[giannit]

My garage fridge/freezer is not keeping the freezer part cold enough. I am aware of the problem with fridges in cold spaces so I turned up the freezer compartment to max and it still won't keep an ice cube solid. So here are my questions:

1) Am I damaging my fridge by keeping it on? The fridge section seems to stay cold enough.

2) If I want to use the heat of a very low watt incandescant bulb (<15W) to fool the fridge into working...where would I put it? Near the exhaust?

[denman]

[COLOR=Blue]1) Am I damaging my fridge by keeping it on?[/COLOR]
Depends what temp the garage drops down to.
If you get too far below freezing you are not doing it any good.
Compressor has oil in it which thickens with the cold and can make the compressor work harder to get started.

[COLOR=Blue]The fridge section seems to stay cold enough.[/COLOR]
Your problem is the defrost. The defrost heater comes on putting heat in the freezer section but due to the ambient temp the fridge does not come on after defrost so the heat melts your food.

[COLOR=Blue]2) If I want to use the heat of a very low watt incandescant bulb (<15W) to fool the fridge into working...where would I put it? Near the exhaust?[/COLOR]
Up close to where the end of your thermostat capillary is

Problem is you will have to check the bulb regularly. If it burns out you are back to your original problem. Might be better off with 2 small ones. You may have to move it around as you are trying to do a balancing act between the bulb's heat and the fridge's set temp.

[giannit]

Thanks denman. I will try to find out where the thermostat capillary is located. Don't know how successful I will be. The unit is a new Kenmore and the exhaust is at the bottom. Can you direct me?

[denman]

Cannot really help but get your Model Number and go to the Sears or Kenmore site. Go to the customer service area and see if you can download a parts breakdown for this unit (sometimes is in the manuals section).

You may have to sign up for Manage My Home site which seems to be down as much as it is up and running.

Kenmore's are a pain to get any useful info on re: wiring diagrams, parts layouts etc.

If you do not have a wiring diagram for it, take a look behind the kick plate they may have hidden it there. May even be taped under the drip tray.

If the unit is thermistor/ PC board controlled it may be difficult to do this mod.

[giannit]

Hi,

I found the manual on a Frigidaire site. The link is:

[URL]http://www.frigidaire.com/support/ResultsPage.asp?strModel=970&User=&Search=Search[/URL]

It's actually a Frigidaire model 970-419120 private labelled Kenmore for Sears.

Anyway, neither the user manual or parts manual show me where the thermostat capillary is found.

If you can figure out where it might be from this I would certainly appreciate it.

[denman]

Thermostat looks like it is mounted under the cover on the top of the fresh food compartment.

Looks like the capillary goes to the rear of the unit where there is the vent which connects the freezer to the fresh food. May go up through this vent.

[icehouse]

Frigidaire makes a special thermostat heater.

[url=http://frigidaire.stores.yahoo.net/gakithecokit.html]Frigidaire - Garage Refrigerator Heater Kit[/url]