[rburgess]

I have a 2002 Maytag SXS refrigerator. Two years ago one of the electrical boards for the icemaker burnt and melted a few of the parts. We replaced the board and parts and now in August 2007 both boards burnt and melted the casing and several other parts. Both times we have not been home and are now afraid it poses a fire hazard. Is this common with this make or has anyone else had similar problems with this make and model? We are now debating purchasing a new fridge?

[ApplianceJunk]

Hi,

Are you taking about the board in the freezer door?

[rburgess]

yes there are 2 boards in the freezer door after you take the panel off the ice maker.
rburgess

[AZDIY]

When I purchased my home 2 years ago it came with a Maytag MSD2555... and the reason the previous owners left it was because the ice maker/fountain did not work. I tore it apart and found the blackened control board and melted plastic parts in the housing. I ordered all the necessary parts from appliancepartspros.com (who are a great company to deal with) and made the repairs.

All aspects of the ice/water functioned great for 1 year and nearly to the day the circuit board had another meltdown. I was asleep at the time and heard loud popping from the kitchen. I ran in to see smoke pouring from the front of the ice maker controls and a very foul smell of burnt electronics. I unplugged the fridge and tore down the assembly and it was the exact same mode of failure and melted plastic. I decided not to repair again due to the potential fire hazard. I just left all of the wire harnesses unplugged.

I think this is a definite hazard and should be a major recall for Maytag, but since I am not a licensed Maytag repair man I doubt they would entertain my story as anything but user error.

This weekend the fridge totally died and I will replace rather than even attempt a repair. The problem is that the opening is sized for a similar Maytag, but unless I can comfirm a redesign of this circuitry it is tough to by a new Maytag. I have been looking through the part numbers for these control boards trying to discern at what point and which models have an updated circuit. Any help from those with more experience would be appreciated.

[j3mlundy]

I have a Jenn-air SXS with what appears to be a similar problem. Jenn-air and Maytag share parts. Recently the unit stopped responding to the touchpad buttons on the front. The crushed ice led was stuck on and the illumination light was on. By the next day all the lights had gone off. I disassembled the unit and found that the control pc board had a burned area, the ice door solenoid plunger was frozen, and the plastic around the solenoid was deformed by heat. What I believe happened is that the solenoid was stuck on as well as the lights when the controls stuck. The solenloid overheated and finally some of the circuits driving the solenoid fried and started a small fire on the pc board. I replaced everything that appeared to be damaged (control pc board, solenoid [with ice door and control arm which came as a package], main plastic housing [which held the solenoid]). The main things I did not replace were the dispenser micro switch and the touchpad pc board. The unit ran fine including dispensing ice and water for 5 minutes and then the controls stuck again. By stuck I mean would not respond to buttons pushes or dispense request any more, the crushed ice led was stuck on and the illumination was on. At this time I notice that the ice door opened and stuck in the open position (ie the solenoid was on). So I shut the unit down immediately and took it apart again. This time none of the parts appeared to be damage, but when I reassembled it the controls are still stuck. So I am not sure what to do next. Has the control board failed again or is there something wrong with the dispensing micro switch or the touchpad pc board. The touchpad pc board seems to be very simple. Mostly touch switches, leds, and some resisters. I metered the micro switch and it appears to be working fine. Anyone have any ideas? Did anyone get this problem understood and fixed before? My Jennair was bought around 2002 as well, and this problem has just happened.