Our refrigerator/freezer are both running warm. It seems to be stuck on defrost, but sometimes it will cool down. Then there will be ice in the freezer again. Then it defrosts again and everything melts and thaws once more. It has been cycling between warming up to 60 degrees, then back down to 40 for the refrigerator and 5 for the freezer. This has been going on for about a week.

This seems to happen every summer when it gets hot and humid. But this year, it gets better for a little while, all is back to normal for a few hours, then back to thawing and melting...

My husband thinks it's the defrost timer or the defrost thermostat. Do these sound right? Is there another possibility? We don't have money to be throwing at the refrigerator. We need to get it right the first time.

Any ideas?

Thank you for your help!

The refrigerator stopped cooling all together. In fact, the refrigerator ended up being warmer than room temperature! That's over 80 at my house! When we turned it off, it was still warm. When we unplugged it, it came down to room temperature. My husband replaced the circuit board/defrost timer. That didn't change anything. :(

Now what? :confused:

We would appreciate your help!

Thank you!

After posting my second plea for help, I went searching the forum again and came across a very long and detailed plea from someone else with similar problems. That's when my husband went looking again.

My husband pulled the refrigerator out and cleaned it up. As he was looking closer, he pulled out the relay capacitor. He said it smelled burnt. He picked up a new one from our local mom and pop. When he put it in, he had to play with the refrigerator a bit, but it finally kicked in.

We have ice again! :) And it didn't melt in the morning! I think we have our refrigerator back! Yea! We really missed our ice and veggies! :D

Thank you for your time and expertise! I send my friends to this forum to get the right answers. With the help we find here, we have made many repairs on our appliances.