I have a top freezer on this model. The freezer part never gets really cold enough. I have tried replacing the thermostat and timer. Also I have noticed the evaporator has heavy frost build up on the bottom of it. The frost also surrounds the incoming and outgoing lines from the evaporator. I did ohm the heater element and it said it was 28ohms which is close to the diagram paper found in the frig. My questions are can the heater element be bad even though it ohms out ok ? and the frost on the incoming and outgoing lines on the evaporator caused by a small leak?

thank you

Ed Sedlak

[COLOR="Blue"]My questions are can the heater element be bad even though it ohms out ok [/COLOR]
Yes but it is very very rare, re: the internal heating wire must have a break then when the heater starts to heat up (expand) the break opens and then reconnects when the heater cools down.
I am assuming that the freezer fan is running OK.
It does not sound like you have a defrost problem. The ice/frost on the evaporator must build up to the point where the evaporator fan cannot pull the air through the coils.

[COLOR="Blue"]and the frost on the incoming and outgoing lines on the evaporator caused by a small leak?[/COLOR]
Does sound like a low freon problem.
If you determine that it is low freon then often this is the end of the units life. You need a pro to recharge the unit and it makes no sense to recharge it unless they can find and fix the leak. It is often better to put the dollars towards a new unit.

Here is a good link
http://www.applianceaid.com/refrigerator.html

Check out Item 20 the "example picture" at the bottom of the page re: low freon. Note that the first one does not work.