Hi Paul,

I would check the heater for continuity and, if it shows good reading, then it's good. Make sure all wires to the heater are in good shape. According to the timer description it is 10hrs/35minutes.

I would probably replace the defrost thermostat and timer due to possible intermittent problems with them.

- The defrost timer Part number: AP2061693

Oh, hmm, I just set the dial for the freezer on A. I always thought that my frozen foods would thaw, so I usually kept it on C at least. With A, I do feel more cool air going into the fridge. With APP's fast shipping, my parts will be
here on Thursday. That door gasket will help, too, I'm sure. Is there a way
to adjust my fridge door? The lower bottom left edge is barely touching where the seal meets the flat metal frame of the fridge. (don't know what to call it)
That's how I noticed that the gasket on the bottom part of the door was bad and not sealing right. Time for a new one anyways.

Thank you for your time and help, Gene.

Regarding the defrost system: What happens if you short the defrost-terminating thermostat? I know that some of the answer is:
- the defrost heater will stay on longer than necessary;
- the whole system will be heated more than necessary, wasting energy;
...but will it do any actual harm? If melt water is not dripping on the heater, will it overheat? If the evaporator coils get hotter than they should, is some damage likely to occur?

I intend to hot-wire the thermostat and see what happens. It's Sunday, so I know that I'm unlikely to get a response here today. Oh, well!

Paul in SE WI

My top-freezer fridge is too warm (48-50F) and my freezer is mostly cold but could feel colder (maybe 20-25F). I don't have any ice cream but I have a can of OJ and it's squishy rather than firm or hard, but most other items seem cold enough. EDIT: I left the thermometer in the freezer overnight, and it reads 5F! :)

Model Whirlpool ET1FHTXMQ03

BACKGROUND
I've had intermittent drainage issues with it for at least 3 of the 5 years I've owned the unit (mostly water under the crispers), and just last week I finally got up the nerve to remove the back panel in the freezer. I don't know if the coils were frosted because I had been using a hair dryer on the back panel before removing it, but there was a large ice plug in the drain, and the drain pan on the floor (accessed through the back) was dry until I melted the ice plug. I ran bleach water down the drain and AFAIK the drain itself is clear. I also did the 6" copper wire trick running down from the heater (loosely hooked) into the drain to keep the drain from hopefully ever freezing up again. I had hoped that would solve my problem, but the fridge went from 55-60 degrees to the 48-50 I'm getting now.

I have now realized, a couple of months ago the evaporator fan had been making a loud noise (several days to a week) and that I haven't heard it since that time period, and I don't believe it works at all now. The noise was like something (ice?) was attached to the fan and it was hitting something. I have ordered the evaporator fan motor and it should be arriving very soon, but I realize that may not be the only bad part, especially since the freezer also seems a bit warm.

Before and after the fan noise, water was always dripping into the fridge via the air vents at the back. Sometimes ice would build up and block the vents, and not knowing anything about refrigerators, I thought maybe there had been a water leak from the icemaker or that ice cubes escaped and were getting melted during the defrost cycle, but I don't think either of those are the cause, after reading about this apparent drain design flaw in so many related fridge models.

I believe the defrost cycle is ok because I will hear the fridge clicking and popping a few times, once or twice a day. It hasn't always done that, and I only noticed it once after (potentially) solving the drain problem. But I have not tested the defrost timer.

MAIN QUESTION
I'm picking up a multimeter tomorrow, so that when I open up the freezer back panel again, what parts should I remove and test for continuity while "the patient" is open (and yes, unplugged)? I ordered that evap fan motor on a hunch, so assuming it really did burn out, is that likely to solve the temperature issues, or are there other parts which are likely to have failed also? I read that the control board in the cold box is another possible culprit, but I have not yet tried to disassemble that portion.

[minor question]
Also, my icemaker has stopped producing ice since I reassembled from fixing the drain. I believe I hooked it back up properly, but the freezer just isn't getting cold enough? It's not my top concern but I thought I should mention it. EDIT: I put water manually into the ice mold, and it has frozen but not yet ejected ice in 12 hours.

Thanks in advance!

After 6 hours, I am cautiously optimistic that replacing the evaporator fan motor solved the problem. Ice is being made again, and the refrigerator temp went from 48F to 44F in a few hours. I wasn't able to figure out how to test the new or old motor with my multimeter. I touched the two prongs in the connector with the leads at 200 ohms, but both motors read 1 (infinity?) so I'm assuming that I did something incorrectly. Unfortunately I didn't find the sticky topic about testing parts to be quite helpful enough. I will update in a day or so with the fridge temps.