I have a Crosley side by side (NSS228GA) 7L... freezer is cold(-10- -15)but fridge wont go below 50F. Freezer coils were completely frosted up, so suspected defrost cycle problem, assuming lack of airflow to fridge. Here's what Ive done to troubleshoot so far:
After defrosting coils overnight, Checked defrost therm. by freezing it in another freezer and got continuity while below 15 deg. and monitored it closing when temp rose to cutoff. Assumed def.therm ok.
Checked defrost heater for cont. by disc. from term. while fridge unplugged, continuity confirmed. Read post where tech recommended to replace def. ther. b/c it can act up intermittently, so replaced defrost therm. anyway.
Unit seems to cycle on/off regularly, so assumed defrost timer is working.By advancing the def. timer w/ a screwdriver, I checked to see if defrost heater is coming on during the 20 min. def. cycle, it is not. However,as the coils begin to frost up, now I see that the frost pattern is not uniform. A 6" section at top of of coils are not frosting up. When they were originally completely clogged w/ice, the whole unit was covered. In another post, tech suggested this could indicate an internal issue.
Here are some questions:
1)I assumed the fridge was not getting cold enough due to lack of airflow. Now that there is adequate airflow over the coils in the freezer does that point to another problem, (aside from the coils not defrosting)?
2)could the defrost timer be faulty even though it cycles on/off, ie, could the elec.contacts inside be worn out so that the defrost heater is not getting power during the defrost cycle?
3)if this(2) were true, would replacing the def.timer make any difference if something else is going on?
what should I do to proceed w/troubleshooting this unit? (Figures it would go out right before thanksgiving!)
Note-the fridge IS a bit cooler since working on this prob. but, only cooler by 5 deg, and the fridge is still empty....