refrigerator defrost thermostat

Freezer was COLD the evaporator motor had been very noisy, then noticed fridge side warm only 50degrees. Coils were full of ice, when thawed evaporator fan motor ran quietly, fridge cooled overnight to 34degrees.

Installed new defrost timer, when advanced timer to test fridge stopped correctly but heating element did not come on. Does freezer have to be certain COLDNESS to activate the defrost thermostat? It had only run a few hours and naturally the coils had only a frost on them. What’s my next step?

If your freezer is around 0 to 5 degrees F, that should be more than cold enough to close the contacts in the defrost thermostat.

Here is the part number.

Whirlpool WPW10225581 Defrost Thermostat - AppliancePartsPros.com

If the defrost thermostat tests OK, it might be the defrost heater.

Freezer is 10degrees. Is there a way to test the heating element without removing it? Looks like the coils must come out to access Hoping to find a video showing how to remove the coils to access the heater element. If it’s bad then I will order both the thermostat AND element.