to warm up. Cold air comes from the vent in
> the freezer section, but little or no air reaches the fridge. It stays
> warm until I unplug it and let it sit for a day or two. Then it works
> fine for a few months.
>
> The third time this happened, I pulled off the rear panel in the
> freezer section. As expected, it was very frosty. It looks like the
> air
> intake in the freezer section is eventually getting plugged. I assume
> this is why the fan is unable to blow much air up to the fridge,
> though
> it does circulate air in the freezer.
>
> So... I've tried to isolate the broken part, but they all seem to be
> working, at least to the untrained eye. If I manually turn the timer,
> the heater comes on. If I then wait 20 or 30 minutes, the heater turns
> off and the cooling system starts. To see if the timer was initiating
> the defrost cycle I made a tiny wax peak and stood it up on a bit of
> aluminum foil next to the heater. Checking it about 10 hours later,
> the
> wax hadn't melted, however it was tipped over in a pool of frozen
> water
> in the bottom of the foil. So something melted the frost.
>
> I'm a bit stumped now. Could one of the parts be working
> intermittently? If so, any idea how I would identify it? I could
> replace all three, the timer, heater, and thermostat, though it's a
> bit
> more money than I'd like to spend.
>
> Alternatively, perhaps the kids are leaving the door open, and more
> frost builds up than the defrost cycle can remove. If the door is left
> open very occasionally (say once a month, for 30 or 40 minutes),
> should
> that be enough to overwhelm the defrost cycle?
>
> Thanks.
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Posted by Stormin Mormon on July 18, 2006, 6:08 pm
The thought about the evaporator fan would explain if the fridge was
warm all the time. Like you say, should be off during defrost cycle.
--
Christopher A. Young
You can't shout down a troll.
You have to starve them.
.
The fan in the fridge has nothing to do with the defrosting stage and
the fan for the compressor runs when it does.
It sounds like you might need the thermostat (this will be mounted
near
the heaters) or check to see if the doors close like thy should. Like
you said before maybe the door is staying open.
Just my thought.
Stormin Mormon wrote:
> Just a WAG, the timer is running slow. The timer comes on at less
> frequent intervals. So it's not defrosting enough hours in a day /
> week. So, the frost is building up.
>
> Could also be a slow evaporator fan. Not pushing enough air through
> the evaporator.
>
> --
>
> Christopher A. Young
> You can't shout down a troll.
> You have to starve them.
> .
>
> Hello alt.home.repair -- I'm trying to repair a KitchenAid
> refrigerator
> (freezer on the bottom).
>
> I'm fairly certain the problem is the defrost system. Periodically
the
> fridge compartment starts to warm up. Cold air comes from the vent
in
> the freezer section, but little or no air reaches the fridge. It
stays
> warm until I unplug it and let it sit for a day or two. Then it
works
> fine for a few months.
>
> The third time this happened, I pulled off the rear panel in the
> freezer section. As expected, it was very frosty. It looks like the
> air
> intake in the freezer section is eventually getting plugged. I
assume
> this is why the fan is unable to blow much air up to the fridge,
> though
> it does circulate air in the freezer.
>
> So... I've tried to isolate the broken part, but they all seem to be
> working, at least to the untrained eye. If I manually turn the
timer,
> the heater comes on. If I then wait 20 or 30 minutes, the heater
turns
> off and the cooling system starts. To see if the timer was
initiating
> the defrost cycle I made a tiny wax peak and stood it up on a bit of
> aluminum foil next to the heater. Checking it about 10 hours later,
> the
> wax hadn't melted, however it was tipped over in a pool of frozen
> water
> in the bottom of the foil. So something melted the frost.
>
> I'm a bit stumped now. Could one of the parts be working
> intermittently? If so, any idea how I would identify it? I could
> replace all three, the timer, heater, and thermostat, though it's a
> bit
> more money than I'd like to spend.
>
> Alternatively, perhaps the kids are leaving the door open, and more
> frost builds up than the defrost cycle can remove. If the door is
left
> open very occasionally (say once a month, for 30 or 40 minutes),
> should
> that be enough to overwhelm the defrost cycle?
>
> Thanks.
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