[cress]

Maytag Refrigerator
Model MSB2354DRQ
Serial 11893575YQ
Rev No 11
No icemaker

The refrigerator control has no effect. The refrigerator unit stays between 45 and 50, measured at the top, no matter whether the setting is 2 or 9 (the highest). The freezer unit stays suitably cold at at a setting of 4 and seems to be susceptible to regulation when I made minor adjustments. I noticed that when the temperature of the refrigerator gets up over 50, there is a click behind the panel at the top and a fan comes on which brings in cold air from the freezer. The refrigerator cools to about 45 and then the fan cuts off. The circulation holes between the refrigerator and the freezer are clear as far as I can determine. The bottom of the refrigerator varies from about 35 to 40. I don’t know if this might be related but, last summer, the area behind of the freezer unit would occasionally freeze up so that the drain for the defrosting was iced over and the water overflowed into the compartment where is froze or flowed out onto the floor. But, I read somewhere that this might be due to the door being opened too much. So I am concerned, 1) about what has happened to the controller, and 2) even if I set the temperature lower, the drawers at the bottom would reach freezing, which is what was happening before the temperature controller became inactive.
R. Cressman
Boston MA
wuznotty@gmail.com

[magician59]

First, chck the integrity of the door seal. If it's dirty, clean it. See if there is an area where warm air might be geting in. What's the temperature inside your freezer?

[cress]

(I am not sure if I am handling this messaging right)

I checked the door seal. There is some deterioration on the bottom corners but there seems to be no significant leak. After the door is closed there is a little suction.

There is certainly no effect on the refrigerator control, as the temperature is maintained at 45 - 50, as I described, no matter where the contol bar is set (2-9).

The freezer control is set on 3 and the temperature ranges from -10 to 10. These appears to be the on & off points of the compressor.

[cress]

Hello magician 59
What is the next step/question?

[magician59]

What's the freezer temperature? Check to see if there is anything blocking the damper.

[cress]

The freezer temperature ranges from -10 to 10. At these poiints the compressor turns off and on respectively. If I move the control, which is set at 3 (coldest is 9), to 2, the compressor, if on, turns off.

The air vents at the top and bottom are open and free. When the temp of the refrig get to about 50, a fan goes on causing an inflow of air from the freezer section. The fan cuts off when the temp get to aabojt 45. The control bar has no effect whether set at 2 or all the way to the coldest at 9.

[cress]

Magician59.
It's been 5 days since your last question and my response. Is I realize that you are a volunteer in this repair blog, but is there some problem in moving forward?

[richappy]

When you hear the click behind the control panel and the evaporator fan starts, does the compressor start up also? If so, you probably have an intermittant cold control.

[magician59]

Sorry, folks, for the long delays. I think I may have a viral problem in my home computer. I'm answering as much as I can from work until the problem at the home computer is resolved.

[cress]

Thank you richhappy for responding. And sorry, magician 89, about your computer plight. Richhappy, I see your location is State College, PA. I graduated from PennState in 1950.

I had to look up and think about your question. I found that the evaporator fan is located behind the panel in the freezer. I have not been able to fully account for the on/off cycle there yet, but I did notice tonight that when the compressor was running, there was a good flow of air into the freezer compartment and a moderate flow through the vent into the refrigerator. I interpret your question to be, "Does the fan only run when the compressor is on?". I will have to check that tomorrow. But if that is true and it is supposed to run all the time, that could account for the large range in temperature of the freezer, i.e., about 20 deg, which I thought was a little large.
Thus something which happened last summer, might be significant. Twice it happened that water collected on the bottom and froze or drained out onto the floor. The first time, I figured it might have something to do with the drain being clogged. I thought it might be fungus. I removed the panel and, actually, there was layer of ice covering the tray and burying the drain tube. So the 2nd time I was able to correct the situation quickly. This has not happened this winter.

A set of questions: 1) Is the evaporator fan supposed to run all the time? 2) If so, is the control rod in the refrigerator simply a damper to control the flow of air or does it control a small fan? 3) If these are both true, perhaps that would also explain why the bottom of the refrig is about 5 deg colder that the top. We did have a problem with vegetables and fruits freezing in the bottom drawer a while ago.

I am not much of a technician, but if something involves simply removing a piece and screwing in a replacement, I could do that, with appropriate directions. My original intent was to get enought information to relay to a technician. We had one come and look at the appliance once. He looked at it a short while and then said to put both control rods in the refrig at the same setting and he would check back the next day. Well, that didn't do any good, and he never called back. If we need a part, I could get it with a freezer shelf which I need to replace (which brought me to this site to begin with).