Does my fridge have a defrost timer? The first time the fridge quit working we had a repair person come figure out. He found the circulation fan was frozen in the back panel inside the fridge. He turned the fridge off and opened the doors and let everything thaw out and it started working again. Now, the fan keeps freezing in the top part of my fridge and we have to thaw it out every 2 months. My brother-in-law said it might be the defrost timer is not working therefore causing the ice to continually build up. I cannot seem to locate a seperate part for that job. Is it part of the main curcit board? Also, this seems to be a common problem, is there a repair kit to fix the issue?

Hello,
The answer to these questions lies in the way the freezer/fridge combo works. The freezer is where the cooling coils are located. Then air is moved over the coils and circulated through the fridge side by a small blower or fan. The problem arises when the air is not circulated for some reason.

The reasons the air is not moving is usually two reasons
The fan or blower has failed.
The coil is covered over with ice and blocks the air flow.

The first reason is pretty simple to fix, you simply replace the air circulator and things are good again.
The second reason can be more difficult.
1. The timing device that runs the defrost cycle of the refrigerator is defective.
2. The heater coil that melts the water is shorted or not working

Usually the first thing to check is the heater coil. If there is resistance through the coil then most likely it is still good.
The timing device can be an advanced defrost control board or a mechanical timing device.
If the heater coil checks out to be good then the problem should be the timer.

For most situations, unplugging the refrigerator and allowing it to defrost on it's own will get you going temporarily, till parts can be shipped to you. That will melt the ice and give you a few days or a couple of weeks till it ices up to the point where it will not work again.

So you can see here, the problem can usually be traced to one of three things.
The fan or blower
The timer device
The electric heater coil
By methodically checking these parts you can isolate your problem and fix it.


Hoping that this will solve the problem of the refrigerator....

Your fridge is probably suffering from a fan failure or defrost circuit failure. One (or possibly more) of the following components has failed: 1) the defrost terminator or sensor, 2) the defrost heating element or 3) the defrost controller / timer. Items 1 & 2 will be found in the freezer compartment - behind the back wall. The 3rd item can often be found in the toe space at the bottom of the fridge - behind a kick plate. The fan I mentioned is located in the freezer - in the cooling coil compartment. It is used to pull air over the coil to cool it and circulate it in the freezer - and direct a portion of it into the fresh food compartment as well. If it has failed, temperatures in both the freezer and fresh food compartment will rise.

Before we go further - check and clean the condenser coils on the bottom of the fridge with a vacuum. They may be clogged with dust and dirt. Listen for the compressor and fan - are they running? Since everything inside the fridge is warm and getting warmer - the compressor should be running to try to cool it. If left to run like this for a long time however, can cause the compressor to fail. This is usually a deal breaker for repair due to cost. If the fan or compressor isn't running - you should probably call a repair person.

If you don't know how to work with electrical meters and tools or are not comfortable working in tight spaces (back wall of the freezer) with live electric parts, you should call a repair person. Also, refrigerants are under pressure and are very dangerous. If allowed to escape from the tubing, coils, etc. there is a very real danger of instant frostbite if it comes in contact with your skin. You can be blinded if it sprays into your eyes. These reasons make me believe that this is a complicated DIY type job and really isn't a good one for a beginner or even an intermediate to attempt. On the plus side, parts are relatively inexpensive, and a qualified person should be able to quickly diagnose the problem. Labor rates and parts markups can bring this repair up into $200 and up range, however.

If you can't swing that amount of money right now, unplug the fridge, empty the freezer (& fridge if needed) and completely defrost the the freezer. If you access the freezer coil behind the inside back wall, you can greatly accelerate the defrost process by leaving the freezer door open - or even faster still by directing a blow dryer at it. Once all the frost is melted, plug the fridge back in, allow to get cold & reload the freezer. Depending on how humid it is in your kitchen, you can put off the repair at least a month or more. If after defrosting it still fails to cool down, the freezer compartment fan described in the top paragraph has probably failed. Ideal temps for fresh food is about 34-36 degrees and the freezer is about -5 to 0 F.

If / when you do finally call, for service, have the freezer emptied & defrosted already - will save the defrost time by the repair person.

If you are comfortable performing this work, let me know and I'll get you more information. I hope this was helpful and good luck. Please rate my reply - thank you.

Hi,
Either the defrost timer or the door switch...
Check out these tips...they can help you figure out whats going wrong with yourrefrigerator and why it is not cooling

Refrigerator not Cooling or Fridge not Cooling

How to Defrost Refrigerator Defrost Timer Problem

Water Running in refrigerator from Freezer

heatman101

Normal 0 MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} Hi,
How about the fan at the condenser??? Is it running??? Is air being circulated from the freezer to the fridge...if not then find out what is stopping it...



