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No joke. I have a split door Kirkland/Whirlpool fridge/freezer that has started to turn off every day. The freezer is on the left and fridge on the right. The light is on, but there is no sound when it goes off. I've found that if I punch the panel where the temperature knobs are (top right side), then it starts to work. I can feel the cool air and of course hear the normal humming sound. I've pulled the panel off and looked, but I don't see anything loose.
I can't afford a new fridge at this time. Any thoughts on what could be happening and what I can do about it?
I appreciate any help.
Hdude
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Here are your parts Parts for Whirlpool SS27AQXHW00 Refrigerator - AppliancePartsPros.comCould be a sticking thermostat (item 9) or a bad defrost timer (item 6 in the Control Parts section). Next time it happens turn the thermostat back and forth a bit instead of punching it. If it fires up, I would replace the thermostat. This is a fairly common problem. If it does nothing, try turning the defrost timer cam. there is usually a hole in the housing that allows you to do this. If it fires up then replace the timer. You want to be gentle because a knock will un-stick the bad part. |
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Thank you Denman for the knowledgeable response. I will definitely try what you said and report back.
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Turning the thermostat back and forth did nothing. I wasn't sure where the defrost timer cam was so I just ordered the part. It was only about $20 plus shipping so I figured I'd try it. I'll report back after it's installed and run for a day or so.
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Well, the new defrost timer doesn't appear to have changed anything. At first I thought it was working, but it's back to it's old games. It turns off, no sound.
Something else happened which may be related. The other day, the freezer wasn't freezing, but this time the fans were blowing. I found out that the vents on the back wall inside the freezer were frozen over. So, pulled the panel off and the coils were all frozen over as well. The fans were running both above the coils and under the fridge. I defrosted everything, put it back together and it's cooling again with air flow. The original problem still exists though.
Any ideas what to try next? It still turns back on when I bang on the top panel.
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Based on the original response I'm going to go ahead and order the thermostat (cold control) and try it. It's about $60, which is still cheaper than a new fridge.
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See the attachment for your tech sheet. Yes it is worth a try. As you can see even in defrost the heater gets power through the main control thermostat. |
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Well, that did not fix the problem. The vents on the bottom of the inside of the freezer wall in front of the evaporator are starting to freeze over. Only the bottom of the freezer is cold. Makes me think the fan is not pushing air up, but when I last opened up the back, the fan was working. What other mechanism could I check? Should I just replace both fans?
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Just to keep things up to date. I have now changed the defrost timer, the cold control(thermostat) and the evaporator fan motor and fan. Every time I change a part I manually defrost the evaporator coils in the back of the freezer section. It's always frozen over. Once it's defrosted everything works fine for about a week. But then I find that the air flow is no longer making it up to the top and into the fridge. The culprit seems to be the frozen over evaporator coils. I'm hoping the old fan was somehow only working part time and the new will resolve this issue.
Question: How does the freezer keep the coils from freezing over and blocking air flow?
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You may have two problems.
Is the problem where you had to punch the panel to get the compressor to come on fixed?
This latest problem sounds like a defrost problem.
I am not sure as the picture of the timer is a bit blurry but it looks like it says 8 hours.
So the way that defrost works is that every 8 hours of compressor run time the timer switches to defrost mode. The defrost time is usually around 30 minutes then it switches back to cooling mode. Note that the defrost time is fixed but once all the frost/ice is melted off the defrost coils the defrost thermostat opens killing power to the defrost heater. This prevents overheating the freezer section.
First remove the evaporator cover in the freezer so you can see the coils.
Do not let them de-ice.
If yes.
Manually force a defrost cycle by turning the defrost timer cam (item 6 in Control Parts section ) till the fans and compressor turn off.
There is usually a hole in the cover to let you do this without taking anything apart.
Now check the defrost heater to see if it is on.
Be careful you do not want to burn your fingers.
If the heater is on then the timer needs replacing, re: it is probably stalling during it's rotation so is never getting into a defrost cycle.
If not on.
Unplug the unit.
Remove the wire for one side of the heating element (item 33 in the Unit parts section ) from the wiring and measure it for continuity, usually around 20 ohms or so.
If the heater is OK
Remove one wire to the defrost thermostat (item 35 in the Unit Parts section ) and measure it, should be 0 ohms when frozen. Note that it opens just above freezing so must be frozen to check it. Also inspect it, if it is bulged at all replace it even if it measures OK. |
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