Hi,

I have a ROPER RT14BKXGW00 refrigerator that is having problems. I've read the sticky on a faulty defrost system and that sounds just about right in what I'm experiencing.

The freezer is fine and the fresh food compartment is not that cold at all. There is a white frosty build-up on the back of the freezer compartment. Cold air comes out the vents in the freezer but not in the fridge compartment below it (those 2 vents on the top of the compartment in the bottom). The freezer is pretty full of stuff, but there is some space around for airflow (I think). Is there an easy fix for this? I wouldn't know what to do with all the food if I had to defrost the whole unit by unplugging it for 24 hours... please help!

Additional info:

I would rather not call a repair service because I looked up their reviews on yelp.com and discovered how terrible the ones in my area are (Van Nuys, CA). The basically charge you an arm and a leg and financially rape you.

The problem is that I'm renting my apartment and it's not my fridge. I would rather fix is myself it is easy. I'm not that experienced in handyman work but if given detailed instructions, I'm sure I can do it. Are the troubleshooting techniques listed in the "faulty defrost system" sticky hard to do or should this be left to someone who has some experience in this? I have no experience...LOL The pinnacle of my technical prowess was me installing a DVD-burner, new memory, and hard drive in my computer. So does that make me capable of repairing my own fridge?

Edit:

Here's a pic of the timer I found on a part site... is that grey dial thing the thing that is suppose to be turned clockwise to put in the defrost mode? I'm confused.. I'm trying to learn this before I start trying to take panels of the freezer and so forth.

http://www.********************...tDetail.htm?SourceCode=1

So I advanced the dial on the defrost timer until I heard the "click." It is now several hours later and I can see water dropping out of the vents (3 of them) that are located on the top of the inside of the fresh food compartment. Is this a good sign that the frost is melting? I'm not sure if I'm suppose to do anything else to the timer and I can't tell if it advanced on its own back to frost mode (or if it's still in defrost mode). How can I tell? Also, the fan stopped running just now. Is that normal and part of the defrost process?