[ripleys]

Part # for control board is 2252195 subs to 8201672. Hope that helps and good luck.

[mch28]

Originally Posted by ripleys

Part # for control board is 2252195 subs to 8201672. Hope that helps and good luck.

Thanks for the p/n. $146

In the mean time, anyone familiar with the diagnostics. The water filter and power button for 3 sec's aren't doing it.

[mch28]

Can someone please post the service guide on this model? I want to turn on the defrost circuit to make some tests.

Thanks

[JonnyMike]

Originally Posted by mch28

My refrigerator won't go into defrost mode. I have replaced the bi-metal thermostat with no luck. The evaporator freezes up solid after about 2 months and won't allow the air to flow through it to cool the fridge side. The freezer is fine. I don't have any guide for entering diagnostics. The heater ohms out fine. How can I manually defrost this unit? and What should I try next? There doesn't seem to be a defrost timer. I don't want to throw a $150 main PWB in to find out it didn't fix it.

Thanks

Hey mch28,

Did you ever figure out what was wrong with your KitchenAid? I've got the same model (2-1/2 years old) and same problem. I also have the diagnostics sheet you were looking for. I ran the diagnostics and everything checked out. This has me somewhat puzzled but I'm still hoping it's the bi-metal (cheap) and not the control assly. (expensive). I'm thinking that my bi-metal might be stuck closed. After reading the diagnostics sheet, it sounds like this could throw off the electronic defrost cycle. The problem first occurred about a month ago when I noticed the refrig. side getting too warm. The freezer was OK but there was frost on the back wall. We have alot of power outages where I live so I figured the electronics might just need to be reset. After turning it off and unplugging the power cord, I powered it back up and the defrost cycle worked fine (until now). Anyway, if you succeeded in getting yours fixed and can share that info, I'd greatly appreciate it.

[richappy]

Before replacing the control board, go to www.applianceaid.com There will be two different manual defrost procedures there, try both. Post results.

[JonnyMike]

Originally Posted by richappy

Before replacing the control board, go to www.applianceaid.com There will be two different manual defrost procedures there, try both. Post results.

The only manual defrost procedures I found on applianceaid.com were for units with a mechanical defrost timer. My unit is electronic. The diagnostics instruction sheet does have a procedure for checking the defrost heater/bi-metal, which checked out ok. Since there's nothing in the literature about a traditional defrost timer, I'm assuming it's built into the electronic control board. Please let me know if I missed something. Thanks richappy.

[richappy]

In applianceaid. com, click on refrigerator repair, "then New adaptive defrost info"

[JonnyMike]

Originally Posted by richappy

In applianceaid. com, click on refrigerator repair, "then New adaptive defrost info"

Thanks richappy, I found it. In the meantime, I went and bought a defrost bi-metal. Before installing it, however, I took everything out of the freezer side, removed back panel, defrosted evaporator with a hair dryer, reassembled, then powered the unit up. As expected, everything worked. Refrig. side returned to normal temp. (appx. 35 F.). I decided to just observe it for a few days and appx. 30 hours later, discovered that the unit was going through a normal defrost cycle. This suggested that the bi-metal and/or control board might not be defective after all. My questions now are as follows:

1.) Is it possible for the bi-metal to have stuck open, then snapped back closed after the hair dryer session?

2.) How often does the defrost cycle operate?

[richappy]

Most probable failed item is the defrost thermostat, just replace it. They often fail intermitently.