Defrost Thermostat

First I defrosted the evaporator core with a hair drier, making sure to disconnect the power before hand. I pretty much followed the directions included with the part, which by the way were excellent, and very detailed. The alternatives were call a repair man for around $300.00 plus parts or take less than a $40.00 gamble. Or even replace the refrigerator at $1400.00. It was the diagnostic portion of your website that convinced me that I had found the problem and that I could repair it myself with a minimum of effort. Needless to say I will come to this site in the future before calling a repair person. The refrigerator is working just fine now. I had my parts in three days, thank you for your attention to detail and a all around positive repair experience. George Day

I first got a tester and ran a test on the defrost heater and thermo stat. Then I order the parts for part select. I received the parts from them and then I read the instructions and repaired the freezer they worked great and it was pretty easy for me to do it.

turn off the refrigerator,then open the cover and saw lot of ice. then get a hair dryer blower and blow a heat to melt the ice. cut the thermostat defrost.

Very good instructions have already been posted on here from other users. Although the defect was the defrost heater, while I was there and for peace of mind I replaced the thermistor as well.
The new defrost heater kit comes with a revised element which contains necessary extension wire and detailed instructions on how to install. Tried to get my wife to do the job, but she wasn't interested. :)

Verry simple longest part was defrosting.If replacing the timer u need new wire connectors no included.The element was a single bulb the replacement was duel makes no diff just move the wire over easy as can be.

I removed about 4 screws on freezer side and took back panel out to expose heater element. I then took 2 screws out and unpluged old heater and installed new one. I changed thermostat because i wanted to make sure. That only required soldering 2 wires after cutting old one off. Very simple fix.

Studied this problem from online people with the same problem, then found the parts needed from the online manual part list and removed the necessary things out the way and replaced them.

icemakernotworkingandwaterfortheicemaernotworking

Most time consuming part of repair was allowing time for coils to thaw. Hardest part was getting my big hands into the space. Other than that, I unplugged the refrigerator, then removed the cover to the freezer coils, let thaw, located faulty defrost thermostat, removed faulty thermostat from top freezer feeder coil/tube, snipped wires to faulty thermostat, spliced new thermostat into existing wires, capped the wires and electrical taped, replaced new thermostat back onto top freezer coil/tube. Removed screws on old defrost heater harness (i.e., I had a single element and my replacement was a dual element). Dressed left heater wire over and down the right side of the freezer coils being really careful not to damage the wire or coils. Plugged both wires into the right side of the defrost heater (the left side of the dual element heater has a jumper cable). Screwed back in the new defrost heater. Ensured all cables were clear and replaced cover to freezer coils making sure all my screws went back where they belonged. Easy repair and my refrigerator is presently running great. Part select probably saved me $200 in labor by assiting me to do it myself. Will definitely be a Part select return customer next time.

All the rest of everyone's post are all what I did. The only other thing I recommend is to put the back panel over the evaporator coils when your done. I replaced defrost thermostat, and heater. Once I initially completed it it kept icing over more than usual. You have to put the back panel back on so airflow goes over the coils.

Replaced Defrost Thermostat. Tricky removal of light fixture cover and evaporator cover. Light cover screw removal is not intuiitive and the eveaporator cover tabs are not easy AT ALL to remove.Once they are removed, simply 2 screw removal of rear panel.

Had to unscrew screws holding cooling coils to gain access to thermostat mounted on a coil in rear.

Simkple matter to cut wires, remove old thermostat and splice replacement back on. Found it simpler to re-mount thermostat on top coil greatly simplifying process.(Why didn't they place the original unit in this much more accesible place?)
Re-attach coils to rear wall replace rear panel, light fixture cover and evaporator cover.

Refrigerator has been running fine this past week.

Received parts NEXT DAY! FANTASTIC!

1: unplugged the power to the fridge to allow it to defrost the back wall of the freezer
2: cleaned all the water from the thaw job
3: removed the shelves in the freezer
4: removed freezer light bulb cover, and all screws on the back wall that hold the panel cover over the coils (this is on the inside of the freezer compartment)
5: removed heater element that was obviously burned out -- looked like a burned out light bulb -- the rubber insulator ends were dry cracked
6: replaced with new heater element
7: cut wires to thermostat -- removed old thermostat
8: used wire nuts to connect the new thermostat (used water proof silicone on wire nut connections)
9: reinstalled thermostat to coil, installed back wall panel with screws, and then put the shelves back in
10: set the fridge and freezer to 5


simple as pie -- good luck!