Check out these tips...they can help you figure out whats going wrong with your refrigerator and why it is not cooling

Refrigerator not Cooling or Fridge not Cooling

How to Defrost Refrigerator Defrost Timer Problem

Water Running in refrigerator from Freezer

heatman101

Hi,

Check out these tips...they can help you figure out whats going wrong with your refrigerator and why it is not cooling

Refrigerator not Cooling or Fridge not Cooling

How to Defrost Refrigerator Defrost Timer Problem

Water Running in refrigerator from Freezer

heatman101

It's the defrost timer. Nothing else can shut off the cooling fan in the rear, the circulating fan in the freezer and the compressor at the same time. Try looking near your temperature control for a small hole that you can fit your small finger into. Grab a screwdriver and try turning the 2 tooth bezel located there. It won't look like a knob or adjuster, but that IS your defrost timer. Rotating it will restart your fridge, but the timer motor is bad so it will have to be replaced.This is just a quick way to confirm the diagnosis.

It you have a frost free fridge, then what is happening is that either the defrost element or the thermostat is faulty, causing ice to build up and block off cold air circulation to the fridge. Sometimes the frost builds up around the circulation fan and ceases it up.

That is why when you turn the fridge off for a day, the frost melts and drains out the back of your fridge and so the fridge works ok for a few days until the frost build up again.

Another thing to watch out for is the defrost timer. Sometimes they fail and stick on one cycle and dont advance through. pull your fridge out. The timer is located in the back near the compressor. There is normally a small dial on it. With the fridge turned off, you can twist the dial clockwise and you will hear the timer mechanism click through the different cycles. Make small ink mark on the timer dial. Say at 12 oclock. Turn fridge on. Chech the fridge every couple of hours and see if the mark advances through and does not get stuck in one position for lengthy periods of time. The defrost cycle should normally be around 8 hours and it repeats again.

Let me know if you need more help with the defrost element or thermostat. But it is best to get an experienced repairer to change those.

Good luck
Ash

5 reasons for fridge and/or freezer getting warm: 1- the evaporator coils are icing up and won?t let air circulate. 2- the evaporator fan is not working to circulate air. 3- there is no refrigerant in the system. 4- no power to fridge or compressor. 5- the condenser coils have no air circulation check under the fridge behind the vent. if it is too dusty or the fan isn?t working, it is not getting enough airflow to cool down. replace fan and/or vacuum out the dust. if there is no power to the fridge, the light will be off. if the compressor is not running, there is a defrost timer that cuts the power temporarily to the compressor to melt ice on the coils. it?s located under the fridge behind the bottom vent. If the timer is off and the compressor is not going, the compressor or the main board is bad and needs replacing. there is also a temperature sensor on the evaporator coils that tells the defrost coil to turn on and when to turn off. if the defrost timer is on but the coil is not heating up, replace the sensor. if it still won?t heat up, it?s the timer or the coil. the easiest way to tell if there is no refrigerant- the freezer wall is warm and the compressor is loud. if there is no refrigerant, it may be more cost effective to replace the fridge. if you feel no air coming from the freezer vent, the fan needs replacing. If you feel air moving in the freezer but not the fridge, the channel from freezer to fridge is blocked. if the freezer has air and the rear freezer wall has frost on it, the evaporator coils are iced up and need defrosting. causes: 1. low refrigerant 2. no fan 3. too much humid air in fridge/freezer due to door open or bad door seals 4. the condensate drain tube is clogged 5. defrost cycle not functioning properly if the seal around the door is ripped or not completely sealing, or there is condensation at the bottom or the walls of the fridge, replace the seal(s). no air, no fan. Replace if the refrigerant is low, it just needs a top off. but you need to be certified by the epa to move refrigerant, so get a professional. there defrost cycle starts with the timer. at a certain time of day for a specific time, the timer turns the compressor off and turns on the heater element located at the bottom of the evaporator coil. this stays on until the coil temp sensor reaches a certain temperature to let the timer know that the coils are defrosted and turns off the power to the element. the defrosted water drains to the condensate pan. if the timer is bad, it will never go into defrost, or never get out of it. if the element is bad, the coils will never defrost. if the temp sensor is bad, it?ll go into defrost, but it will either tell the timer that it?s always frozen or already defrosted, resulting in the element never turning on (stays frosted) or never turning off (eventually burning out the element). defrost solutions: unplug the fridge. remove the wall of the freezer that is frosted/icing up. use a hair dryer to melt the ice. do not get too close. you will see a drain under the evaporator coil. make sure it is not blocked. the water should run freely to a condensate pan under the fridge that evaporates the condensation with the hot line from the compressor. once the coil is free of ice, frost, and water, replace the panel and repair any of the problems that caused the icing up. plug the fridge in and turn it on. If it frosts up within a week, there is still an issue that not been taken care of.

does the fan come on if not then the fan delay is bad