Intermittent cooling

Refrigerator & Freezer Repair
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1

A couple of months ago my neighbor came home from a trip and her fridge was not working. Everything inside ruined- quite a mess. She turned it off and the back on and it has been working fine every since until last week. She was gone for a week on another trip, came home and the fridge was off. She turned the thermostat off and then back on and everything has been working fine now for 3 days.
Does this sound like a defrost timer issue or a thermostat issue or something else? Compressor, relay, fan all sound fine. The only common factor is 4 or 5 days without opening the door.
Any ideas would be appreciated.

2

I cannot find any info on the given model number.
Please check it.
Find your model number - AppliancePartsPros.com

If the unit uses a mechanical defrost timer then it sounds like a control thermostat problem.
Turning the control to off would not reset the timer but could un-stick an open thermostat.

3

Man, did I mess up the Model #, never rely on 60 y/o memory ha.
Should be ED25TQ
Ser# 5041918 It was made in 12/97.

Any idea why it only happened when the door has not been opened for several days? I may change out both units since the defrost unit is not expensive and I’ll have the cover off when I change the thermostat.

Thanks for any more info you can share.

4

You are still missing quite a few digits at the end of the model number.
Below are the parts if I use the given model number, you will have to choose the correct one from the matching Model Numbers section.

Without a full model number I cannot find a wiring diagram.

Any idea why it only happened when the door has not been opened for several days?
Could be a couple things but neither points at a specific part.

  1. Since the thermostst is not closing as often to keep the unit cold it sticks in the open position.

  2. The unit may be the type where defrost interval depends on how much the compressor runs. So if the compressor does not run very much it may only start a defrost cycle every couple days.

5

I got my neighbor to txt me a pic of the label. The correct Serial # is
ED25TQXFN00.
Sorry for the incomplete info. Hope this helps with your diagnosis!
Thanks

6

Here are your parts
Parts for Whirlpool ED25TQXFN00 Refrigerator - AppliancePartsPros.com

See the attachment for the tech sheet.

Looking at the wiring diagram I would say that the control thermostat is the most likely culprit.
ED25TQ.pdf (159.8 KB)